Lunching Engagement

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from the public engagement unit. It asked if I was interested in attending a series of lunchtime sessions on public engagement. Four sessions were to be offered:

*Finding the way into your subject*
*Escaping the silo: Interdisciplinary engagement*
*Running projects: a “how-to” guide*
*The ideas factory*

Having my own research to do I had to be selective, so I opted for the first and the third session.

The sessions brought together a limited number of researchers from different departments to discuss relevant issues…and eat pizza!

The first sessions started with a discussion on our views of public engagement. However, the more useful part to me was the last section where we were asked to identify one point of our research that we want to communicate to others. It made me think long and hard as to what I think is most relevant to people not as intensely involved in the project as I am. I came up with this one:

When objects degrade they release gases into their environment which can then cause further degradation.

I considered that point as from there you can explain the necessity of ventilation and filtration systems, the necessity for environmental monitoring, and also the fact that ‘harm’ does not only come from outside.

Today’s session then was a bit different. As it was more of a practical session we were divided into groups, with a facilitator each who has experience of public engagement. Our facilitator was Subhadra Das from UCL Museums and Collections. She spoke about her experience during the event Disposal? which discussed the issue of museum object disposal. The fact that she is not an expert in public engagement but has had quite a bit of recent experience with the organisation of that event meant that she could pinpoint the practical problems first-time ‘public engagers (?)’ might have.

Events like this are definitely useful, not just because you ‘learn’ something new. Even more importantly than that you get to hear other people’s experiences, and also meet people from other departments. It is amazing how stuck in your own ways you can get always being surrounded with the same group of people with the same ideas! Meeting other researchers, in whatever context, always helps rejuvenate the interest in my own research as well!

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Filed under: Events and Activities, Public Engagement, Disposal?, exhibitions, organising events, presenting research, Public engagement, public engagement lunchtime sessions, Subhadra Das, UCL museums and Collections, UCL public engagement

I’m a NOISEmaker!

I’m sure whoever knows me would say: That’s obvious! However, this time round it’s NOISE i.e. ‘New Outlooks In Science and Engineering’, a UK-wide campaign funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Initiated in 2000, the aims of this programme is to provide early career researchers with the tools to communicate the importance and relevance of their research to a wide public audience.

So how did I get there?

In the middle of March I received an e-mail about the possibility of applying for this programme. Knowing the importance of constantly striving to improve my presentation and communication skills I didn’t hesitate much in filling in the application and sending it off. Around a week later I received an e-mail that I had been short-listed. This however meant that I had an interview 3 days later, for which I needed to prepare a 5-minute presentation about my research and a demonstration of some scientific concept for 14-19 year olds. At first I panicked and was thinking of not going, particularly as I was very busy with my experimental work. However, after thinking about it I realised that the opportunity was too big to refuse. So I prepared the presentation, and a short demonstration of the concept of material build-up and degradation, with a specific focus on photographs.

The day of the interview dawned. I was a bit apprehensive, particularly as I did not have much time to practice (particularly the demonstration). Anyways, after a day working away in the laboratory and analysing data, I set off to central London to the Grayling offices, where the interview was to be held. I arrive a bit early and have the time to relax in the lobby for a while before being called in. The interview passed by in a blur. Was it because I spoke very fast? Or because it was short? Or because it was a busy time? I will never know because very soon I out and off on my way.

Then this week I received an e-mail from NOISE: Congratulations! It said. They would love to have me as a NOISEmaker. Would I be interested? Of course! So after a bit of a discussion with my supervisor about it, I accepted.

What does this mean from here on? Well, these are the opportunities being a NOISEmaker provides you with:

• Training – for media interviews, TV appearances, delivering presentations and more
• Events – talks and demonstrations (for example, at the British Science Festival and Cheltenham Science Festival)
• Website – personal profiles, articles and blogs (www.noisemakers.org.uk)
• Media – interviews on the radio, TV and in print

Looking forward to learning and experiencing more!

Filed under: Events and Activities, applying for a programme, communication skills, demonstration, early-career researchers, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC, interview, New Outlooks In Science and Engineering, NOISE, NOISEmakers, presentation skills, Public engagement, training

Papers…Photographic and Otherwise

This week has been a pretty busy week, where besides the ongoing research experiments there were a number of other things going on, keeping me occupied. I have already written about the public engagement event at The National Archives. However, there were two other things that are worth mentioning…

The first is a webcast from the Library of Congress Topics in Preservation series I followed yesterday on Development
and Research Applications for a Reference Collection of 20th Century Photographic Paper by Paul Messier. I’ve come across a number of materials from Paul Messier online, so when I heard he was giving this preservation I thought it would be good to listen in (I am spending quite a good amount of time in the lab right now working alone, so it also gave me some company while working there).

