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STEM Education and Skills at Westminster
August 14, 2019
On 8 July, Rachel Exley attended her first Parliamentary and Scientific Committee discussion meeting, at Portcullis House in Westminster. The title of the meeting was 'STEM education and skills' and provided a forum for discussion between Members of Parliament and representatives of scientific bodies, industry and academia on how to inspire and engage young people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in order to address the skills shortage in the future UK workforce. The focus was particularly on engineering, and members of a diverse panel of speakers were invited to share their perspectives. I attended the meeting to gather information and identify ways the Microbiology Society might contribute to this agenda.
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Q&A with Danny Ward, winner of the Microbiology in Society Award 2019
August 12, 2019
Danny Ward is a postgraduate researcher at the John Innes Centre, researching virulence and pathogenicity of plant-infecting and human-infecting bacteria. The 2019 Microbiology in Society Award was given to Danny to create the Microbe Zone in this autumn's I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! competition; the online science engagement activity where school students connect with real scientists.
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Engaging with the research around me
July 23, 2019
The last week of June brought about the University of Nottingham’s 5th Annual Postgraduate Symposium for members of the School of Life Sciences. Over the course of two days, students and academics alike were able to attend a plethora of talks and poster presentations being held by colleagues in the school. Here, Vicky Smith, BBSRC-funded PhD student at the University of Nottingham, reflects on her experience of presenting at the symposium for the first time.
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LGBTSTEM Day: James Oliver
July 5, 2019
The International Day of LGBTQ+ People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths is held to raise awareness about the challenges LGBTQ+ people face in STEM. This year, our Member Engagement Officer, Eve, interviewed two of our Champions about their journey as LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM. In this interview, James Oliver, an undergraduate BSc Biology student at Edge Hill University, talks about his experience as a bisexual transgender male in science.
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LGBTSTEM Day: Michael Pascoe
July 5, 2019
First held on 5 July 2018, LGBTSTEM Day is an initiative to celebrate diversity and inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM. This year, our Member Engagement Officer, Eve, interviewed two of our Champions about their journey as LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM. In this interview, Michael Pascoe talks about his journey being a cis gay man in academia. Michael is a pharmaceutical microbiologist at Cardiff University finishing his PhD, and recently attended the LGBTQ+ networking session at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) conference.
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Microbiology Society members in action at the Balmoral Show 2019
June 21, 2019
The Balmoral Show is an annual event held in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The show is Northern Ireland’s largest agri-food event and provides an opportunity for the public to learn more about a range of subjects, including where their food comes from and how it is made. Importantly, it provides an opportunity for a range of government departments to engage with the public and raise awareness around important issues.
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Champions at CURE-Infection
April 15, 2019
Earlier this year, four of our Society Champions represented the Microbiology Society at the Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Biology (CURE-Infection) Network Early Career Researcher event at Cardiff University. While some of them had worked together before, this was the first time that so many Society Champions have come together to represent the Society. We caught up with Ed Cunningham-Oakes, Laura Kerr, Daniel Morse and Michael Pascoe after the event to find out a little more about their area of specialism, how they found working together for the first time and their advice for anyone who might be thinking about becoming a Society Champion.
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Life as an antimicrobial resistance researcher
March 6, 2019
In February this year, the Northern Ireland Science Festival took place. Here, Chris Proctor, PhD student at Ulster University and Microbiology Society Champion discusses his contribution to the event.