If you love nature, animals and science, you cannot miss the Natural History Museum. You’ll be impressed viewing their dinosaurs or experiencing an earthquake simulation in a Japanese store.
Last Friday after class, I visited the NHM as it was hosting a special evening event about the Blue Planet II TV show. I’m a huge fan of this BBC series that manages to capture the wildlife in the planet’s oceans with the latest technologies and innovative filming methods.
The Natural History Museum invited the producers to show exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and share more about the making of the TV series. You could also meet scientists that explained more about the wildlife seen in the show using the museum’s collections of corals, whales, fishes and more.
V&A Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum is the most elegant and fashionable museum I’ve ever visited. You can see from the finest jewellery collection to special exhibitions that in the past have even included Kate Moss’ wedding dress.
If you ever need a moment for inspiration too see great art or take a break, just go down the road, and enjoy some of the displays at the V&A.
Science Museum
The Science Museum is literally next door to Imperial. You can learn a lot from mathematics to biology, but you can also interact with latest technologies such as Virtual Reality. If you need even more than this, you can also watch Star Wars at their independent cinema. It has one of the largest screens in the UK and every ticket helps support the Science Museum’s work to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and Jedi Knights.
March arrives and it’s time for the annual Natural History Museum (NHM) Student Conference! I am on the student committee and so help with the organisation. There’s a lot to do organising a conference but we learnt from last year and with new members on the team it seemed a lot less stressful this year! Despite the stress and extra work being part of a committee and helping organising a conference is a great opportunity to learn useful skills and make contacts, so I highly recommend getting involved with one if you can.
Talks are compulsory for 3rd year PhD students like me so although I had spoken at the two previous years’ conferences (I need the practice :\ ) I was yet again up on stage. It was quite fun actually as last year I talked about developing my citizen science project Earthworm Watch which was just about to launch, now it has been running a year so I was able to give the first results from the project. I was also able to talk about some of the amazing media and outreach opportunities it has given me, including getting a grant to attend the Bristol Festival of Nature, winning an award for public engagement and being interviewed on Radio Four’s Gardeners’ Question Time.
Victoria Burton talking about Earthworm Watch at the NHM Student Conference
I haven’t written anything for a while, but I have a good excuse. I participated in FameLab, both British and Polish editions.
FameLab is an international competition for scientists, who want to communicate research effectively. The idea is simple: we have 3 minutes to talk about our favourite scientific concept. The stage is ours for 180 seconds, after which we are judged on the content, clarity and charisma.
The ‘3C’ rules are pretty self-explanatory.
The topic must be interesting for the audience and possible to convey in three minutes. One of the most common mistakes the contestants make is trying to explain all we know about microbiology during one short speech – not possible. Also, the content must be scientifically accurate. It’s less obvious than you think. For example, after FameLab 2016 in Poland we had a heated debate, because the winner presented an idea not confirmed by proper scientific evidence.
This is the part that everyone can actually learn. We shouldn’t use jargon, complicated sentences or explain one concept using five words that the lay audience won’t understand.
The ultimate goal is to be remembered. There’s no one good way to be charismatic, but being excited about our topic won’t hurt.
It was one of the hardest competitions I’ve ever participated in, even though in general I don’t struggle with public speaking. However, a 3-minute-long presentation required way more preparation than any 30-minute talk. I had to think carefully about each sentence, each word, because 180 seconds don’t leave much time for hesitation. This is also the reason why FameLab is more stressful than any other form of public speaking, because if I forgot what I wanted to convey, it would be extremely hard to get back on track within the given time.
Polish and British editions differ a bit. The auditions stage required sending a video of my speech to Poland (which saved me a flight to Warsaw), while here I had to go to the Science Museum and speak in front of three judges and a few other contestants. In the UK twelve people who delivered the best speeches were selected for London final (British FameLab is divided to nine regions). On the other hand, in Poland we competed with contestants from the whole country, 25 of which were invited to the national semi-final. Luckily judges in both countries liked my presentation about turbulence.
Last Wednesday I went to the Science Museum again to deliver a talk about infinities, this time to a wider audience. The audience seemed to enjoy my presentation, which was my main goal. I hope that I helped people understand a small piece of maths that fascinates me. The London winner talked about marine biology, so you can see how varied the topics are. She will represent our region as one of ten UK finalists (one from each region plus the best of nine second place winners).
Two days after the London final I caught a plane to Warsaw. Polish semi-final was a big event, open to the public and widely advertised in the media. The day was exhausting, I arrived to the Copernicus Science Centre at 11 am and the whole event finished about 8 pm. The judging panel consisted of four well-known scientists and journalists, which was a bit overwhelming, but also very motivating.
Semi-final of FameLab Poland
The audience was reacting enthusiastically to my performance about turbulence. Judges asked me a few questions about parts of my talk that were most interesting or surprising. Afterwards I gave a few interviews for national media (if you happen to understand Polish, you can listen to one of them here). I didn’t make it to the national final, but I learned a lot anyway!
I encourage every scientist to participate in FameLab. It isn’t easy, but very rewarding. I’ll definitely do it again next year!
