Sixth Form Evening Lectures
How Physical Sciences and Mathematics Make a Difference in the World
Evening Lectures Programme
09 NOV
Lecture 1- Nature’s Blueprint: the physics of bio-inspired surfaces
Over centuries, flora and fauna have evolved efficient survival strategies, such as water-repellent feathers in ducks and intricate venation patterns in leaves for transpiration. In this lecture, we’ll delve into the physics of nature-inspired designs: what makes a surface super water adherent or repellent and how to artificially mimic these designs to improve energy and mass transport.
Presenter
Prashant Agrawal
16 NOV
Lecture 2 – Talking in Light: Satellite Laser Communication
A satellite often can send huge amount of data to another satellite or a ground station. Nowadays, satellites use radio frequency (RF) for data transmission, which is slow, and distance limited. In this lecture, I will talk about how here at Northumbria, we are trying to use a laser beam instead of RF to overcome the current communication limits.
Presenter
Mojtaba Mansour Abadi
23 NOV
Lecture 3 – Heating with light: a possible way to new solar cell design
Solar cells are devices able to convert light into electricity, which are formed by stacking up thin layers of different materials. These materials have different physical-chemical properties and therefore have distinct roles with a solar cell. To get the best structure-related properties of these semiconductors, we use a thermal treatment (annealing) to facilitate the crystallisation of the materials.
In this talk we will talk about flash annealing: an innovative way to perform thermal treatment with quick and intense lamp flashes. We will discuss the advantages/disadvantages of this technique and the most recent results obtained at Northumbria University.
Presenter
Giulia Longo
30 NOV
Lecture 4a: Why Does Space Sing? (And why should I care?)
Presented in parallel with Lecture 4b
Our planet, like others in our solar system, possesses a magnetic field which acts like a cage that traps particles that the sun shoots at us and stops them from frying us and our electronics. A curious by-product of the particles being trapped here is that the particles can “pluck” the magnetic field lines like instrument strings and make coherent chirps which sound an awful lot like birdsong in the morning. How the heck are they managing that!?
We look under the hood to find the answer, and there’s something unexpected there… maths!? This talk recounts my journey to uncover something fundamentally cool about space and how to even tell you about it without everyone falling asleep, with a little help from our oceans along the way (which, as it turns out, are a little tone-deaf). In doing so, however, we stumble upon something quite alarming – is this marvellous melody more of a siren song after all?
Presenter
Daniel Ratliff
30 NOV
Lecture 4b – When plants eat animals: what physics and chemistry can we learn?
Presented in parallel with Lecture 4a
We are used about animals eating plants, but what about the opposite? How can a boneless and muscle-less plant eat an animal? The answer is simple: they set traps, and wait. As the main resource of a plant is its surface, they learned how to use it cleverly to trick and catch small insects. By studying plants we have understood how to fabricate artificial surfaces for the most diverse purposes. Sometimes we want things to stick to them, other times we want things to run away as quick as possible.
All these surface properties can be tuned by controlling both the physical and chemical nature.In this lecture I will discuss the most useful features of surface coatings inspired by plants, and give a basic physical understanding of how they work.
Presenter
Ciro Semprebon
07 DEC
Lecture 5a – Snowflakes in the Oven: Coronal Rain in the Solar Corona
Presented in parallel with Lecture 5b
In this lecture we will find out about the solar corona, the most extended layer of the solar atmosphere, and how the magnetic field emanating from the solar surface permeates it and defines all of its characteristics, including its incredibly hot multi-million degree temperatures. We will also learn about very cool gas the corona hosts called coronal rain (likened to “snowflakes in the oven”) and how this is a major field of research within solar physics because of its potential for advancing major unsolved problems about our Sun.
Presenter
Patrick Antolin
07 DEC
Lecture 5b: An introduction to quantum chaos
Presented in parallel with Lecture 5a
In this lecture Remy will guide us through the chaotic world of quantum mechanics, where at very small scales – of atoms and fundamental particles – the laws of physics appear different from those of the macroscopic world around us. Remy will talk about the mathematical description of some physical properties of quantum complex systems in a ‘quantum chaos’.
Presenter
Remy Dubertrand
14 DEC
Lecture 6: The complex beauty of fractal geometry
In this lecture, Matteo will explain – with the aid of some computer graphics – how fractals can be defined as geometrical objects characterised by two properties: self-similarity, and non-integer dimension. Differently from the ‘smooth’ figures of classical Geometry, such as circles or triangles, fractals turn out to be ‘rough’ and infinitely complex.
Presenter
Matteo Sommacal
How to book a place and attend the lectures
Book a place
You need to register to attend the NUSTEM Evening Lectures, by signing up via a registration form. Just click on the Book a place button featured next to each lecture’s description.
Please notice that the registration form will not be able to send you reminders about the event. Make sure you jot down which lectures you have signed up for.
How to find us
The evening lectures will take place in Ellison Building A-block, room ELA 009.
The Ellison Building A-block in the building number 10a on the map below:
You want to enter the building using the automatic giratory doors located in Northumberland Road as seen in the photo below:
The entrace can be found with:
- Postcode NE1 8SG
- What 3 words: ///scouts.shower.exit
Alternatively you can use the entrance (set of automatic double doors) is located on Ellison Place:
- Postcode NE1 8ST.
- What 3 words: ///moth.under.golf
Here is a short video showing the location of the room ELA 009:
Joining online
We encourage you to attend the evening lectures in person. If this is not possible then the evening lectures will be live-streamed using Microsoft Teams Live Events.
After booking a place for the evening lecture just press the Join online button next to each evening lecture description.
- A Teams webpage page will open: choose the option Watch on the web instead.
- On the ‘welcome to the live event’ page use the option Join anonymously.
Throughout the lecture you will be able to ask questions of our presenters using a moderated Q&A.
If you want to find out more about Microsoft Teams Live events please watch the video below:
Previous Lectures
2022
- 02 NOV – Moulding the flow of light by Daniel Ho & Mike Taverne
- 09 NOV – Electrical currents in space by John Coxon
- 16 NOV – Make food waste, wood waste by Madeleine Combrick
- 23 NOV – Mathematical fractals by Matteo Sommacal
- 30 NOV – the Cahotic Quantum world by Remy Dubertrand
- 07 DEC – From lasers to Masers by Juna Sathian
- 14 DEC – Tackling climate change with solar photovoltaics by Neil Beattie
2021
- 09 DEC – Magnetic fields in the Universe by Stephane Regnier
- 02 DEC – Complex & intelligent systems by Ben Huard
- 25 NOV – Mathematical fractals by Mattteo Sommacal
- 18 NOV – Solar cells and light emission by Giulia Longo
- 11 NOV – Engineering solutions from waste by Madeleine Combrink
- 04 NOV – the Chaotic Quantum World by Remy Durbertrand
- 21 OCT – Engineering porous materials by Dominica Zabiegaj
- 14 OCT – Space Weather by Clare Watt
