IOP vice-president visits Exeter

On Friday, Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright, IOP vice-president for education and skills, travelled to Exeter to spend two days meeting South West branch members and students.

Lisa was joined on the visit by IOP deputy chief executive Rachel Youngman, head of campaign strategy Ray Mitchell and South West regional manager Miranda Addey.

Their itinerary began on Friday with a visit to the Physics Department at the University of Exeter.

There they met Professor Tim Harries, head of physics and astronomy, toured the department and talked to PhD students about their work.

A trip to the Met Office followed, where Lisa, Rachel and Ray took part in a discussion on skills and career development, including how the IOP can continue to develop effective links with the environmental physics community.

The final visit of the day was to West Exe School, where they met staff to talk about physics education and what further support is needed, including better access to targeted resources.

That evening, Lisa attended the South West Branch Committee meeting at the Hotel du Vin.

On Saturday, Lisa spent the day at the IOP’s Festival of Physics at the University of Exeter, where she met local members, students and the general public and enjoyed lectures by Professor Sir Roy Sambles (pictured above), Dr Natasha Stephen and Dr Heidi Thiemann. The topics ranged from the wonder of light to the Winchcombe meteorite.

The festival was well attended and offered a series of fascinating lectures and fun, hands-on activities for anyone curious about physics.

Having listened to the opportunities and challenges raised by members in the region over two eventful days, the IOP staff team will take the learnings forward to help improve our support, over a range of areas, for members and the wider physics community across the UK and Ireland.

We will be planning further regional and national member engagement visits for our vice-presidents over the course of 2022.