* SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY – YEARBOOK 2019 Introduction This 2019 Yearbook brings together the highlights from the blog, and from our School’s press releases, to provide a Table of Contents record of our activities over the past twelve months. In fact, this edition will be packed full of even more goodies, Introduction .......................................................... 2 spanning from October 2018 (the last newsletter) to School Events & Activities ..................................... 4 December 2019. We expect that future editions of the Yearbook will focus on a single calendar year. Science News ...................................................... 13 As we look forward to the dawn of a new decade, we can Space Park Leicester News ................................. 31 reflect on the continued growth and success of the School Physicists Away from the Department ............... 34 of Physics and Astronomy. Our Department has evolved to become a School. Our five existing research groups are Celebrating Success ............................................ 36 exploring ways to break down any barriers between them, Physics Special Topics: Editors Pick .................... 44 and to restructure the way our School works. The exciting dreams of Space Park Leicester are becoming a reality, with Comings and Goings ........................................... 46 incredible new opportunities on the horizon. Our foyer has been thoroughly updated and modernised, to create a welcoming new shared space that represents our A very warm welcome to the first School of Physics and ambitions as a School. Our website has been dragged, Astronomy Yearbook! We have moved away from the kicking and screaming, into the 21st century (SiteCore) to termly email news bulletins of the past, towards an online showcase the rich portfolio of research, teaching, and blog1 that celebrates all the successes of our School. The public engagement activities that we are involved in. Our blog allows us to easily share content with the wider world undergraduates remain happy and enthusiastic in their via social media, and is easier to “discover” for new home at Leicester, and the transformation of the members of our School. curriculum from Years 1 to 4 is now complete. Our 1 https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/physics/news-2/ 2 SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY – YEARBOOK 2019 Admissions team have risen admirably to the challenges Special thanks to those members of the Leicester Physics posed by demographics and the marketisation of Higher News Team, without whom this Yearbook would not have Education. And we bid farewell to one Head of School been possible. (Graham Wynn), and welcome the new (Emma Bunce). With all these changes, we feel the School is ready to take on the challenges of the 2020s. This Yearbook is organised as follows. In “School Events” we highlight events and activities within the School over the past twelve months, including the successes of our undergraduates. “Science News” brings together some of our news-worthy scientific results, including some special anniversaries (15 years of Swift) and our engagement at conferences nationwide. “Space Park Leicester News” describes some of the recent activities on the path to realising Leicester’s ambitions at Pioneer Park. “Celebrating Success” looks back to the numerous awards and honours received by members of the School of Physics Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), Alexei and Astronomy this year. Finally, “Comings and Goings” Ovchinin posing with the University logo. The picture was welcomes news arrivals at our School, and bids a fond taken in the European Space Agency (ESA) Cupola module, the farewell to those departing. We hope you enjoy this multi-windowed viewing platform in which ISS crew can compilation of our “Greatest Hits” in 2019, and we observe docking and rendezvous with visiting cargo craft, encourage you to continue to submit news articles to the control the robotic arm and just take in the spectacular views editor (Leigh Fletcher) for inclusion in the 2020 Yearbook. (August 2019). *Cover Image: Artist's impression of NGTS-1b, a Jupiter-sized planet which orbits NGTS-1, a red dwarf star of about half the mass and radius of the Sun. NGTS-1b holds the record as the largest planet compared to the size of its host star, and a team of Leicester astronomers played a key role in its discovery. 