Exciting new adventures in blogging

Hello lovely readers!

Just a quick post to say this blog might be a little quiet for a while as I've just embarked on a new blogging project with the Institute of Physics called 'PhysicsFocus'.

It launched today (hooray!) and my first post is charting a week in my life to show what a physicist actually does all day. Feel free to have a read, leave some comments, follow on twitter (@physicsfocus) and generally get involved!

I'm hoping to keep writing on High Heels in the Lab, but if it goes a little quiet then you know why.

All the best,
Suzie x

Why passion is more important than a piece of paper

Happy International Womens Day 2013 everyone! To celebrate, I'd like to share with you my experience of an inspiring evening last night at the 'Stemettes' panel event. This event has convinced me more than ever that it isn't the pieces of paper stating my degree or doctorate that have built my career. Rather, it is my passion for science which has seen me through - and will continue to do so in the future.

'Do something you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life'

Last night, I was priveliged to sit on an amazing panel of 8 inspiring ladies (and one man) to discuss getting into, staying in and succeeding in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. I was very firmly in the 'S'-for-science category, but there was a very diverse range of panelists. 

Our stories were all very different. Two panelists started out in India, one in South Africa and I'm from Australia. None of us had taken a direct route into our current careers, and all of us acknowledged that this was a good thing. So the first take-home message was: 'you don't have to know right now exactly what it is you'd like to do in your career. You can change your mind!'

I was struck by how similar our main advice was to the girls in the audience. More often than not,  it was qualities like passion, commitment and determination which were repeatedly offered as the most important things to have to succeed in a career in STEM.

These are words that we often hear applied to sportspeople. There is no doubt that Olympic champions like Mo Farah or Jess Ennis work incredibly hard to achieve their dreams. Yet for some reason we don't hear these words being applied so often to more 'intellectual' careers like those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. Why not?

In STEM careers it often appears that 'intellect' is the only requirement. Superficially, they might seem like careers devoid of emotion. But that's not true. Not at all. It was clear that all the panelists loved the work they did and it was this which had allowed them to ignore any barriers and do what it was they wanted. Even if they started out with the 'wrong' qualifications. 

'It's not about the answers you give but the questions you ask'

One thing that repeatedly came up in my conversations with individual students last night was the fact that you don't have to be a genius to do this stuff! It's okay if you struggle to get your head around some of the ideas in science - it is good to challenge yourself. You are learning a way of thinking and problem solving, and in the long run these skills will be more valuable to you than any exam answers.

What's more important is that you're interested, passionate, determined (see how those keywords sneak back in again?) Also, don't be afraid to ask for what you want - whether that's help and advice, a mentor, some specific training or even a new job! You never know what people will do for you until you ask. 

'It's not about what you know but who you know'

In terms of practical advice for careers in STEM, we discussed the importance of having mentors, of figuring out what you'd like to do and achieve and surrounding yourself with people whom you admire. 

The other element of success which most of the panelists agreed on was 'self belief'. This was a bit of a revelation to me. In my experience 'self belief' isn't a concept that my all-male colleagues discuss much. I've probably heard them use words like 'confidence' or 'ego'... but not 'self belief'. It seems odd to admit that I might feel uncomfortable using terminology like 'self belief' around my colleagues, which is why it was really lovely to hear these ladies using it in a really positive way. I'm going to start using that term a bit more, and I hope you will join me.

So to any aspiring women or men out there who are thinking of starting or changing to a career in STEM I leave you with this advice:

Work hard,

find your strengths. 

Don't be afraid to dream big. 

Challenge yourself...

but most of all believe in yourself. 

You CAN do this!

Save the Ri - how can you help?

Many of you may already be aware that the Royal Institution headquarters at 21 Albermarle Street London are up for sale. In the wake of this announcement there has been an outcry from scientists wishing to save the Ri.

Update: Many commentators on the topic seem to be unaware of what the Ri is and what it does, so to clear up confusion their own description is here.




There is lots of stuff happening surrounding the Ri right now, so I thought I'd try to capture some of it as a useful way of helping others to get informed and take action.

Please leave a comment with other initiative and I will add them as we go...


On Twitter the hashtag #savetheRi and #saveRi are both being used currently. 

