The media studies module ‘Mediating Science and Technology’ looks at how scientific ideas are communicated to the public, so, as lecturer Ryan Burns tells us, it’s an ideal location for a field trip (plus it’s next to the Ritz in Mayfair).

Dr Ryan Burns, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies and Course Leader, BA (Hons) Media, Industry and Innovation:

“First, we heard from Dr Harry Cliff, a particle physicist based at the University of Cambridge who works on the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. He gave us a crash course in particle physics to explain what the Large Hadron Collider actually does, as well as explaining what he hopes will come next.  Spoiler: it’s an even bigger collider.

We then heard from Professor John Womersley, Director General of Europe’s next major science project, the European Spallation Source. He spoke about the political and social practicalities involved in making these huge and expensive scientific experiments actually happen. For the ‘Mediating Science and Technology’ module, it was really interesting to learn about the political wrangling that goes on to secure funding as well as the social implications for what are in essence giant engineering projects.

As well as the insight from the event itself, the train journey gave me a chance to spend a bit of time chatting with final year students about what they might be doing next. Lots of exciting plans after graduation! And although we didn’t go to the Ritz, we stopped at the Burger King at Victoria station so everyone was happy in the end.”

Find out more about the event.