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Issue 6 January 2017 thebrilliantclub.org Were Victorian Asylums a Superior Solution to Earlier Methods of Treating the Mentally Ill? + 19 New academic essays from the young scholars of The Brilliant Club. 1 Vol. 1 No. 6, January 2017 This issue Updates Contents News from The Brilliant Club Researchers in Schools is pupils to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence Recruiting PhD Graduates and Schools needed to obtain places at highly-selective universities. Alongside The Scholars Programme, The Brilliant Club also This term, The Scholars Programme officially launches in runs Researchers in Schools (RIS). RIS recruits, trains and Scotland! The programme will be piloted in partnership places PhD researchers as part-time tutors and full-time with the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow City Council teachers in non-selective state schools. Through RIS, PhD and will be delivered in two schools in Glasgow. graduates become highly-effective classroom teachers, champions for university access and future subject leaders in the education sector. Monitoring and Evaluation Gets a Boost The Brilliant Club is committed to the rigorous monitoring Researchers in Schools is currently delivered in partnership and evaluation of its programmes to ensure that we deliver with School-Centred Initial Teacher Training providers and consistent outcomes for the pupils we work with. To this has placed more than 150 participants in over 75 schools. end, since September, we have recruited three members of staff to the Monitoring and Evaluation Department, more Current participants include Dr Alice Len, teaching physics than doubling the size of the team! This will enable the 3 10 at Cleve Park School in Sidcup. Alice completed her PhD at department to evaluate the impact of The Brilliant Club’s News STEM Articles the University of Sydney and post-doctoral research on HIV programmes from beginning to end. All of the latest news from This term, we hear from scholars in the with the Department of Infection and Immunity at University The Brilliant Club. Science, Technology, Engineering and College London. She has acquired a £15,000 microscope for A recent evaluation of the university destinations of pupils Maths disciplines on subjects including her school, donated by Professor Bill Richardson from UCL. who completed The Scholars Programme in summer 2015 the future of technology, health inequality Alice has also organised for a group of Year 12 students to revealed that, of a total cohort of 325 pupils, 77% applied to 4 and volcanic hazards. complete work experience next summer at the university. a highly-selective university and 71% received an offer from Guest Articles one. This means that nine out of every 10 pupils who applied Guest articles from 47 The RIS programme is now recruiting maths and physics to a highly-selective university received an offer from one! Dr Joana Osório, Lucy Hemsley PhD graduates to become excellent new teachers, starting There were also 15 pupils who accepted offers from Oxford and Dr Annalisa Alexander. Arts and Humanities Articles the programme in August 2017. Schools that are interested and Cambridge. The Arts and Humanities articles in this in working with new subject specialist RIS teachers should edition include topics on the Roman also get in touch. These achievements demonstrate both the academic calibre 8 world, writing short stories and Victorian of the pupils who participate in The Scholars Programme and What is The Brilliant Club? asylums. To find out more about the groundbreaking work of the efficacy of the programme in developing the knowledge, Learn about our mission Researchers in Schools, please visit www.researchersinschools.org. skills and ambition necessary to secure places at highly- and programmes. 53 selective universities amongst its participants. The Scholars Programme Launches Social Sciences Articles The Monitoring and Evaluation Department has also Our social Sciences scholars look at in Scotland and Wales! designed a competency framework that details how we 9 topics such as consequentialism and Last term saw the launch of The Scholars Programme in will support pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and Nature Research Highlights mechanism design. Wales. Four schools and colleges from different areas of ambition needed to progress to highly-selective universities. Including updates in chemistry, animal Wales are pioneering the programme, which connects This is built upon a series of skills that research shows have cognition, neuroscience and astronomy. state-school pupils with PhD researchers. Participating a positive impact on academic attainment. The Brilliant pupils attended a launch trip at the University of Cardiff, Club has identified six competencies that we believe will be which was a resounding success. Pupils enjoyed a tour of effective in supporting our pupils on their journey to excellent the University’s campus, asked questions of current students universities. These are: and admissions staff, and completed their first tutorials with their PhD tutors. 1. Written and Verbal Communication 2. Subject Knowledge The Brilliant Club is also working with The Seren Network, 3. University Knowledge which supports high-performing sixth form pupils from 4. Motivation and Self-Efficacy across Wales to secure places at top universities. Our PhD 5. Meta-Cognition tutors have delivered master classes to pupils and training 6. Critical Thinking to schools on how to deliver university-style learning in the classroom. The Brilliant Club and Seren will also be We look forward to sharing updates as we use the holding a series of conferences, the first running from 15th competency framework to track and evaluate the progress - 16th March, that will see over a thousand pupils and their made by pupils on The Scholars Programme. teachers participate in workshops designed to support 2 3 Vol. 1 No. 6, January 2017 Guest Article Scientific Publishing: From the Lab to the World Dr Joana Osório Chief Research Highlights Editor Nature Research, Springer Nature A scientist has a great idea, obtains funding to research it, does a lot of hard work with their team and finally finds something interesting we didn’t yet know about. Exciting! But that’s far from being the end of the story. For these research findings to be useful to other scientists and to society in general, knowledge needs to transition from the lab to the outside world. Without this process, even the most brilliant discoveries will become dust at the bottom of a drawer. Science communication is changing, but the most typical process of bringing new discoveries into the open is still the publication of a scholarly article in an academic journal. Nature is one such journal – and one of the most well-respected and high-profile scientific publications in the world. In addition to Laboratory technician adding solution to an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at the Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile articles written by scientists, Nature publishes a broad variety The number of scholarly journals currently available is huge. Nature’s mission statement, dating from 1869, mentioned of content. Research Highlights, for example, are short editorial Some journals are multidisciplinary, some are dedicated to two main objectives: “FIRST, to place before the general pieces that summarise and highlight the context, findings and a specific area of knowledge. Some only publish articles public the grand results of Scientific Work and Scientific implications of a recently published research paper. They are that are considered major advances in the field, others are Discovery, and to urge the claims of Science to a more ‘snacks’ of important new scientific knowledge, made accessible dedicated to publishing all research, regardless of novelty, general recognition in Education and in Daily Life; and, to a broad audience of people interested in science – not only as long as the work is sound. Some publish articles that SECONDLY, to aid Scientific men themselves, by giving early to scientists working in a specific field. The partnership between are free to read, some require readers to pay for access. information of all advances made in any branch of Natural Springer Nature, the publisher of Nature, and The Brilliant Club Regardless of these differences, scientific papers sent to knowledge throughout the world, and by affording them an is a wonderful opportunity to communicate exciting new a journal are evaluated by either professional editors or opportunity of discussing the various Scientific questions developments in science with the talented high-school pupils external experts who are qualified to assess work done in a which arise from time to time.” The Research Highlights who read and write for The Scholar. specific research area. published at Nature fit within this mission statement. I hope the readers of The Scholar will find our selection fun to read, These people make decisions on whether to reject, ask a source of inspiration, and fuel for a continued interest in for revisions, or publish the papers. Usually, decisions scientific research and communication. on publication are also guided by the opinion of peer- reviewers, researchers working in the same field as the authors. The peer-reviewers comment on the accuracy, Dr Joana Osório validity and, for some journals, interest level of the work. Londell McGlone, M.P.H. preparing specimens for testing during an investigation of pertussis-like illness in Ohio, USA Many professional journal editors dedicate