On Facebook you can join the Save21AlbemarleSt group


If you wish to donate directly (the Ri is a charity so it's easy!) you can do so here.


Or consider joining the Ri as a member to have a say in it's future.


There is also a drive for the government to buy 21 Albermarle St for the public. You can read more about this campain here and you can sign the petition here.


There was a rather disappointing article in Nature this morning about the subject, which I think misrepresents what the Ri does and how important it is. I've left my own comment (reproduced below), but please read the article and add your own thoughts.

Today there is also a letter from 22 Ri Xmas lecturers to The Times - behind a paywall right now, I will post a link to the text when I can find it. (Update: Thanks to Mark Miodownik who took a photo of the paper here)

Here are some other links to commentary on the matter:
Mark Miodownik's interview on @BBCNewshour on why we need to save the Royal Institution http://bbc.in/10zgK38 (44:04~47:44)

Blogs:Lizzie Crouch 
Jamie Gallagher 
... a previous one from me on my first time presenting at the Ri last year
More to come...

My comment on the Nature piece:

I'd like to add that it is important to realise that it is not just the audience who benefit from the history and heritage of a venue like the Ri, but the scientific community itself. The Ri inspires scientists themselves – not just audiences.

The first time I was invited to speak in the Faraday theatre at the Ri was an absolute career highlight. As a scientist I felt I was walking in the footsteps of my heroes: Faraday, Davy and all the more recent Christmas Lecturers who (thanks to the Ri Channel!) I now know gave lectures in that very spot.

For a scientist, presenting at the Ri is considered an honour. It's taking a step up from talks in schools, outreach, science festivals etc... which are all very good in their way – but they don't guarantee two important features of the Ri: real scientists who are renowned for their communication skills AND the professional support of the Ri team working together to create something truly special.

I heard about the Ri being up for sale just a day or two after giving my latest talk there. I was still buzzing from the experience and the announcement truly felt like a punch in the gut.

Take away 21 Albermarle street, and we take away that amazing interaction, a venue that has inspired so many to become scientists and allowed so many scientists to share their subject with the world.

(Also – I'm shocked this article doesn't even mention the young people's programme – have you ever been to a schools lecture at the Ri? The kids LOVE it! I have never had such switched-on questions from the audience in ten years of doing this kind of event.)

Social awkwardness… or how not to interact with your female colleagues

My field is pretty male dominated. I'd estimate that the percentage of women in accelerator physics must be about 10% or less. Most of the time it's no problem… the vast majority of my male colleagues are great - sociable, friendly, communicative, and great to work with. For the sake of argument I'm going to liken that type of colleague to Leonard from the Big Bang Theory.

Howard, Leonard, Penny, Sheldon & Raj from the Big Bang Theory (from Wikimedia)

Just occasionally I run into the socially awkward ones with a superiority complex (Sheldon), the ones who don't know how to speak to women at all so avoid them (Raj) or even the ones who speak to women inappropriately (Howard).

In reality many scientists I've met lie somewhere on the spectrum between the four Big Bang Theory boys. Now, we can't change the behaviour of other people, we can only change ourselves. Realistically this means dealing with issues when and if they arise.

Sometimes though, I wish I could smack 'em round the head and tell them how to behave (are we sensing a streak of Penny, here?). So I thought I'd share with you, from personal experience, a few tips of things to avoid when dealing with your female colleagues, neatly labelled with S (Sheldon), R (Raj) or H (Howard) stereotypes for your social-awkwardness-correcting pleasure. (You're welcome)

Feel free to share your own rather tongue-in-cheek advice as comments!

