Researchers like you’ve never seen them before

The doors of the University’s laboratories, libraries and lecture theatres were flung open in spectacular style by more than 80 academics at Researchers’ Night held in September, part of Festival of the Mind.

Members of the public took in the visual delights of the Research Photography Competition. Photographs that tell the story of the research we do and the people who make it happen were on display for a public vote and the overall winner was Andrew Sole with his photograph, Tracing water flow beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet. Andrew also won first prize in the research in progress category.

He said: “I’m thrilled to have won. I went to see the exhibition myself, and the other entries were all of a very high standard. I suppose the beauty and unusual photo opportunities which crop up on a daily basis conducting fieldwork in somewhere like Greenland must lend a certain advantage!”

Andrew’s image shows fluorescent dye and gas injected into meltwater flowing into a moulin (a vertical shaft linking the ice surface and bed) on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Water flowing along the base of the ice affects the speed at which the glacier flows. Examining the flow paths and speed of water at the ice bed enables a better understanding of the complex relationship between surface melt and ice flow and helps to improve predictions of the ice sheet’s contribution to global sea level rise.

A list of winners in all categories is available below. Take a look at their winning images by clicking here

Visitors to Researchers’ Night also enjoyed taking part in night-time science experiments and pop-in lectures. Quick hands-on demonstrations such as how to extract the DNA from a strawberry inspired young and old. One child visitor said: “I liked the strawberries. I’ve learnt that if all DNA from my body was stretched out it would reach the moon and back 110 thousand times!”

At Professor Tony Ryan’s Extreme Cold event huge crowds saw the strange things that happen to everyday objects when they get very, very cold. Tony revealed the amazing things you can do when you go to -196 C using liquid nitrogen – he deflated balloons, shattered flowers, crumbled rubber gloves and made ice cream. Tony said: “It’s been awesome. Best ice-cream stand I’ve ever run!”

Members of the public heard how physics can help fight cancer in a fascinating lecture by Dr Rhoda Hawkins. They learnt that unlike normal cells, cancer cells keep growing forever, and that cancer cells belonging to Henrietta Lacks, an American lady who died of cervical cancer in 1952, are still used in labs all over the world. These cells are now known as heLa cells. Rhoda said: “I’m really impressed with the number of people who came and the insightful questions they asked.”

Researchers’ Night happened simultaneously at 800 other institutions across 32 European countries – from Iceland to Israel, Finland to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The University was only the sixth institution in the whole of the UK to have ever taken part.

VIDEO: Click here to see what else happened at Researchers’ Night

Winners for each category of the Research Photography Competition:

Research in Progress
• First: Andrew Sole, Geography – Tracing water flow beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet.
• Second: James Marshall, Martin Highett, Thomas Schlegel, Beverly Inkson, Computer Science – Golden Ant.
• Third: Moritz Muschick, Animal and Plant Sciences – Just another fir needle.

People
• First: Dharaminder Sing, Materials Science and Engineering – It’s so small...
• Second: Gemma Lyons, ScHARR – Researching the prevalence of malnutrition among elderly people in Nepal
• Third: Jon Leary, E-Futures DTC – In his element

Esoterica
• First: Guy Brown, Computer Science – AnTon
• Second: Nicholas Warren, Chemistry – Nanojellyfish
• Third: Hannah Russ and Ron Adams, Archaeology – Ling Skull

Commended (not in any order)
• Stewart Husband, Civil Engineering – What hosepipe ban
• Daniel Toolan, Chemical and Biological Engineering – Kaleidoscope
• Adam Harding, Integrated Biology, School of Clinical Dentistry – Neuroma formation entering a nerver graft
• Richard Morton, Mathematics and Statistics – Solving the mystery of the million degree solar atmosphere
• Ben Cherry, Animal and Plant Sciences – Daunting equipment on a tiny subject

Hear what visitors thought of Researchers’ Night:

“It’s great that it appeals to a younger audience and is inspiring children to think about science. My friends in Portugal were saying on Facebook that they wished they were here!”

“The best bit was when I held a locust on my finger, and extracting DNA and seeing the squirmy bits. I could have spent a whole day here! I’d definitely come back.”

“I thought having access to the experiments in the Alfred Denny labs was excellent. I especially enjoyed the polymers. Can we have more of it please? I think what you have done is really good, I would absolutely come back if you did it again, 100 per cent“

“I loved the philosophy talks with the round table discussions. It gave a feeling of inclusive and togetherness.”