WHEC day 3:

Today was the day of my talk, so I was glad that I had finally managed to get a good nights sleep! I woke up with enough time to go for a run along one of the beautifully well maintained river cycle paths. This put me in a great mood :-)

The plenary session today was about using liquids such as toluene to store hydrogen: a hydrogen storage method that would reduce the changes needed to infrastructure. We then heard about the current state of electrolysis and filling stations in Korea. When this session finished at 11am they decided it was lunchtime and served up some sweet potato noodles and vegetables. 

The afternoon session for me was manic - there were two parallel sessions which I wanted to go to, so I ended up running between the two at every speaker change to try and see everything. This worked out quite well, and I ended up in the room I was presenting in with enough time to watch the speaker before me. My presentation went well, although it was a bit short. That was due to the content though, and not because I spoke at the speed of light, so that was re-assuring! I had a few questions afterwards that prompted a discussion that I continued over coffee. 

In the afternoon I went to the metal hydrides session, although annoyingly missed the talk I had been hoping to see as it had been rescheduled at the last minute. 

Tonight was the gala dinner night - a rather bizarre evening which began with an awards presentation. However, no explanation was given as to what the awards were for, so it was a bit hard to follow. We then had a buffet accompanied by a tribute to the president of the IAHE who was celebrating his 90th birthday this year. Once we had eaten, there was entertainment of an opera quartet and a traditional dance which were both very good. 

WHEC Day 2: fuel cell cars

I successfully managed to use my alarm this morning and did some strength training and yoga before setting off for the conference centre. 

The morning session today was made up of presentations from car manufacturers who are all working on fuel cell cars. It was pretty impressive seeing the progress from the companies, and also seeing the different approaches they have taken. For example, Toyota have a focus on hybrid vehicles, with fuel cells being a sideline development, whereas Hyundai have taken on the initiative to develop fuel cell cars independently. 

Lunch was another Korean speciality of beef with rice. This is one country where I am not finding wheat-intolerance to be a problem! They seem to find vegetarianism much harder to comprehend... 

There were very few sessions in the afternoon that were relevant, so I spent the time looking at the posters and the exhibition. After the last talks had finished, I went off into Gwangju to (successfully!) locate a swimming pool. On my way back to the hotel I discovered the Korean exercise trend: power-walking through the parks with portable speakers blaring out "K-pop"!

World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Day 1 Gwangju, South Korea,

The day after finishing off at POST, I flew out to Gwangju in South Korea for the World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC). I had prepared my presentation before leaving Birmingham, but that was now 3 months ago, and my brain was full of information about big data rather than hydrogen storage. Luckily my talk wasn't scheduled until the Wednesday, giving me 2-3 days to listen to others and remember what it was I did! 

I arrived on Sunday evening after over 24 hours travelling (plus 8 hours time difference) and went to the conference centre to register. Luckily I had my photo ID (driving license) and business cards in my purse as I needed both to register. I then had a look through the programme and the abstract booklet before going back to the hotel for dinner and sleep. 


The Monday of the conference did not start well! I failed at using the alarm on my borrowed phone and not only missed my morning run, but also breakfast and only just made it to the conference on time after some epic powerwalking... The morning sessions were  a number of different countries reporting back on the progress of their hydrogen technology progress. There was also a welcoming address from the mayor of Gwangju and the president of the IAHE. We then had lunch - a Korean special of bibimbap: a rice and vegetables dish that is mixed together with sesame oil and red pepper paste. There was another session after lunch about the development in different countries. I found the Californian presentation interesting, as they do a lot of work on communication. A possible job for the future...?!

In the tea break I discovered that all the snacks were made with rice flour and not wheat, which was a treat for me and my wheat free diet! I then attended some interesting technical sessions. Some of the presentations were reporting back on the European Project HyUnder that is researching the potential of storing hydrogen underground. I had done my industrial placement with a UK company working on this project, so it was interesting to see how the feasibility studies have progressed. 

In the evening there was a welcome reception. This consisted of a welcome address, a laser show, a 3 course meal and some traditional Korean music and dancers. 

Reflections on a POST fellowship

When I finished my time at POST, I told myself I would write a blog post reflecting on my time there. Now I have been back in Birmingham for a few weeks, and my POSTnote is now online, I feel like I have sufficiently gathered my thoughts enough to write something that makes sense! 

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I thank the EPSRC for the opportunity. I hadn't realised at the start just how much I needed a break from the bubble of research that I was in whilst working towards my PhD. Getting the chance to continue research, but in a different field and in a different environment acted as a perfect interlude. 