3 SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY – YEARBOOK 2019 School Events & Activities The look of the entire foyer has been modernised, with wood Renovation of the Physics Foyer (November panelling and light colours opening up the entire space. The 2019) indoor accessibility ramp has been improved, with added handrails and renewed non-slip surfacing. The social seating Among the exciting new developments for 2019 were the area at the front of the foyer has also been updated, with renovations on our beloved foyer – by Manika Sidhu. comfortable new armchairs and tables. The renovations were carried out over the summer, with the construction and design team working hard to ensure our ideas about the updated space were put in place before the start of the new academic year. Check out the before and after pictures below! A big thank you to everyone involved in the foyer renovations - your dedication and hard work is appreciated and has The wall between the back corridor and Starlink was knocked definitely paid off! down, to create a larger area at the back of the foyer. This has now been converted into a relaxing study and social area, with a ‘study bar’, comfortable chairs and booths. Undergraduate Student Success 2019 It has been another great year for our undergraduates – by Mervyn Roy and Simon Vaughan. This summer 84% of students graduated with a 2.1 or above and this is testament to the students’ hard work and dedication. All physics degrees are good degrees! Well done to all our finalists. The area around the Skylark rocket has changed and is now Particular congratulations should go to the winners of our home to our model of SWIFT after it was moved from its old student prizes. In no particular order: podium in the centre of the foyer. In these photos you can also Samuel and Rachel May prize for James Page see the backlit hexagonal panels that make up the new ceiling outstanding performance in the final design. year Airbus Space Science Prize Peter Selves Stewardson Essay Prize Beth Henderson Johanna Antonelli Physics Research Poster Prize Max Favaro- Bedford Physics Year 3 Research Project Prize Dylan Moles 4 SCHOOL OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY – YEARBOOK 2019 Physics and Astronomy School Prizes Paula Riojas Guijosa The tree planting was organised with the assistance of Adam Dean Haigh Tester, Gardens and Grounds Manager at the University of Rhys Williams Leicester. Adam Tester and his team used a carbon- Christopher Bell sequestering tool that was written by a maths graduate James Boyd, who was recently awarded a Green Gown Research with 2 We also award prizes to our current student cohort. Well done impact award for his work . It was calculated that 420 trees to third years Nora Drewes (college prize), Mahek Shah and were needed to offset the carbon released from travel taken Anastasia Polyviou (Photonis prize), Sarah Norman (Raymond from mission selection in summer 2015 until July 2019. The Hide prize) – and to Eleanor Morton the inaugural winner of trees were provided by the Woodland Trust, from their Wild our Physics Community prize. Students to watch in the future! Harvest mix consisting of species such as hawthorn, crab apple, blackthorn, and rowan. The vast majority of our graduates will go on to do great things – 82% are within graduate level employment within 6 months The carbon offsetting was based on air travel taken by the of graduating, a number well in advance of the government University of Leicester’s SXI team only. SMILE is a joint ESA- benchmark for physics and level with that of our Russell Group Chinese Academy of Sciences, as such, the SMILE mission competitors. involves hundreds of scientists and engineers. The launch of SMILE on a Vega-C rocket will also use considerable amounts We’re always looking to hear from our graduates – particularly of carbon, and this will be considered for future carbon- those who’d like to return to the University to speak to current sequestering calculations. We hope to roll-out the tree students. Last year at our annual careers day, we heard about planting as an annual event, and for other institutions the success of former students Fergus Wilson (BAE systems), involved in SMILE to do the same. The SMILE-SXI team Neil Popat (RBS), Katie Raymer (The Royal Society), SLt James understands that carbon-offsetting is not a solution to the Parker RN and SLt Elliott Spender (Royal Navy), and Robert carbon crisis, but it very much wants to take some sort of Garner (UK Space Agency). Many thanks to all of these proactive steps in mitigating the impacts of travel. graduates and – if you are a graduate who would like to get involved – please let us know. On the staff side of things we have been working very hard to implement our new curriculum - which has now rolled through from year 1 all the way into year 4. The new curriculum covers all of the Institute of Physics core areas of physics, and enhances our focus on specialist electives and on transferrable skills. This is working well! Students like the new modules and returned NSS overall satisfaction results of greater than 90% - the second highest of any Department on campus. Perhaps most importantly, following a very successful visit the Institute of Physics recently re-accredited all of our degrees for the maximum possible term. Carbon offsetting for SMILE Leicester scientists plant trees to carbon offset their air travel Odd Socks for National Anti-Bullying Week for the SMILE mission – by Jenny Carter.