• Question: Why did you decide to participate in I'm A Scientist?

    Asked by lumiereclair to Mark, Matthew, Mike, Paul, Sabina on 7 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Sabina Hatch

      Sabina Hatch answered on 7 Mar 2014:

      Honestly because my little sister told me to – she won the competition last year… so maybe there is a bit of sisterly rivalry.

      But actually the main reason is that I have always wanted to encourage more people to do science, especially girls. “I’m a scientist” seems like a great way to show how interesting and fun science can be!

    • Photo: Matthew Malek

      Matthew Malek answered on 8 Mar 2014:

      I’ve been engaged in science outreach work ever since I became a scientist. Longer, actually, as I did some of this waaaaaaay back when I was at uni. (My undergraduate advisor had organised a monthly series of David Bohm styled “science dialogues” with the local community, and I was a regular participant.)

      I know it isn’t a universal viewpoint, but I consider outreach to be an essential part of being a scientist. We aim to increase the knowledge of humanity… but how useful is that if the knowledge is hoarded amongst an exclusive few? People are natually curious, and we should share what we discover with anyone who wants to know.

      (Besides, on a more pragmatic level, basic research is generally funded by the government through your tax money. So if you’re paying for this research, you deserve to know what comes out of it, delivered in an accessible manner.)

      My outreach has taken a variety of forms over the years. Sometimes I am invited to give talks by local amateur astronomy societies, sometimes I go into secondary schools to talk to the students there. For several years now, I have been part of a cosmology day school at Oxford University, aimed at a lay audience.

      Some of these forms have been a bit creative and unorthodox. For instance, back in 2009, I participated in something called the “Super K Sonic BOOOOUM!”, which — believe it or not — took place at a London nightclub and involved a boat ride amongst silver balloons. Scientists like me gave short talks on neutrinos whilst folks at the nightclub queued up to ride through this life-sized interpretation of a particle physics experiment. It was bizarre… and lots of fun!

      (In fact, the “Sonic BOOOOUM!” came back a year later as part of the Manchester Science Festival. That was also fun, but not as quirky as the original nightclub setting…)

      My point here is just that I enjoy doing outreach and consider it a serious responsibility, even if it technically isn’t part of my job. Finding new and creative ways to do science outreach is always fun! “I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here” may not be quite as odd as the “Super K Sonic BOOOOUM!”, but it’s definitely different than anything I’ve ever done before!

    • Photo: Mark Jackson

      Mark Jackson answered on 8 Mar 2014:

      Science is about figuring out something not known before, which is very intimidating. Without support and inspiring role models I never would have become a scientist. Since I benefited so much from my mentors when I was a student, balancing out the Universe demands I do the same now that I am in position to help. Also, this counts as Community Service for my recent shoplifting conviction.

    • Photo: Paul Coxon

      Paul Coxon answered on 9 Mar 2014:

      I’d seen a few people I follow on Twitter take part and it seemed like fun. One of them said I should get involved as they had enjoyed it, so I thought I’d give it a go.

      It’s nice to talk about science with interested, but non-specialist people – like school children and members of the public. They usually ask very good, well thought-out questions. And by answering them, it really forces me to think about the subject in new ways.

    • Photo: Mike Lee

      Mike Lee answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      I’m writing my thesis, which is a length report about what I’ve been doing for the past three years. This is boring so Imascientist is a good distraction. Plus the questions are more fun than typical questions we have. We ask technical questions like, “Where are the drivers for this equipment?” so on

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