Here goes:

Just because of my gender, I am not equivalent to the tea lady until proven otherwise. When discussing science with me, don't act like I have to prove to you that I am competent. If you wouldn't say it to a man, don't say it to a woman. Don't automatically assume I have a lower level of knowledge than my male colleagues - if I don't know what you're talking about, I'll tell you. (S, H)

Do not come to my office and attempt to give me little unprompted 'tutorials' on things you somehow feel I should know. I will feel intimidated if you put me in that situation without warning and I am made to feel like an idiot. I won't learn anything, trust me. (S)

When questioning me about my results, methods, and so on, if I seem to go on the defensive it's because I feel you're attacking me. Do not simply increase the pressure until I 'crack'. Learn to be empathetic. (S)

Don't hire me, help me or even talk to me if you're only doing it because you feel you 'should' as I'm the only woman. (H)

Please try to contain your nervous laughter when you talk to me. I'm not funny. The presence of a woman is not funny. Most likely, I will feel like you're laughing at me for some reason and get defensive (or start looking for something caught between my teeth)… rather than whatever the hell reason you're actually laughing. (R, but also H, S & L)

Don't express your shock and awe at my existence. Don't spend dinner asking me how old I am in front of my colleagues. Don't send me inappropriate messages ending with kisses (this is just normal sms etiquette!!) and please, please don't try to hit on me in a professional situation. (H)

(Just for the record I have no female colleagues like Leslie Winkle or those other grad students who always seem to hanker after Sheldon, in case you were about to ask for her number…) (H)

Ada Lovelace Day Live!

Last night I was honoured to have the opportunity to speak at a fab event called Ada Lovelace Day Live. The event was a celebration of women in science and featured a whole host of inspirational female speakers and 'performers', from broadcaster Gia Milinovich to electronic music, theremin and robot extraordinaire Sarah Angliss.

I'd been invited along by the amazing comedy-geek-songstress Helen Arney to kick off the evening with some science demonstrations. I decided to pull together the work of some inspirational women in science and my own research (somehow!?) into a demo-packed journey through my view of some of the joys of science.

In preparation for the event the BBC paid a visit to my lab (STFC Rutherford Appleton Lab) to ask me a bit about being a woman in accelerator physics. They also interviewed three of the other speakers - you can see the video and associated article on the BBC website here.

Since I had to fit my talk into ten minutes I actually had to write it out (this is quite an unusual occurrence for me), but it does mean I have a nice record of what I said (or meant to say!) - so I thought I'd share it with you all here. I've edited it somewhat so it works better as a 'written' rather than 'spoken' piece. Enjoy!

Presenting the first diffraction pattern using a human hair. Photo: Andrew Steele (2012)

As it happened - HB2012 Conference in Beijing - Day 4

Today I am really tired. I had to take two naps today just to get through. 

It was the last day of talks for the conference and I woke up at 4.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I went to the gym, had breakfast and attended the morning session. Then I had to skip a few talks to finish editing a long paper I had to get done by Friday, and managed a quick lunch before I decided to have the first nap for half an hour. That kept me going until about 4pm until nap number two during a gap until the final discussion session. I’ve never before been so thankful that the conference is in the same hotel as the accommodation!

It was a good day, with some new interesting ideas and questions passed around. The discussion session at the end of the day went on for over two hours (it was scheduled for one), with a few experts dominating the conversation. It was an interesting experience and despite the ‘main players’ taking over it was very valuable – most conferences are so busy you don’t get to have a proper discussion of the new and interesting issues that have been presented. It’s not practical for every conference but for a ‘workshop’ like this of maybe 150 people split into five topical groups, it is very useful.

The final discussion session for my working group. 

I’m too tired to say much more, so instead I’ll tell a story my colleague Chip (of cricket-eating fame) told us at dinner tonight:

At KEK laboratory in Japan the accelerator operators hear an alarm when there is a problem with the accelerator that needs attention. The alarm is there just in case the operators are asleep or don’t notice a flashing signal on the screen. They wanted a way to be able to tell immediately which area of the machine had a problem, so they allocated an animal noise to each section. So one section makes a monkey sound, another a lion, another a snake hiss and so on. He says “on a bad day, it’s like a zoo in the control room!”.

Tomorrow I've been naughty and instead of attending the final summary talks I’ve organised a very exciting day out! But you will have to come and read about it tomorrow…

For now, I will leave you with the lovely latte art of a cat face (we think) from a café/restaurant called Lovever Coffee near our hotel. I’m only sad I won’t have time to go back and see what else they can do! 

Coffee from Lovever - great coffee, pricey at £3.20 but good!

As it happened - HB2012 conference in Beijing - Day 3

It is actually now the morning of Day 4, at 5am. Jet-lag has woken me up an hour earlier than my alarm, so what better way to use it than to write about yesterday? Photos at the bottom!

