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Liverpool Women in Science and Engineering Society

Newsletter

April 2015

Welcome to the April 2015 LivWiSE Newsletter. If you would no longer like to be on our

mailing list, or you would like to contribute to the LivWiSE newsletter/Facebook/Twitter

then please get in touch at livwise@liv.ac.uk.

Science News Roundup

Upcoming Events

Podcasts and Films

Job vacancies

Science News Roundup

Becoming an Expert:

Towards the factory of the future

Cold-blooded animals grow bigger in the warm on land, but smaller in warm water

Vote: Liverpool’s Large Hadron Collider Lego bid

What holds doctors and

nurses back from volunteering to fight Ebola

in Africa?

Physicists getting closer to reading the inside of stars

Postcard: Dr Louise Dennis visits Delft to explore

mental models for autonomous systems

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Shape-shifting animals

reveal secrets of why energy use changes during growth

Chemical advance supports treatment Alzheimer’s

disease

New technology shows potential in repairing

damaged tissue in knee joints

New radio carbon dating

technique will revolutionise field archaeology

World Health Day: Food safety is still on the agenda

University wins green technology award

In other news

Some of these articles may only be visible to University of Liverpool staff and students.

University introduces new

gender equality role End of the road for

University Challenge team New VC takes over at

University

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LivWiSE Events:

How a space-obsessed schoolgirl battled the odds to become a top scientist!

Born in London to Nigerian parents in the late sixties, Maggie moved between 13 schools during her childhood, struggling to show her potential in the face of what she later recognised as dyslexia. Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE has gone on to design a host of space instruments and now presents the Sky at Night. In this special LivWiSE guest lecture, Maggie will talk about her work as space scientist, from projects for the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency on missile warning systems to hand-held instruments to detect landmines and her current research as a Research Fellow in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies and an Honorary Research Associate in UCL Department of Physics and Astronomy. Maggie will also talk about her latest TV project, co-presenting the long-running astronomy TV programme The Sky at Night.

Speaker: Dr. Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE

Date: Thursday 30th April 2015 Time: 5.30pm – 7pm

Location: Central Teaching Hub, University of Liverpool Book Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livwise-guest-lecture-with-dr-

maggie-aderin-pocock-mbe-tickets-16083574404

Other Events:

The events listed below have not been organised by LivWiSE, but are events that we think

will be of interest.

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MENTAL HEALTH IN CONTEXT (MHIC)

The event will showcase the University's research in vital areas of human wellbeing with the University of Liverpool's Vice-Chancellor Professor Janet Beer, MHIC researchers and Jeanette Winterson, novelist.

Date: Tuesday 21 April, Time: 5.30-7.30pm

Location: Women's Organisation, 54 St James Street, L1 0AB Book Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mental-health-in-context-launch-event-tickets-

16237051458?aff=eac2&utm_campaign=Events+Newsletter+April+2015&utm_source=emailCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=

Women in physics, Time to move from ‘change the women’ to ‘change the culture’?

This is an Institute of Physics: Merseyside Branch Event. For centuries, despite social restrictions, there have Been successful women physicists. The 20th Century provided better education opportunities and understanding of issues; yet even at the Millennium, the myth that ‘women can’t do physics’ continued. Mobility, role models, career advice, the two body problem, career breaks, different brains and pink toys have been discussed but what is required to redress this worldwide scarcity of women in physics and provide a level playing field?

Date: Tuesday 21st April 2015 Time: 6:30pm onwards

Location: Surface Science Research Centre, University of Liverpool Book Tickets: No booking required. For any questions please email Ann Marks

liviop@amarks.co.uk

Targeting the Glass Ceiling

Liverpool John Moores University is pleased to invite you to this public talk by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Brunel, Professor Julia Buckingham DSc. The talk titled, "Targeting the Glass Ceiling", will follow an interview style format to be facilitated by BBC Radio Presenter Linda McDermott. Professor Buckingham will speak honestly about the difficulties women face in making it to Professorship, her personal experience of

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development and promotion and tips for overcoming some of these challenges. Following this session, the audience will be engaged in a question and answer session to discuss the particular challenges affecting the career progression of women in HEIs, dealing with such problems as isolation at the top level, striking a balance between home and work life whilst still building a national and internationally recognised research profile.

Speaker: Professor Julia Buckingham DSc.

Date: Wednesday 29th April 2015 Time: 2pm - 3:30pm (1:30 refreshments)

Location: Upper Lecture Theatre, Peter Jost Enterprise Centre Book Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-science-technology-

engineering-maths-stem-lecture-series-tickets-14220815843

Chemistry and fashion: tools for a cleaner environment

In 2014, Professor Ryan along with Professor Simon Armitage prepared a 10 meter by 20 meter size poster coated with microscopic, pollution eating nanoparticles of titanium dioxide. Placed on a building, this giant poster can absorb the toxic emission from around 20 cars each day. Reacting to light and oxygen, the nanoparticles eat up nitrogen oxides, which you can't see or feel but which have been linked to breathing problems including asthma.