There were a number of things that I was surprised at. To write the note, I carried out a lot of interviews. When I first started I had no idea just how useful these would be, as all previous literature reviews (which is essentially what a POSTnote is) had just involved reading. However, so much is gained from speaking to an expert that I wonder whether this should be carried through into the academic world, with researchers encouraged to go to conferences just to hear from and speak to other researchers when they are just beginning their PhD. Currently, the norm is for a PhD student to wait until they have something to present before attending a conference. I guess that the budget is the limiting factor, as conferences can be expensive. 

The importance of every word in every sentence was a bit of a shock: as the published note becomes "the voice of POST", you have to make sure you don't say anything at all that you cannot back up with supporting information. Going over every word to ensure you can provide evidence for what you are saying was a way of writing that I was new to, but quickly got used to!

I also discovered just how bad my grammar was... I learnt a lot from Lydia (Harriss) and Chris (Tyler) but was still needing correction at the end! 

My favourite thing about the fellowship was the people. Not only the permanent staff, but the other fellows, the cyclists from the Kingston Wheelers and Twickenham CC, the regular early morning swimmers at the Queen Mother Leisure Centre and all the friends I realised I had in London. They ensured I had an excellent time during my stay!

Although I don't miss the commute, living in London was a great experience. Now I'm back, I realise just how refreshing it was to work with adults after 7 years at university. Another benefit for me was that, as most of the other fellows were nearing the end of their PhDs, most of our discussions were about "What next?". This was great, as it has prompted me to start thinking about life post-PhD when I still have 18 months left, rather than waiting until hand-in day to contemplate my options. 

I have come back with renewed motivation to finish my PhD - I have spent a lot of the last 2 weeks in the lab and have taken a different approach to getting things done. I am hoping this will give me a strong advantage when it comes to finishing next year. 

My time at POST not only gave me an insight into how science is communicated in parliament, but also improved my writing, communication and confidence. A massive thank-you to POST, the EPSRC for the fellowship, and to the University of Birmingham for welcoming me back.

Photo courtesy of James Courtney

Last week at POST!

I just can't believe this is my last week at POST. I guess that shows just how interesting it's been, as the time has flown by. After this week I'm flying out to South Korea for the World Hydrogen Energy Conference (WHEC) so this will be a quick post about the activities in my last week, and then when I get back I'll write an overview of my time here.

Mon/Tues

I spent these two days finalising the note: making sure all the comments from the reviewers had been incorporated, and then deciding which other bits to cut to make room for the extras! It's amazing how obsessed you can become with shrinking paragraphs so that more can fit on a page... By Tuesday afternoon the note was ready to send to the director Chris (@cptyler) ahead of the final sign off on Thursday afternoon. I then made sure all the reviewers were entered into the POST database and that all their comments were recorded. On Tuesday evening, along with one of the other fellows, I went to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies' meeting on "Scottish independence: What would it mean for UK energy?". This showcased the difference in what the UK government and the SNP would expect would happen to the energy markets on devolution - there is quite a discrepancy!

Wed
With my note sent to Chris, I had today free to do some much needed planning for my conference trip - including going over my presentation to try and re-familiarise myself with my own research!

Thurs
Today was the day of the final sign off! In the morning I finished a draft of a scope for the board on e-skills and cybercrime - the idea that increasing the level of basic online skills should protect people from malicious behaviour online.

My sign off was in the afternoon - almost 3 hours going over the note with Lydia and the director, Chris. The feedback was overall positive, but there were a number of changes and re-shuffles that I tried to get done straight away before I forgot what my scribbled notes meant! I did manage to get most of them done before heading off to meet a friend for dinner and then staying up late to finish my packing for Korea. I got a nice view on my walk to Waterloo though...

Fri
Last day! I can't believe it...
I finished off the changes that Chris had recommended, and then sent it back to him so he could have a final glance over it. I then spent a while formatting the references so they are all the same and adding hyperlinks where needed. Then lunch with the fellows in the sunshine and some admin things: expenses, tidying, e-mail forwarding etc.
I had a final coffee meeting with Lydia, just chatting about the POST process and whether it could be improved. For me, once i was down here everything went to plan, so it was all good from both sides!
One final iteration with Chris and the note was done! Perfect timing - finishing at 4:30 on the last day :-)

Penultimate Week at POST: Space, cycling and the Queen!

