Day Two – Thursday 5 June
Guest speaker - Dr Jess Wade “Making Science Accessible”
Jess is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials at Imperial College London. Broadly speaking, her research considers new materials for optoelectronic, spintronic and quantum devices, with a focus on chiral molecular materials.
She was previously an Imperial College Research Fellow in SPIN-Lab at Imperial, which is led by Professor Sandrine Heutz. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Fuchter and Campbell groups at Imperial College London, where she optimised these chiral systems such that can absorb/emit circularly polarised (CP) light for CP OLEDs and OPDs. For her PhD Jess concentrated on organic photovoltaics and the development of advanced characterisation techniques to better understand molecular packing under the supervision of Dr Ji-Seon Kim.
Outside of the lab, Jess is involved with several science communication and outreach initiatives. She is committed to improving diversity in science, both online and offline, and since the start of 2018 has written the Wikipedia biographies of women and people of colour scientists every single day.
Learn to pitch your research - (includes a competition with cash prizes!)
In small groups you will explore how to:
- Communicate complex ideas clearly to a diverse audience.
- Develop knowledge on how to pitch a business/research idea.
- Gain insights into how to engage stakeholders.
- Combine strategic/scientific thinking with creative ideas.
Interactive Career Skills Workshop
Using LEGO® Serious Play® as a tool for enhanced creativity and communication, you will reflect on your unique skillsets and how these skills will be crucial in your future careers.
PGI Alumni Celebration
Day two of PGI Summer School will be concluded with a PGI Alumni Celebration at The Pavilion, Bushy Park, aiming to bring together as many PGI alumni to celebrate 10 years of the PGI. Expect gourmet BBQ, great company and exciting stories about alumni journeys.
We’ve done our research and over the past 10 years we are proud to have launched the careers of over 330 PhD graduates through the PGI; with 48% now in industry roles, 15% in Academia, 13% at independent research institutes and 13% in NPL (*data from 298 respondents in 2024).
During the event, we will be launching our latest 5-year report, hearing from a few of our Alumni and celebrating with friends of the PGI.