IOP in Ireland Annual Report 2013 (PDF, 2 MB) - The Institute of ...

Institute of Physics in Ireland | April 2013Annual reportActivities and outreach • Education • Policy

Activities and outreach“2012 – A remarkable year for physics”, so commentedIOP Ireland Chair Dr Kevin McGuigan at the Institute’sChristmas reception. With historic accomplishments likeglimpsing the Higgs boson at Cern, and the Mars Rovertouching down successfully on the Red Planet, interestin physics has certainly been piqued worldwide.Closer to home, IOP Ireland celebrated physics at thehighest levels with its High Flyers event in May, whichbrought together renowned physicists on areas rangingfrom the discovery of quarks to the mysteries of theuniverse. Speakers included Nobel physicist JeromeFriedman, who uncovered the first experimental evidenceof quarks; Boyle Medal winner Margaret Murnane, an Irishphysicist at the very forefront of ultrashort pulsed laserresearch; 2010 Physics Wolf Prize winner Anton Zeilinger,a world-renowned pioneer in the field of quantuminformation; Schawlow Prize winner Henry Kapteynwhose pioneering work has pushed X-ray source researchto the very brink of laser-like technology; and bringingit all together Cecilia Jarlskog, 2011 President of theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Physics.Awards2012 also brought another Nobel Laureate to Dublin,Prof. Bill Phillips, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physicsfor development of methods to cool and trap atomswith laser light. Prof. Phillips was the keynote speakerat IOP’s Rosse Medal competition for communicatingpostgraduate research. The winner of the competitionwas Nina Berner of Trinity College Dublin.Silver medals for top performances in end-of-schoolexams were presented by Kevin McGuigan. In NorthernIreland the top A-level student in physics was SanaAshraf of Strathearn College, Belfast. Sana is currentlystudying medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, whileBrian Traynor and Eoin Coleman were awarded theIOP medal for the top place in the physics LeavingCertificate. Brian, a student of Virginia College,Co. Cavan, is studying nanoscience at Trinity CollegeDublin, while Eoin from St Attracta’s Community School,Tubbercurry in Sligo, has been accepted for medicine.The High Flyers event was part of IOP Ireland’scontribution to the European Science Open Forum.Another physics highlight from ESOF was theperformance of the IOP Science on Stage buskers whoentertained and educated everyone on Grafton Streetand in the Convention Centre during ESOF.IOP continued its work to raise awareness of careers inphysics at events in Dublin, Belfast, Cavan and Sligo,distributing thousands of copies of its publication28 Days, 28 Physicists, which was financially supportedby Discover Science and Engineering. In addition thevery striking Jobs for Physicists advertisement featuredon buses throughout Ireland.Steve Myers speaking at the Frontiers ofPhysics Teachers Conference.Bill Phillips demonstrates “Time, Einstein and the coolest stuff in theuniverse” at IOP’s Rosse Medal competition.2

Young Scientist exhibitionA very special highlight for IOP members and friendswas the honouring of Dr Tony Scott at the People ofthe Year Awards in September 2012. Tony, along withthe late Rev. Dr Tom Burke, established the YoungScientist Exhibition in 1963, with 230 researchprojects exhibited. Today, it is the longest-runningevent of its kind in Ireland and Europe, and the secondlongest-running worldwide. IOP continues to stronglysupport the event with an annual exhibition and theawarding of the prize for the best physics project. Thisyear, the prize was won by three Galway students fortheir project “Safreeze-indicating whether frozen foodis safe to consume or not”. Sean Reilly and Ellen Leahy(age 17) worked with 16-year-old Owen McDonnell, all inthe fifth year at Coláiste na Coiribe in Galway, to devisea method of determining whether frozen food had beenpreviously defrosted and then refrozen.Staff movement2012 also saw Alison Hackett, IOP representative inIreland for almost 13 years, leave the Institute. Alison’soutstanding contribution to physics in Ireland waswarmly recognised at a special event in August to markher work. A short time later, Dr Liz Conlon joined theIOP Ireland team. Based at the Northern Ireland SciencePark, Liz, who has a background in astronomy, is theInstitute’s education and promotions advisor.EducationThe five teacher network co-ordinators at IOP Ireland haveprovided tremendous support for hundreds of teachersthroughout the island, with many workshops – rangingfrom the Virtual Physics Laboratory to rockets – eventsand newsletters produced, and exam papers reviewed.Much of this work has been done in conjunction with theProfessional Development Service for Teachers and withthe Northern Ireland Department of Education.IOP Ireland highlights opportunities for physicists.The excitement of the Higgs boson confirmation wasa particular highlight of the annual physics teachers’conference Frontiers, when Belfast-born Steve Myers,director of accelerators at CERN, spoke of the dramaof the achievement. The conference, which was heldin Trinity College Dublin, also featured Karen Bultitudeof UCL on gender-aware teaching practice and MartynWheeler from Leicester on WiiMote physics. FromTrinity’s School of Physics, Peter Gallagher spokeon tuning in the radio Sun, Jonathan Coleman onnanoparticles and Matthias Möbius on granular flows.The teacher network co-ordinators also contributedphysics demonstrations to many other events aroundthe country, including the Mallow Science Festival,Maths in the City and Maths in the Botanic Gardens.They also worked closely with the Irish Science TeachersAssociation and the Association for Science Educationto provide support, particularly for newly qualifiedteachers and non-specialist physics teachers.This year’s Tyndall lecture tour looked closely at nuclearfusion with hundreds of school students across Irelandcoming to a series of lectures given in eight venues byDr Melanie Windridge.Images (left to right):Brian Traynor and Sana Ashraf withmedals for top Leaving Certificate andA-level physics students; the IOP chiefexecutive presents Sean Reilly, EllenLeahy and Owen McDonnell with theiraward for the best physics project at BTYoung Scientist; Minister for Researchand Innovation Sean Sherlock speakingat the launch of the physics economyreport; the Physics in Time ceramicmural at St Joseph’s College, Lucan,part-sponsored by IOP Ireland; TonyScott at the People of the Year Awards.IOP continuedits work to raiseawareness ofcareers in physicsat events inDublin, Belfast,Cavan and Sligo3

