Plastic Electronic Materials 2021 Autumn School

Prize giving dinner at Plastic Electronic Materials 2021 Autumn School

Plastic electronic materials students descend on the Lake District for a week of science and adventure.

PE-CDT Cohorts 9 and 10 were joined by students from the Plastic Electronic Materials MRes, a number of CPE students and academics from Imperial College London in the English Lake District.

There were three aspects to the schedule for participants.

Science talks

Academic research talks were given by Ji-Seon Kim, Piers Barnes, James Durrant, Jenny Nelson and Martin Heeney. Firat Güder gave a tutorial on LT SPICE.

PEM-MRes students gave 15-minute talks on their research.

CDT and CPE students presented posters and some students were selected for 5-minute elevated pitch talks on their posters.

Group Project

The second element of the schedule was taken over by the week's group project, generating a press package on a paper related to plastic electronic materials. Students were grouped into teams and had to identify a recent 2021 paper on something novel (fundamental concept/demonstration) that can have a big impact on plastic electronics community. Teams were to consider how this novel concept/demonstration can be used for next generation science and technology. The aim of the project was to show how to would generate as much national/global coverage of the paper as possible.

Groups to:

Create a press release or commentary piece describing the science, eg what it is, how it works, why it’s important, discuss the broader importance of the findings
Create a youtube video or TV report (no longer than 10 minutes) to explain how it works to a lay audience, eg by interviewing scientists in the field
Use social media to generate buzz around the science

Inter-cohort team building

Patterdale Hall Adventure Learning Centre organised outdoor activities throughout the week for inter-cohort building team building, including rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, gorge walking, bushcraft and archery.