Bringing science to life

05 Nov 2014

Professor Danielle George inspires youngsters

Professor Danielle George helped to bring science to life, and set a few things straight about university professors, when she visited children from Great Moor Junior School in Stockport this week.

Danielle, a Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, went to meet the children, who were aged between 7 and 11 years old, and answered some of their many questions.

They included, “Why and when did you know you wanted to be a scientist?”, “Did you enjoy science at school?” and “What do you need to be a ‘good’ scientist?”  They were also keen to hear about exciting experiments and if she had any links in her work with space and dinosaurs!

Jane Ijima, the school’s Science Subject leader, said: “It was wonderful for the children to meet a real professor, someone young and down-to-earth who is very different perhaps, from what they expected.

“It was also interesting that many of them were surprised when they found out the visiting professor was going to be a woman, rather than a man.  Our children, especially our girls, need strong roles models and encouragement to take up subjects such as science and technology and I think Danielle will have inspired many of them.”

The visit was part of a wider campaign, Fascinate, from the University’s Science Education Research and Innovation Hub, which was launched to engage children with university academics and contemporary research.

Head of the Science Education Research and Innovation Hub Dr Lynne Bianchi said: “Danielle is the ideal role model for children of this age who often aren’t too sure what it means to be an engineer and her just being here has provided much food for fascination already!

“It’s so important that we open up opportunities for each and every child to feel that science is all around them and that they are a part of our science community.”

• Danielle, who specialises in radio frequency and microwave communications, will be presenting the Royal Institution (RI) 2014 CHRISTMAS LECTURES, a three-part series called ‘Sparks will fly: How to hack your home’, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain which will air on BBC FOUR this Christmas. She will reveal how viewers can change the world from their own home by taking control of the devices we use every day. She will take three great British inventions – a light bulb, a telephone and a motor – and demonstrate how viewers can adapt, transform and ‘hack’ them to do extraordinary things.