STFC Public Engagementstfcpublicengagement@stfc.ac.uk

INSPIRING & INVOLVING : Incredible Science • Inspirational People • Astounding Places

Making WavesMartin Hendry and Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Martin Hendry is an acknowledged world expert in the field of gravitational wave astronomy. He is also deeply passionate about public engagement with research, and the importance of young children all across the UK having the chance to be amazed by modern science and technology. To combine the two, he was supported by STFC with a Fellowship in Public Engagement.

Martin is a member of the international scientific team that work on LIGO – the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. The team shot to worldwide prominence in early 2016, when they announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves. Martin used an STFC Public Engagement

My Fellowship […] laid the foundations for our global outreach programme.“ Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow

Fellowship to develop the programmes that helped the team explain the incredible science they were exploring: “My Fellowship gave me the opportunity, and the time, to help develop and lead the global outreach activities for the LIGO project at a crucial juncture. It laid the foundations for our global outreach programme when we announced the first detection of gravitational waves in February 2016 – a discovery that had a huge impact worldwide.”

By the end of his Fellowship, Martin was appointed co-Chair of the Education and Outreach group for the LIGO consortium, and leads the global efforts to engage with LIGO science and technology.

High-quality STEM education in schools is important to Martin: “The time my Fellowship gave me enabled me to join the national qualifications design team that developed the new physics syllabus for

Creating leaders in engagement

Fellowships

STFC Public Engagementstfcpublicengagement@stfc.ac.uk

INSPIRING & INVOLVING : Incredible Science • Inspirational People • Astounding Places

Scottish schools – including exciting new content on astrophysics, cosmology, relativity and particle physics.” He was able to link this work with a series of thirty school and public lectures, alongside stargazing workshops, across nine remote Hebridean islands on the west coast of Scotland. This was the start of work that has since seen him collaborate on national and international STEM education projects, including advising the Scottish Government. “Not only is work like this personally important to me,” says Martin, “but my university has been able to use these in recent national assessment exercises as highly-rated examples of the positive impacts that arise from engagement.”

Martin’s Fellowship has been a springboard to other influential roles in his university and beyond. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 2015 he received an MBE for services to the public understanding of science. In 2012 he was appointed Head of School for Physics and Astronomy at Glasgow University and, in 2015, was elected Chair of the Institute of Physics in Scotland. “My Fellowship helped me to develop and strengthen partnerships between our staff and students, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, and professional bodies such as the Institute of Physics, Education Scotland, the British Science Association and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I’ve continued to work with these partners as Head of School, helping to create public engagement opportunities that are open to all of our staff.”

2016 LIGO gravitational wave announcement

#gravitationalwaves#LIGO#EinsteinWasRight

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Since my Fellowship, I’ve continued to help promote effective, efficient pathways for schools and public engagement that are open to all of our staff.Martin Hendry, University of Glasgow

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KEY LEARNING POINTS

n Don’t be afraid to use popular culture and

science fiction as reference points for sharing

the excitement of STFC science. An important

lesson I’ve learnt is that the real universe explored

by STFC is, if anything, even more weird and

wonderful than the visions dreamt up by science

fiction.

n The global nature, huge team effort and long-

term investment that underpins so much of STFC

science – particularly fields like gravitational-wave

astronomy – tells an important and engaging story

that schools and public audiences find almost as

fascinating as the science itself.

n No matter how exciting the science you are

talking about, it’s a huge help to school teachers

if you can signpost very clearly how the science

relates directly to the syllabus that their pupils are

studying.