I’m a Scientist Get Me Out of Here!

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been taking part in I’m a Scientist, get me out of here! as one of five scientists in the Infectious Diseases zone. I’m a Scientist gives school pupils the chance to talk to scientists online - and most importantly, I think, ask us anything they like! I got a whole range of questions about DNA, evolution and infectious diseases, but also on a lot of other things…from my favourite colour/band/animal, to what makes us human, whether I wear make up and how I would fend off a meteor headed to earth! I think some of the students were surprised to find out how normal we are, and that’s one of the reasons doing outreach is so important to me. I’ve lost count of the times of entered a classroom for murmurings to go round that I didn’t fit the stereotype they expected.

The real highlight of the I’m a Scientist is the live chats. Pre-booked by schools in advance, the web-based chats are a free-for-all where students can bombard you with questions. The left-hand side of the screen scrolled relentlessly with new questions and discussions based off of answers already given. A classroom of ~30 students made for a very intensive half hour at the keyboard - I’m certain my typing skills improved immensely, although I quickly learnt that a freshly made cup of tea was only destined to get cold!

As if answering all those question wasn’t enough pressure, throughout the event, the students vote for their favourite scientist. Starting the second week, the scientist with the least votes at the end of the day gets evicted. It was a nerve-wracking wait for the votes to be counted for sure! I’m proud that I managed to survive to the final vote, but was eventually pipped to the post by Peter Elliot who took home the £500 prize for a public engagement project of his choice. A massive thank you to my fellow scientists, organisers and modding team - it was so well organised, and I had an absolute blast!

You can see my profile and explore some more of the questions I answered here. Final statistics from the Infectious Diseases zone are given here.