• Question: what are you going to do if you win?

    Asked by anon-181149 on 7 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Alexandra Hogan

      Alexandra Hogan answered on 7 Jun 2018:

      When I was at school I really liked maths, and then even went on to do maths at university. However, that whole time I still didn’t really know what jobs or careers I could do with a maths degree. It turns out there are SO many jobs for people who are good at maths. Basically any career type you can think of involves numbers in some way or needs data to be analysed – which is where mathematicians are needed.

      If I win I would use the money to travel to your schools and talk to you about all the cool careers available for people who study maths.

    • Photo: Alex Haragan

      Alex Haragan answered on 7 Jun 2018:

      First I shall buy a cake. Then invite all my friends and have a party.
      And because most of them will think I’ve gone mad, I’ll have quite a bit of cake to eat!
      >
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      More seriously – the idea of this is to showcase to people how science benefits everyone. Like most scientists I think what I do is really interesting – but in the short time we’ve been on here I’ve learned about what the others do and that is also really interesting.
      Hopefully it will make some of you think about science as a career, but even if not, to recognise that science is a really, really broad subject. And in “real-life” – its much more than just the lessons you get taught in school.
      So if I did win I’d want to set up some sort of online project where people thinking about a science career or wanting to know about a science career can learn about and talk about ideas. I work as a doctor and as a scientist – so I like the idea of science that has an immediate impact in terms of helping people – so I’d focus on showing why all science, sooner or later, is useful to humans.

    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 7 Jun 2018:

      Hmm.. I’d like to work with school and people of your age to try to discover what puts some young people off science and when it happens… do you think that this is something worth look into?

    • Photo: Camille Parsons

      Camille Parsons answered on 7 Jun 2018:

      Firstly I would be very happy and have like Alex would have some really sticky cake to celebrate. But I would use the prize money to buy models of bones, we are used to seeing what the skeleton looks like from science lessons but barely anyone knows what bones look like on the inside. I think it is really important and super cool to be able to go around science events and schools to show people how are bones are made up 🙂

    • Photo: Ashley Akbari

      Ashley Akbari answered on 8 Jun 2018:

      I am just enjoying taking part so to win would be a massive bonus. We try to run events and workshops for schools to introduce them to science and the opportunities which are available to people if they pursue this either for fun, a hobbie or long term career interest. So with the great team we have here we would look to put on a great event!

    • Photo: Claire Donald

      Claire Donald answered on 8 Jun 2018:

      I have developed some activities that I take to schools and youth groups to teach them about viruses and the mosquitoes that transmit them. I have a glovebox isolater (a large, clear, sealed box with long gloves attached that go all the way up your arms- like this https://www.tdiinternational.com/gloveboxes/) and I get you to do challenges inside the box. For instance, you have to dissect a 3D printed mosquito or transfer sleeping ”mosquitoes” from one area to another before they wake up and try to fly around. This may sound simple but your timed and those gloves are very thick!

      If I won the money, my idea is to develop other activities, specifically ones for younger children. I’d like to get some special UV paint that only shows up under UV light to teach them about hygiene. Its important they learn that even though your hands may look clean, there may be something nasty there that you can’t see. I can bring them a long to your school and let you guys try them out??

    • Photo: Lauren Burns

      Lauren Burns answered on 8 Jun 2018:

      There are so many fantastic scientists taking part, I would be totally surprised if I won. However, if I was so lucky as to be picked, I would put the money towards the events that the Data Science department at Swansea University runs to engage with families and schools (such as the Swansea Science Festival), so we would be able to afford really cool gadgets to give to the families and schools, while promoting the work we do in Data Science 🙂

    • Photo: Hannah Farley

      Hannah Farley answered on 10 Jun 2018:

      3D print some models of embryos that I can take to schools to help explain my work to kids like you guys.

    • Photo: Laura Hemming

      Laura Hemming answered on 10 Jun 2018:

      If I win I’d really like to use the money to make people aware of some of the findings of mental health research and how these can have a real world impact. I’m keen to do something which highlights the link between mental health and the arts – I also think the arts are a great way to communicate important messages. So I’m thinking probably some sort of short play, that we could maybe take to schools, which tries to get some of the messages of my research out there. This would probably involve using the responses from interviews that I’ve done with prisoners and making these to write a script for a play.

    • Photo: Joanne Sharpe

      Joanne Sharpe answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      I am really keen to encourage young people to consider going into science as a career! I would love to create some really cool resources to take into schools and show what science really is and all the different aspects of it, not just what you do at school.

    • Photo: Leo Beacroft

      Leo Beacroft answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      Here’s what I’d do if I win:

      I study how infectious diseases spread and I think it’s super important for as many people as possible to understand how these diseases spread from person to person among the population. I think playing games and being actively involved can be a great way to learn about things. That’s why I’d design games that can help to explain how diseases can spread within a population.

      I want to design a game for a large number of people in which a “disease” spreads within the group you “infect” your friends (and teachers!).

      This is how I’d use the ÂŁ500 prize money:

      £200 – fees for game designers

      I study diseases for a living, but I’m not an expert at designing games so I’d pay some game designers to help me. Hopefully the team of professional scientist + professional game designer will make the games as fun and interesting as possible.

      £150 – costs for making the games

      I’m hoping to keep the equipment costs as low as possible.

      £150 – transport costs

      I want this game to be played in as many schools as possible so I’d use some of the money for transport costs to travel to different schools around the country.

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