Dr Roberto Trotta on leading Imperial's languages, culture and communication

Astrophysicist and author Dr Trotta has stepped up to lead the re-launched Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication.

Statistics and supernovae have long been the main stock-in-trade for distinguished astrophysicist Dr Roberto Trotta. After completing a degree in physics and a PhD in theoretical physics from his native Switzerland, he then moved to the University of Oxford to become the Lockyer Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2005, before joining Imperial as Lecturer in 2008.

Yet, for this charismatic and effervescent scientist, a strictly traditional academic career was probably never on the cards. Roberto’s passion for public engagement is clear and he sees this work as part and parcel of what it is to be an academic in the modern world. In 2014 he published his award winning book, The Edge of the Sky, which explains the workings of the cosmos using only the most common 1,000 words in the English language.

“An important role of being a scientist is to connect with the public to ensure that there is a dialogue so they better understand what it is we’re doing and why it’s important that we do it.”

Roberto takes a ‘Cosmic Cookery’ class at Imperial Festival 2014 - using food to explore lunar craters, the ingredients of the solar system and the origins of the universe.

Roberto found himself becoming more and more interested in public engagement, successfully applying for a STFC Public Engagement Fellowship, allowing him to dedicate more time to this avenue of work. When the opportunity to lead the CLCC arose it seemed like an obvious next step, especially coupled with his interest in education, teaching and learning.

“The role seemed both unexpected but also very exciting for me. It joined together a number of areas I’m interested in and what I’ve been trying to do in my career.”

Now four months into his new role, Roberto is starting to get to grips with the challenges ahead and making plans for the future.

“Improving the Centre’s prominence, both internally and externally, is a big priority for us. It’s had quite a few different names over the past few years and the first question is: ‘how do we make sure people know who we are and what we’re about?’”

As a passionate science communicator and author Roberto is keen that the CLCC make more of opportunities to engage the public in the work of the Centre and the College as a whole.

“I really want to create an environment where we can grow our profile through public engagement. For example, by offering more evening classes we can bring more people into the College, showing them the great science and cutting edge research that we do here.”

Horizons students on the Music Technology module

Among the undergraduate student body, the Centre is perhaps best known for the Imperial Horizons programme, which launched in 2012 and offers students across all years of their degree course the option to study everything from Mandarin for Beginners, through to Cultural Anthropology. Nearly half of all students have enrolled on the programme this academic year.

With his own eclectic range of interests Roberto is a strong advocate of the role of humanities and the benefit they can bring to students at the College.

“I think Horizons provides fantastic intellectual stimulation. The humanities programmes on offer at Imperial help widen our thinking and give us opportunities to think outside the box and beyond the narrow confines of our specialist disciplines.

“It also gives students a chance to experience learning for learning’s sake and to be freed from the immense pressure that comes with studying for a degree. To provide a protected island where students can experience that intellectual stimulation and enjoy it fully without having to worry about grades is an invaluable experience.”

Indeed Roberto makes a direct pitch to students still considering Horizons.

“You will experience learning in a way that you have never thought was possible – it’s very different to anything else we do at Imperial. You won’t regret it.”

Visit the webpage of the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

Follow Roberto on Twitter: @CLCCDirector