CDT PGRs at Sidmouth Science Festival

Sidmouth Science Festival is an event held every year in Sidmouth that aims to engage with public and inform them how STEM relates to the things we do every day. It aims specially to educate younger members of the public and inspire them to take up a career in STEM themselves. This year the festival had 10,000 visitors over the course of the week (8th-16th October). On Saturday 8th, members of the CDT went down with some of the Exeter Photonics group.

Second year CDT PGR Jonathon Smith reflects on his experience of volunteering at the festival and his favourite demos:

As volunteers at the festival myself, along with Eloise Lee, Charlie Patrickson and Hannah Barnard we set up and worked some stalls at the festival in partnership with Exeter Photonics who kindly provided outreach equipment for the event. Those visiting the festival would come to our stall to see demonstrations of different areas of physics. I enjoyed visualising acoustic waves using a loudspeaker, a stretched-out balloon and a laser pointer, which made a very flashy display that helped attract attention to the stall. My personal favourite though was the lens law demo which used a copper tube and set of magnets, as you can take the visitors through the logic step by step and let them come to the correct conclusions with minimal guidance.

While it was tiring overall, I enjoyed volunteering at the event, and I hope that I have sparked a permanent interest in science in at least a few of the attendees.