Together with the fashion designer Helen Storey he is developing a laundry additive called Catclo that sticks to the surface fibres of clothes and reacts with airborne nitrogen oxides to neutralise them.

Professor Ryan joined the University of Sheffield as a Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1997, being Head of Department from 1998 to 2003, and is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Science since 2010.

Speaker: Professor Anthony Ryan OBE Date: Tuesday 19 May 2015 Time: 5:30pm onwards

Location: The Leggate Theatre, Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool

Book Tickets: http://www.liv.ac.uk/events/science-and-society/form.php

For more upcoming events, visit the University Events Website:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/events/index.php

For campus maps and travelling / car parking information please visit:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/maps/

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If you missed one of the recent public lectures of events, never fear, you can now listen to

and watch the following podcasts and films:

Women in Leadership: what I've learned from some of the world's greatest leaders

A lecture with Harriet Minter, Editor of the Guardian’s Women in Leadership section.

Quotas: the only way, or no way? Gender imbalance and equality vs quality

A panel debate for International Women’s Day 2015.

Exploring Gender Fluidity though Science-Fiction and Fantasy

A lecture by Hugo Award winning writer Cheryl Morgan for this Flagship (LGBT) event.

LivWiSE Christmas Lecture 2014

Our annual Christmas lecture was a fun series of mini talks introducing the audience to an exciting variety of areas in STEM and the people who are passionate about them.

Click on the title or logo

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PhD Studentships

Are you looking for the next step in your career? Looking to study for a PhD? The following

studentship positions are currently being advertised:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/studentships/

Health & Life Sciences

• Role of Airway Epithelial Cells in Promoting Disease Exacerbation in Children with

Severe Asthma. DEADLINE: 24th April.

• Diagnosing the ‘Cancer-Patient-In-Liverpool’: A Cultural Excavation of the

Classificatory Moment. DEADLINE 11th May.

Science and Engineering

• Cheap Metals for Noble Reactions - Asymmetric Hydrogenation with Iron

Catalysts. DEADLINE: 30th June.

• Antimicrobial surfaces for wound healing applications. DEADLINE: 1st July.

• Computational Chemistry/Physics/Bio Materials Science. DEADLINE: 1st July.

• PhD Studentship in Smart Materials. DEADLINE: 31st July.

• New design features in lightweight and low-cost inverted CdTe solar cells.

DEADLINE: 31st July.

• Optimisation of transparent conducting oxides for photovoltaics. DEADLINE: 31st

July.

• Computational Design of New Complex Inorganic Materials. DEADLINE: 1st

October.

Researcher / Post Doc positions

Finished your PhD? Looking for the next career step? Are you looking for an interesting

research post? A number of positons are currently being advertised:

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http://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/research/

Health & Life Sciences

• Research Associate in Synthetic Biology (2 posts). DEADLINE: 17th April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mental Health. DEADLINE: 30th April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate in Ultrasensitive Optical Coherence

Tomography Imaging for Eye Disease. Deadline: 30th April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Molecular mechanisms of age-related

loss of muscle mass and function. DEADLINE: 7th May.

Science and Engineering

• Postdoctoral Research Associate in Optical Fibre Imaging. DEADLINE: 7th May

• Postdoctoral Research Associate Grade 7 in the investigation of the new

approaches for nanoencapsulation using ultrasonic agitation. DEADLINE: 22

April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate - Synthesis and Characterisation of New

Molecular Superconducting and Magnetic Materials. DEADLINE: 24th April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate - Ontology-Based Data Access. DEADLINE: 30th

April.

• Research Associate in Applied Mathematics. DEADLINE: 30th April.

• Postdoctoral Research Associate Grade 7 in Physics. DEADLINE: 30th April.

For more positions please visit the website.

Academic positions

Academic positions (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor etc) are advertised throughout the

year. All current posts can be found using the weblink below. A selection of the current

posts is listed below:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/working/jobvacancies/currentvacancies/academic/

• Lecturer in Geographic Data Science. DEADLINE 24th April.

• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design Grade 7-9 (up to 4 posts).

DEADLINE 27th April.

• Lecturer Grade 8 in The History of Medicine. DEADLINE 30th April.

• Lecturer in Small Animal Neurology (2 posts). DEADLINE 6th May

• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery (Orthopaedics). DEADLINE 15th

May

Remember you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook where we post daily news, updates,

event information and retweets/posts.

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