I was impressed by the work he is doing on dating of photographic paper. He has worked hard to collect a significant reference collection of photographic papers (which is great to have as it is not that easy to obtain) and has proceeded to get it characterised in as many ways as possible, while collaborating with various people and institutions knowledgeable in their fields. One hour was quite short I think to give an in-depth view of the work, but he succeeded in giving a broad overview of the work, while highlighting specific interesting instances.

You can access the webcast here: https://sas.elluminate.com/mr.jnlp?suid=M.A2FA39C02893E145EF65A1CC5A862C

What about the other paper?

Well…I have been working on a paper on ‘Volatile Aldehydes in Libraries and Archives’. We submitted the paper to the journal Atmospheric Environment on the 23rd of December and last week we received a reply with minor revisions to go through. We looked through the reviewer’s comments and sent back the reply on Tuesday, and by Wednesday evening we already had a reply: it has now been accepted…*pat on the back*.

This will be my first paper regarding my PhD work so it is quite exciting to see that. It concerns the environmental monitoring work done at The National Archives and at St. Paul’s Cathedral, together with measurements done at the National and University Library in Ljubljana and the Nationaal Archief in The Hague (NL).

If anyone is interested in reading it…let me know!

Filed under: Events and Activities, General, Research Process, atmospheric environment, environmental monitoring, libraries and archives, Library of Congress, paper, Paul Messier, Public engagement, Reference Collection of 20th Century Photographic Paper, The National Archives, TNA, Topics in PReservation Series, Volatile Aldehydes

Should we Save it?

To Save or Not to Save?

That was the question being asked at a workshop organised at The National Archives this week. The workshop, which was part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Festival of Social Science which is ending this weekend, was aimed at GCSE/A’level students studying subjects such as history and humanities to think about the decisions that occur on a daily basis in heritage institutions on what is worth keeping, and why.

The workshop was concerned about 4 main objects: The Domesday Book, Picasso’s Still Life with Guitar, an Ipod, and a Tiffany Necklace. Which one would you save if you had to choose one (or none at all?). The students got the opportunity to vote for their preferred item (using quite useful voting devices). After their initial reactions were taken more information started being given to the students slowly.

Picasso: Still Life with Guitar

The first sets of information was given by what were called ‘guest experts’ about a variety of subjects which may influence what you decide to keep or not. These ten minute presentations were on the issues of value, material science, economics and the environmental impact of collections. It was an interesting way of getting the students to think beyond the emotional attachment to an object or ‘what they think they should save’ to other factors which they probably would not have factored in. After every step the students also got to vote for their choice, so that variation in voting depending on what has been said could be observed. e.g. The Domesday Book always had the highest number of votes, but as the economic and environmental cost of maintaining it compared to the necklace were shown, the votes of the book started decreasing and of the necklace increasing.

The Domesday Book

What happened in the afternoon sessions was then that twists started being introduced into the story as well: What if the Ipod had Michael Jackson’s last playlist? Or if the Picasso was a fake? Or what if the necklace was of a very rare type of diamond? Which one would you choose now? At every step that new twists were introduced the students got to vote again and again. In this part of the event it was quite impressive how the values changed e.g. when it was said that the Ipod had Michael Jackson’s last playlist, the votes for saving that obviously increased.

Which one would you save? And why?

I must say that I was also quite impressed by how coherent and eloquent most of the students were when discussing the reason for their choices, and especially when they were divided into groups to make the case for what they wanted. They were also very much engaged and well-behaved. Hearing all the discussions about how unruly English kids are in the newspapers it seemed to me that there is still the ones who make up for all the rest.

Ahh – and one final thing..if this was an event for school students why was I there? Well, having done some work on environmental monitoring and working with TNA they asked me if I would be willing to give the presentation on the environmental impact of collections. I said sure! So there I was…a guest expert on the environment :). Here is a basic copy of the presentation. Unfortunately you don’t get my reel (or is that fortunately?)…

Filed under: Events and Activities, Domesday Book, Economic and Social Research COuncil, economics, environment, ESRC, Festival of Social Science, Ipod, material science, Pablo Picasso, Picasso, Public engagement, Still Life with Guitar, The National Archives, Tiffany necklace, TNA, value, workshop