MIDAS at British Science Week

In March, the newly reopened Manchester Museum hosted MIDAS for British Science Week. 

Students from secondary schools and sixth-form colleges across Greater Manchester came to see the MIDAS stand and to chat with our PhD students and PDRAs about their research and careers in science. Our conversations demystified the work done by scientists and encouraged students to pursue paths to material science during their A-Levels and at university. 

Our PhD students and PDRA researchers honed their science communications skills as they presented MIDAS research to students between the ages of 11 and 18 and interested museum-goers. Following the success of previous public outreach at Science X in October, our team took students through a series of demonstrations to explain the basic principles behind our research. Colliding balls on a pool table demonstrated the atomic structure of zirconium and how it is disturbed by collisions with high-energy neutrons in radioactive environments. Interactive models of fuel assemblies and rods helped us explain irradiation-induced growth and the industrial applications of MIDAS’s research in nuclear reactors. Finally, we tested chocolate bars in a basic Charpy impact tester to show irradiation defects in zirconium and how materials alter when exposed to conditions that modify brittleness, as found in a fuel cell. The stand brought our research to life and helped students engage with real-world scientific challenges and concepts beyond the core curriculum. 

Some audience members were very new to zirconium research!

MIDAS will continue to develop our outreach abilities at forthcoming events (to be announced shortly,) building on the success of British Science Week and previous outreach work.