Talks

In the past two decades, more than 5000 planets orbiting other stars, known as exoplanets, have been discovered. This number is expected to increase into the tens of thousands with the imminent launch of new planet-hunting facilities, such as the ESA-led mission, PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars).

Exoplanets show a remarkable diversity in size and composition, and so far, no planetary system similar to our own has been found, raising the question, “are we unique?” This talk will describe how exoplanets are discovered and characterized, focusing on the search for potentially habitable rocky worlds that may have the surface conditions to support life. The first results from the state-of-the-art space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is revolutionizing the understanding of the atmospheres and climates of planets around other stars, will also be presented.

You can see a version of the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrn_uwBxkeQ

Suitable for KS4 and KS5 pupils. 

Until the discovery of exoplanets, our understanding of how planetary systems form was based entirely on what we know from our home, the Solar System. But in the last 10 years there has been an explosion in the number of planetary systems we know around other stars. Most of these planetary systems are quite different to our own, harbouring types of planets not seen in the solar system. We will take a tour through some important discoveries in exoplanet science and telescopes that have enabled them, exploring how they have challenged our ideas about how planets form. We will finish with a look to the future - will the arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope resolve the mystery?

Suitable for KS4 and KS5 pupils.

Although magnets have been important in human life for many centuries, it is only recently that scientists have properly understood them. Most people don't know that the one of the most important breakthroughs in magnetism was made at the University of Leeds in the 1930s. Today, magnets are at the heart of renewable energy production, data storage and the electrification of transport. Magnets may soon help us treat disease, send spacecraft to Mars and power Artificial Intelligence.

Suitable for KS5 pupils.

The modern internet with its large data centres and server farms uses vast amounts of energy - and the development of generative AI like ChatGTP is accelerating this trend. Around  one fifth of the entire energy production of the planet is going to running ICT. Not only is this very expensive, but a lot of the energy being used is produced using fossil fuels and generates large amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

We are interested in using superconductors - materials that when cooled to very low temperatures have no electrical resistance - to make electronics that could be much more energy efficient and reduce the power requirements for large data centres.

Superconductors are fascinating materials to study as their unique properties demonstrate quantum mechanics at work in a scale that you can easily see. In our research we combine them with magnetic materials to build new electronics that use their fundamental physics properties.

Suitable for KS3 through KS5 pupils.

In this lecture I will talk about how we can use physics to better understand biology and disease. I will present the development tools that initially helped launch the field of nanotechnology but that have now reached the capabilities to video nature's nanomachines such as DNA and proteins in action.

Often when we have a problem with our DNA or proteins this can lead to a certain disease. Diseases can also be caused by pathogens such as viruses and bacteria which use their DNA and protein machinery to attack cells. I will discuss how we can use physics to analyse videos of these molecules to one day improve treatments.

Suitable for KS4 and KS5 pupils.

The world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), is currently under construction in South Africa and Australia. In this talk I will show you some of the exciting science that has already emerged from the SKA precursor telescope MeerKAT and outline what the SKA may discover in the future.

Suitable for KS4 and KS5 pupils.

This lecture is part scientific, part personal story about quantum mechanics. I will present easy to understand examples where quantum mechanics appears producing truly unexpected behaviour. This behaviour has been puzzling experts and non-experts alike since the birth of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. The burning question is “why do small particles, like atoms and electrons, behave so funny?”.

To answer this question I will tell you my personal story, where I first heard about quantum physics, the excitement in studying it and the frustration in trying to understand it. After studying quantum mechanics for more than twenty years I am still excited about the prospect of an unexpected wonder lurking to be discovered. Find out more through these videos.

Suitable for KS3 through KS5 pupils.  

In this lecture, which can also be a workshop if you require, I will tell you all about the wonderful properties of slime. In this demo rich talk I will shatter your understanding of the material world. Can a liquid bounce? A solid flow? A solution shatter? And as an added bonus I’ll tell you a secret, my personal favourite naturally occurring organic polymer!

Polymers are long chain molecules that give slime its wonderful range of properties. Polymers can be found all around you. They are in shopping bags, muscles, skin, fleas, cars, computers and in each and every cell of your body! If you want to understand how life works, then you need to discover polymer physics! What more could you want from a talk? Ok, I might also give away some freebies!

Suitable for KS3 through KS5 pupils.  

Duration: 15 minutes

Duration: 20 minutes

Duration: 20 minutes

Duration: 16 minutes 

Duration: 58 minutes