Day 3 is always the day of the conference that my enthusiasm starts to be challenged a little. We're all in a state of over-tiredness coping with jetlag, long days and going out socialising every night. Seriously, I'm tired! But, the show must go on.

There were some interesting talks today, one of which I missed but at least 3 people told me was very interesting. Darn! It's always bound to happen that I miss something I wish I'd seen, but the best thing is not to be disappointed, read the paper and get on with life!

It got me thinking about how I approach conferences so I thought for today's blog I'd share a few thoughts and tips on how to approach conferences for people new to them or perhaps for people who don't feel they get a lot out of them. So, in no particular order:

1. Firstly and most importantly, while in the conference venue WEAR the conference badge. If it's not a lanyard one around your neck, make sure you pin it high up on your lapel so when you meet people they can learn your name. It is SO important for people to know who you are. (Yes, just a few years ago I thought they were uncool too and either left it off or wore it at my hip. I have learned my lesson. People don't want to have to visually scan your entire body to find your wayward badge.)
2. People have different approaches to science. Some love nothing more than a heated argument about the intricacies of mathematics, others (often more senior scientists) can be very stuck-in-their-way with their "views" on certain topics. Don't be personally offended if someone comes up and calls your conclusions crap - it is just their way of doing science & initiating scientific debate. (OK if they are really forceful and you can't cope just politely tell them you respect their opinion and find a diversion!)
3. Conferences are as much about cultural exchange as about scientific exchange. Try not to get stuck in the conference centre the whole time - or at least try to see some of the place you are in at night time and on weekends. It is important in the international world of science to have a cultural understanding of the people you work with. It can make all the difference to a working relationship.
4. It's OK not to go to every session!! This is something a lot of new PhD students don't get. They sit through hours of talks they don't understand because they feel they have to. It's healthy to watch some talks on other topics than your own, but sometimes you need some time to assimilate information, look up a paper on a topic you found interesting, catch up on work you absolutely must do from home, sleep or whatever.
5. Be enthusiastic! Meet people. Take business cards. Make your own business cards if your uni/work won't give you them. Take copies of your proceedings paper or poster to hand out. Tell people about your work. But mostly, be enthusiastic! I thought this went without saying but I have learned it's not true. If you're naturally shy you will have to put on a brave face or ask someone you know well to introduce you to people - this, my friends, is where having social skills in the world of science comes in handy!
6. Some of the presentations will be awful. As a science communicator & scientist this one is hard for me to cope with. The AV won't work properly, you won't be able to see the bottom of the slide where the speaker has put their main point. The speaker will face the slides instead of the audience and in doing so turn away from the microphone so you can't hear and for some reason no-one will let the speaker know and it will go on for 20 minutes like that. People from other countries will talk through the whole thing (in China it is normal to have a conversation in an opera or ballet, so why not in a talk?). That talk you were really looking forward to will be incomprehensible because the speaker isn't very good at explaining things. At least one speaker will be so nervous they will struggle to talk at all and wave the laser pointer around in such a way that makes you glad for the rules about Class II lasers. There will be people talking outside the room so loudly it makes it hard to hear the talk in the room. All of these things have happened here and if you go to conferences regularly you realise they will happen a lot. Good organisation can only help so much. It always makes me a little bit angry! Try to accept it. Anger will get us nowhere.
7. Finally, don't overdo it! OK this is me giving myself advice here - I tend to be on the go from about 6am (running, gym) to midnight (socialising) and sometimes you need a night off! (Given I've woken up so early I think tonight will be an early one for me).

Ben, Stephen and Rob enjoying the banquet

Last night was the conference banquet - in a nice restaurant just down the road from our hotel. The food was plentiful and very good and the entertainment was amazing! We experienced what I can only assume is the whole gamut of Chinese entertainment - from a musical trio, a theatrical mask performance, a singer, kung-fu demonstrations, a magician (with a real dove!), acrobatics... I have to congratulate the HB2012 conference organisers - it was amazing how much they had arranged!

The first performance - a chinese musical trio

Well it's now almost time for me to be awake to go for a run. Let's see what Day 4, the last day of talks, has in store.

Bit hard to see - acrobat twirling a big pot!?