Jassel Majevadia selected to speak at Soapbox Science

Cohort 1 student Jassel Majevadia was one of 12 female scientists selected to speak at Soapbox Science last week on London's Southbank

Soapbox science is a programme developed by the Zoological Society of London, in collaboration with L'Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science. The event is intended to promote women in science, and to campaign against gender inequality within the sciences.

I was one of the lucky few chosen to represent 'women in science' at this year's Soapbox Science event. Previous speakers include Prof Athene Donald, and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, the BBC's 'space scientist'. 

The event involves four of the scientists speaking on soapboxes for one hour on the Southbank. 

In preparation for the event we had a workshop with Robin Ince, a well known comedian and presenter of BBC Radio 4's 'Infinite Monkey Cage'. Having heard about the event from the lead organisers he was keen to offer a few tips. The session was held at L'Oreal UK in Hammersmith, and Robin had a ton of suggestions, for each speaker. 

The format of Soapbox Science is unlike any other form of science communication or presentation, and this is because you're talking to people who may or may not want to listen. The thought of hecklers was particularly nerve-wracking. 

The focus of the speech is not 'amazing science' or the usual popular science communication demonstrations, but instead on the academic research pursued by the speaker. Initially this can seem particularly dry, because the work we do is so incremental, but in planning we all realised that the fascinating things can be the bits we take for granted. 

I spoke about Delayed Hydride Cracking, the topic of my PhD project. Beginning with a brief 'spiel' on the abundance of hydrogen in the universe, and it's size, I went on to ask the audience how a few atoms of hydrogen might impact on the mechanical properties of say, an oil rig. Using a few people as my props I demonstrated corrosion, and then with a few apples laid out in an ordered pattern I explained crystalline materials, and how hydrogen (a tiny marble) could zip through fairly unnoticed. The finale involved a trampoline, (which I did pester the Soapbox team about an awful lot to get!). I used the trampoline to describe elastic interactions, and the diffusion of hydrogen to cracks. 

The great thing was that the audience followed everything and were really interested in my work. I finished up by collecting all the bits of physics I had talked about into a set of ingredients, used to make a computer simulation. I got some very good questions, and thankfully no hecklers.

The event received an extraordinary amount of media attention (see links below), on top of the very enthusiastic audience of passers by, and visiting school children. Amongst the schools that attended was the Phoenix High School, which has a rather close relationship with the TSM CDT. 

Although nervous to begin with, I had to be nudged off the soapbox towards the end of my hour. Time flies when you're having fun.