Three strands
In schools and at science events
Talks and activities for primary, secondary and sixth-form audiences on batteries, recycling and the elements behind the energy transition. I've delivered Engineering Masterclasses and children's talks for the Royal Institution, and as a STEM Ambassador ⚑1 I support school visits and careers events in the UK and overseas.
Learning
by making
by making
Before academia I wrote practical project books for McGraw-Hill's Evil Genius series: model rockets, solar energy, fuel cells, holography. Written for curious people with a workbench, they have since found their way into youth programmes and university classrooms.
Critical materials, explained
The periodic table is my favourite teaching tool. Which elements are "critical", and critical to whom? Why can't we simply recycle our way out of shortage? Questions a sixth-former can argue about and governments still disagree on make perfect classroom material.
Notable moments
The New Precious Metals
With the Met4Tech team, where I was a Co-Investigator, I helped develop The New Precious Metals: Unearthing the Treasures in Our Everyday Tech, a hands-on exhibit on the circular economy for critical minerals. It launched at the Xplore! science discovery centre in Wrexham and stayed in residency there, letting school groups and families explore what's inside their phones and laptops, and why it's worth getting back.
A real science conference, for school students
During the school holidays, students from SCEGGS Darlinghurst spent a day at a batteries-and-energy conference hosted by the International Meeting on Lithium Batteries and the Australian Battery Society. I spoke about battery recycling, on a programme that also included Nobel laureate Professor Stan Whittingham and ANSTO's Professor Vanessa Peterson. The students went home with a kit to build their own lemon batteries.
School reportCelebrating the periodic table
Invited to speak to a young audience at a periodic table celebration event ⚑2, on critical materials and the work of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials, including the Faraday Institution's ReLiB battery recycling project.
Faraday InstitutionBooks in the classroom
50 Model Rocket Projects for the Evil Genius is listed as a resource in Ohio State University Extension's 4-H advanced rocketry project, and is cited in a published study from Mercyhurst University on using model rocketry to teach science to non-science majors in a planetary geology course.
Read the study
Explaining Fuel Cell Technology to International Students with English as a Second Language
Appearing as an Extra in 'Absolute Zero - The Conquest of Cold' filmed @ Royal Institution
Royal Society of Chemistry "Chemistry at Work" Day @ Glyndŵr University
'Fuelling the Future' Engineering Masterclass held at Royal Institution of Great Britain
Femtinos 'International Year of the Periodic Table' Celebration Event: Keynote Speaker
Christmas Lecture at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David
H2 Masterclass at the Royal Institution, London
STEM Engagement
Spent the day pitching to these Year 9 'Angel Investors' in a 'Dragon's Den' style event @ Solihull College. Up against JLR. Secured £15m investment!
Royal Institution STEM H2 Masterclass
Students on the "Head Start" Programme get stuck into an activity I designed around Alternatively Fuelled Vehicles & Strategic Elements & Critical Materials.
Highly Commended by the Faraday Institution for Public Engagement / STEM Outreach, Community Awards 2021
Invite me to your school or event
I'm always glad to hear from teachers, STEM clubs, science festivals and youth organisations. Talks can be pitched anywhere from upper primary to sixth form, and work well in person across the West Midlands and Wales, or online anywhere. If you're planning a careers day or a science week and want someone who works on sustainability, energy, batteries and critical materials, get in touch.
Contact me Resources for teachers