Exoplanets and how to find them

Posted on Thursday, 6 February 2014 by Andrew Norton

Professor Andrew Norton, The Open University

I’m an astrophysicist and my research is mainly concerned with what may be called the “time domain universe”, or simply: stars whose brightness varies with time.

Stars can have a variable brightness for one of several reasons: they might be intrinsically variable due to pulsations of the star’s atmosphere; they might be in orbit with another object that periodically passes in front of it; or they might suffer some form of catastrophic change that causes flaring or outburst behaviour, for instance.

One way to carry out research in time domain astrophysics is simply to monitor the brightness of all the stars in the sky and see what you find. This is, in effect, what is done by the WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) project, of which I and others at the Open University are part.

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Sweat, mud and leeches

Posted on Wednesday, 5 February 2014 by Clare Warren

Dr Clare Warren, The Open University

A day in the life of a field geologist
Earth Scientists like me study the Earth: how it formed, how it changed over geological time, and how all the different ‘bits’ such as the atmosphere, oceans, soil and rocks interact with each other.

In detail, I’m a geologist – I specifically try to understand the rocks beneath our feet. And in even more detail, I’m a field geologist. Nothing excites me more than the prospect of getting to spend weeks in a tent up a remote mountain somewhere (although preferably not in the rain), collecting rock samples for analysis back in the lab.

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‘Like asking a child to drive a bus …’

Posted on Wednesday, 22 January 2014 by Beverley Gibbs

‘Like asking a child to drive a bus …’: on seeing the publics of public engagement as citizens, not children

Beverley Gibbs, University of Nottingham and University College London

Last Monday (13.1.14), I joined the Open University’s ‘Engaging Research’ seminar series to share some research I’ve been doing on Scotland’s transition to a low-carbon society. Energy has always been a hugely important part of Scotland’s identity, and is set to continue to be a key part of the debates in advance of the Referendum for Scottish Independence in September 2014.

My particular interests lie in what the public engagement landscape has to say about, or how it contributes to, this ambitious transition. Fairly quickly, we can identify a disjunction between public policy priorities and the public engagement taking place from universities and the science communication infrastructure (by which I mean science centres, science festivals and informal science engagement practice). This gap is really interesting when you think about it, and in the discussion at the end of the talk we explored it a little further.

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The past is the key to the future

Posted on Tuesday, 14 January 2014 by Frazer Bird

Frazer Bird, The Open University

I am a palaeoecologist at the Open University. My research involves reconstructing how our planet has changed over longer time scales in the past (1-2 million years). At first glance my research does not seem entirely relevant to current climate change but in fact it is integral. The climate system is hugely complicated and we still don’t fully understand how all the aspects work or how they interact together. One way of learning how the system operates is to simply observe it. The longer you observe it; then the better you will understand how it works and what are the possibilities for how it may change.

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JuxtaLearn – engaging students with science and technology through creative video performance

Posted on Monday, 16 December 2013 by Gill Clough

Gill Clough

JuxtaLearn is a 3-year EU-funded project that has just passed the one-year mark and we are currently working to implement the technical aspects of the JuxtaLearn Process that we have developed.

In our presentation we give a little more detail about the challenges and findings from our first year. We showcase some of the videos made by the partners in the project to express their vision. One of these, the Teddy video, describes our efforts to come to a shared understanding of the project between the partners on the project, as well as introducing the workshops we held with teachers in school.

Anne Adams

The goal of the JuxtaLearn Project is to enable students to overcome barriers to science and technology learning by exploring and sharing their understanding using creative video performance. By engaging student curiosity in difficult-to-learn science and technology subjects, the JuxtaLearn Process supports them along a creative route to a deeper understanding of topics that the teachers have identified as particularly problematic. The JuxtaLearn Process is illustrated, graphically, in Figure 1.

Graphic illustrating the JuxtaLearn process

Figure 1

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Communi-tea party at the academy

Posted on Thursday, 14 November 2013 by Julie Bounford

Julie Bounford, University of East Anglia

The academy and community: seeking authentic voices inside higher education – A workshop on creating and sustaining an engaged research community

On 11th November 2013, I facilitated a small workshop where participants explored some of the essential building blocks for creating and sustaining a research community that cultivates and delivers engaged academic practice. The session focused on features outlined in my research poster. A pdf of the poster, ‘COMMUNI-TEA PARTY AT THE ACADEMY’ can be downloaded – here.

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TED-Ed: engaging with astrobiology research

Posted on Monday, 11 November 2013 by Louisa Preston

Dr Louisa Preston, The Open University

As well as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Physical Sciences at the Open University I have also been selected as a TED Fellow. Having been an avid watcher of the TED talks for many years I was inspired to apply to the Fellowship scheme so I could have a global stage on which to share the fantastic research being conducted in Astrobiology and to educate people worldwide on the subject of life in space.

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How to lose publics and alienate people

Posted on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 by Emily Dawson

Dr Emily Dawson, University College London

Social exclusion in public engagement with science

On Monday last week I gave a presentation as part of the ‘Engaging Research’ seminar series being run at the Open University (as you might have guessed since this is their blog!) The seminar series runs in conjunction with two RCUK-funded projects: ‘An open research university‘; and ‘Engaging opportunities‘.

My research interests are around who ‘counts’ as a public for so called ‘public’ engagement and how do engagement practices contribute to the exclusion of certain groups.

My research asks questions like these:

Who is public engagement with science (PES) for?
Whose stories, culture and communities are represented through public engagement with science?
When we think about and write about understanding science as part of culture, or indeed, work towards mainstreaming science ‘as culture’ through our science engagement, communication, policy and education projects, whose culture is privileged?

Put another way, what might it feel like to be ‘othered’ by public engagement with science? For example, we know from an analysis of the UK science education community that informal science learning opportunities tend to cluster around certain audiences, namely those who are already more socially advantaged. So what about everyone else?

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Why technology-enhanced learning needs engagement

Posted on Tuesday, 17 September 2013 by Trevor Collins

Trevor Collins' seminar on technology-enhanced learning and engagement

Last Monday, I gave a talk on my research as part of the ‘engaging research’ seminar series associated with the RCUK funded Catalyst and SUPI projects. I explained why I think engagement is so important.

In my research, I try to identify the range of stakeholders in a given learning context that will be affected by the introduction of a technology. Through understanding the activities that the stakeholders are involved in, I try to develop technologies that will be used to facilitate learning without causing too much extra work for any individual stakeholder. By engaging, I hope to understand the stakeholders’ perspectives and where possible collaborate with them to create something they will find useful.

Here’s the video of the seminar along with the slides (including the cited references) and abstract…

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Engaging Research

An Open Research University: Embedding public engagement within the research culture of the OU

Category Archives: Presentations

Exoplanets and how to find them

Sweat, mud and leeches

‘Like asking a child to drive a bus …’

The past is the key to the future

JuxtaLearn – engaging students with science and technology through creative video performance

Communi-tea party at the academy

TED-Ed: engaging with astrobiology research

How to lose publics and alienate people

Why technology-enhanced learning needs engagement