Science Uncovered is part of European Researchers’ Night, and is a free annual festival of science held at various institutions across the UK giving the public the opportunity to discover rare items from the Museum collections, meet experts and take part in interactive science stations, debates and behind-the-scenes tours. (more…)
Every year the Natural History Museum Student Association organises a conference held for Museum-based students to present their research. This year I am on the Student Association Committee so was involved in helping with the conference, and also presented a poster and a talk.
Organising a conference is hard work! There are sponsors to find, speakers to invite, programmes to produce, catering to arrange, and things you might not even consider such as booking porters for the tables and ensuring Museum security procedures are kept to. Organisation began before Christmas but the last few weeks leading up to the event were the busiest, and thankfully it all went well.
Our keynote speakers were Ross Piper, Zoologist, Entomologist, Author and Presenter and Iain Stewart, BBC Natural History Unit and Plymouth University. Over the two days 14 students gave oral presentations on their research at the Museum and we also had a presentation by Dr Mary Henes on the Brilliant Club – a charity which widens access to universities. There were also poster presentations by students and stands from some of our sponsors.
Thankfully I managed to avoid being dragged to see the Oxford Street Christmas lights this year but as my Christmas-loving boyfriend was visiting it would be rude to not show him any and he was happy with seeing some of the Regent Street lights during a day out in London.
Regent Street Christmas lights
As I described in an earlier blog post, work last week consisted of mostly Christmas parties! Starting off with the the Natural History Museum Student Association Christmas Party and moving on to the Soil Biodiversity Group Christmas gathering where my supervisor Paul Eggleton tried on my Christmas hat! Sadly I was unable to join the group Christmas meal afterwards but it was great catching up with volunteers, students and staff.
Christmas hat wearing PhD supervisor
The next day it was the Purvis Lab Christmas party, including a ‘double-blind’ Secret Santa when you don’t know whom you are buying for or what you will get. We had a lovely lunch in a local pub which included crackers, party poppers and Christmas hats! Cue more hat wearing supervisor shenanigans!
Double-blind Secret Santa (and another Christmas hat wearing supervisor)
After tea, chocolate and bakewell tarts it was off to the Natural History Museum Life Sciences Christmas Party, this year’s theme was ‘Stars in Your Eyes’ and featured several Amy Winehouse, Slash, Britney Spears, Freddie Mercury and others I didn’t recognise. There was also some karaoke and a performance from the Village People! Not to mention lots of excellent food and drink.
Life Sciences Christmas party
This week it was time for some more sedate Christmas celebrations with the Museum choir group performing in the Victoria and Albert and Natural History Museums. Today I went along to watch the choir performing on the steps of Hinzte Hall at the Natural History Museum, which was well attended by staff and visitors. Fellow Purvis Lab member Isabel (bottom far right in photo) sang a solo part, shortly before her PhD viva!
Carol singing in Natural History Museum Hintze Hall
This week the Wildlife Gardening Forum held its conference ‘Soil Biodiversity in the Garden’ at the Natural History Museum in London. Being a keen gardener and researching soil biodiversity I had to go along.
Steve Head opens the Wildlife Gardening Forum conference
The Wildlife Gardening Forum is a group of organisations and people who are passionate about wildlife in gardens and seek to help people value and enjoy wildlife in their gardens. While there has been quite a lot of interest in gardens as habitats for birds, mammals and pollinating insects, few consider the life below ground so this conference was a great way to raise the profile of soil organisms and discuss ideas. Check my Storify: “Wildlife Gardening Forum – Soil Biodiversity in the Garden” to see some of the talks and discussion that was generated, finishing with an afternoon in the Natural History Museum Wildlife Garden.
I took a day off from studying to visit the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill, South East London. The museum has been on my ‘places to visit list’ for sometime, and I was particularly looking forward to meeting its famous walrus specimen, which even has its own Twitter account.
The exterior of the Horniman Museum
Since rain was forecast we decided to look around the grounds of the museum before heading inside. The building is in the arts and style and was founded in 1901 by Frederick John Horniman. The wall features a mosaic called Humanity in the House of Circumstance.
Bandstand with London skyline
The museum has extensive gardens which include a bandstand overlooking the London skyline and some farm animals.
Alpacas at the Horniman Museum
Inside, I was surprised to learn that the Horniman has an aquarium, but since our visit was short that would have to wait for another day. Instead, we looked at the extensive collections of cultural artefacts from all over the world.
Masks from a variety of cultures
Then we visited the natural history collections which include a gallery arranged by how they are classified. I rather like this traditional approach to natural history museums and enjoyed browsing the variety of life, especially the insects!
Lovely stag and water beetle dioramas
From the balcony you can look down on the larger specimens including the Canadian walrus.
View from the Horniman Museum natural history gallery
The walrus has been on display at the Horniman for over a century and is famous for having rather too much stuffing! A live walrus has lots of skin folds, but few people would have known that in the 1880s so it was over-stuffed to fill the loose skin out.
Meeting the Horniman walrus
I highly recommend a visit to the Horniman Museum, which is free (there is a small charge for the aquarium). I will certainly be planning another visit in the summer when the gardens will be looking their best. Check their website: www.horniman.ac.uk for more information, they also have an excellent blog and Twitter feed.