 Mon
After yesterdays BUCS triathlon (below) and the drive back from Birmingham, I was glad of my lie in until 7 am this morning! I had a few replies from reviewers when I got in, although thankfully nothing drastic, so I continued to scope out the proposal for a note on space for the board.



In the afternoon, I headed to the Olympic Velodrome to try out track cycling! Anyone who can ride a bike can register for one of these sessions here and I would highly recommend it. They provide bikes and helmets, and you can hire shoes if you want. The coach was very accommodating for all levels of cycling ability and fear levels. It seemed terrifying at first, but it no time all of us were speeding around on the banked circuit. As it is the state opening of parliament on Wednesday, I managed to get a photo of the palace without the usual security barriers in the way.



Tues
Today I started to write the proposal for the board based on all the information I've been collecting. There is a lot of activity out there and my challenge will be getting it all in one page, as always seems to be the case with POST....!

Wed
Today is the state opening of parliament, and so most of the roads around Westminster are closed off, with the police starting to make an appearance even on my way in from the pool at half 8. After doing some work collating the reviewer's comments, a few of us headed out in the drizzle to see if we could spot the Queen - and we did! We then all went back into the office to watch her speech. In the afternoon a couple of us went over to the House of Commons and sat in the Strangers' Gallery to watch the Prime Minister "commend the Queen's Speech to the House" which was quite exciting, and a good opportunity for some MP spotting. In the evening, I tried out a road bike only time trial at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit with my friend Ellie, which was fun despite the weather turning apocalyptic - and as there were only us two girls there we both won prizes!



Thurs
So today was the Evening Standard's #run2workday and I thought: why not? It turns out there are a lot of answers to that question! Despite the lack of breakfast and a lot of bugs inhaled, I made it! 10.5 miles along the river from Mortlake to Westminster: and once I'd stopped worrying about how slow I was going, I quite enjoyed it.

 

I spent today collating all the responses from the external reviewers and making changes to the note accordingly. All the feedback has been very positive, and most of the comments are suggesting things to add in if I have space. Unfortunately, I don't, and many of the topics they'd like added in were in the note at one stage of the draft but were removed to make space for something else.
I had a pretty bizarre evening - I caught the commuter boat to Canary Wharf where there was a cycling race happening! It was very odd to watch racing between the high rise buildings, but really good fun at the same time.


Fri
Another few e-mails in from reviewers today, so some more editing of my note to accommodate the changes they have suggested. We also had another big data team meeting, looking for areas of overlap in the notes and discussing what the main themes for POST's big data event in the Autumn will be.
It's crazy to think that I've only got one more week at POST!

Week 11 at POST: feedback and scoping

The benefit of sending my note off to external review last Friday meant that I was able to extend my bank holiday weekend and take Tuesday off too. I had a great 4 days: played basketball with some friends from Oxford on Saturday; ran the BUPA 10k (with the elites!!) and then made the most of the sunshine in Kew gardens on Sunday; got soaked on a 15-puncture day cycle to Brighton on Monday and was a lady of leisure brunching, shopping and having afternoon tea on Tuesday.

Wed

I came in to some e-mails from my external reviewers. So far, all very positive and not recommending any major changes which is great! 

I then had an interesting meeting with the Physical Science team discussing possible future POSTnote topics. Last week I had had a look myself at what I thought might be interesting, and it was good to see there was some overlap. Before a topic becomes a note, it is put forward to the board in meetings that are held quarterly. It is put forward in the form of a one page scope detailing the relevance, timeliness and parliamentary activity surrounding an issue. Before this is written, a lot more topics are considered and some "pre-scoping" is done to see if a subject has the potential to be an interesting and relevant note. As I have some time left before I finish, I am going to have a go at doing some pre-scoping for some of the physical science topics. This should be really interesting as it gives me an opportunity to look into some more interesting research in a completely different area to what I am used to.

Thurs
Today I carried on scoping out for some possible new topics. A varied day reading about space, diversity in STEM, basic IT skills and biometrics! We met as the physical sciences team to discuss what we had found and which notes we thought could be interesting and topical to expand into notes.
An evening of preparation for my race on Sunday with a sports massage for me and a service for my bike!

Fri
I spent the morning working from home in London before heading back up to Birmingham to meet with my research group and discuss a paper I am writing with my supervisor. It was a useful meeting, although meant that it gave me lots to do! Because of this, I spent all of Saturday at my desk in Birmingham making changes and new figures.