The importance of physics to the economy£1.5 bnPhysics-basedbusinessescontributed morethan £1.5 bn to theNorthern Irisheconomy in 2010.26,000Physics-basedsectors employ26,000 people, a3.8% share of jobsin Northern Ireland.65%The share ofmanufacturing jobsin Northern Irishphysics-basedsectors is largerthan the rest ofthe UK.8.8%Physics-basedbusinesses directlycontribute 8.8% ofNorthern Ireland’seconomic output.¤7 bnPhysics-basedbusinesses directlycontributed€7 bn to the Irisheconomy in 2010.¤23 bnPhysics-basedsectors exportedmore than €23 bnworth of goods andservices in 2009.¤1 bnBusinessexpenditure onresearch anddevelopment(R&D) exceeded€1 bn in 2009.86,0004.5% of the Irishworkforce aredirectly employedin physics-basedjobs; 86,000people.Physicsbusinessescontribute£1.5 bn annuallyto the economy inNorthern IrelandPolicyWhile somewhat gloomy economy matters loomedlarge on every front across the island, there was goodnews to be found in the Institute’s reports on theimportance of physics to the economy. In Ireland,despite the hard-hitting recession, the physics basecontributed more than €7 bn annually to the economy,with 86,000 people employed directly from thecountry’s physics base. In Northern Ireland it was notedthat physics-based businesses employ more than26,000 people, which is significantly higher than thenumber employed in finance, banking and insurance.In addition, the value that employees in physics-basedbusinesses add to the Northern Ireland economy isalmost double that of the average UK employee; in2010, the gross value added (GVA, analogous to grossdomestic product, or GDP) by the average UK employeewas £36,000, while the average employee in aphysics-based business in Northern Ireland contributedapproximately £57,000.The Institute also contributed to consultations onmany issues affecting physics, including NorthernIreland careers advice service, reforms to the GCE andGCSE exams, funding of science research, and entryqualifications for physics teachers.In addition a new IOP Ireland policy leaflet for NorthernIreland – aimed at politicians – was produced and isbeing distributed at a number of events at Stormont.In Northern Ireland, IOP Ireland has played an activerole in the newly established All Party Group on Scienceat Stormont. This grouping of assembly members andprofessional science bodies aims to draw attention toscience issues and to provide access to speakers andrelevant research. It has organised a series of events,such as Science at Stormont, debates on topical issuessuch as fracking and information sessions on DNAanalysis.IOP Ireland has had a number of meetings withpoliticians, ministers and senior civil servants on bothsides of the Irish border to both raise concerns and tooffer help in implementing possible solutions. In thecoming year we will continue to strongly press the casethat investment in physics is a key factor in the island’seconomic recovery.Institute of Physics in Irelandc/o School of Physics, Science Centre North,University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4Tel +353 86 2600903 Fax 01 2837275E-mail ireland@iop.org Web www.iopireland.orgThe Innovation Centre NI Science ParkQueen’s Road, Queen’s Island, Belfast BT3 9DTTel +44 (0) 7720 497002