Decorating my iPad

Receiving an iPad was like a early Christmas present to me. It has so far been good having it with me on this week's trip. Was given a few stickers from the festival. Since all students will have the same colour and type of iPad, it will be hard to distinguish whose who. As we are allowed to put stickers on, why not put these science related onto the cover? Shame there is no stickers for nutrition related topics...

Day 1: Confirming one of my favourite drink

So much sessions have I signed up to initially, I was not able to attend all of them. It was unfortunate but one can only be at one place at one time! I guess the day end in a lecture that is still embedded in my mind. The way it was given was different compared to other lectures. It was so interactive and hands on that perhaps, I can be in this lecture all day everyday! It was sad to leave at the end, knowing that it has ended. :(

The "Smell the coffee" lecture by Dr Tristan Dew from 

Was very informative with all of the theory behind coffee. The process in which coffee beans were grown to arriving in jars in supermarket was very detailed and has provide me with more information on how much effort has been put for it to arrive to us. Statistics and facts were also given to demonstrate whether or not caffeine is good for us. With evidences backing the both sides, it is still hard to demonstrate how much is "moderate" for us to drink per day that we may be healthy. To me, the definition of the word "moderate", varies between individual and as a result no exact evidence yet provide on how much cups of coffee can we exactly consume without being unhealthy.

My favourite part of the session was this next part. We were given the opportunity to taste different varieties of coffee. Coffee roasters at the Glydes House in Bradford gave us a master crash course on being tasters. Coffee beans were grounded and then roasted in front of our eyes. We then learnt to smell the grounded coffee. Hmmmmm..... :)

Next, the cups of grounded coffee were heated by adding hot water where a layer of crystal were formed at the top of each cup. After cooling down to room temperature, we learnt how to break that layer of crystals and smelling the aroma from the cups of coffee. At that point, my mind woke up from all these caffeine!

The last test was slurping and tasting the varieties of coffee. Given a spoon and a cup to spit it back out, I tasted the different varieties. I know it was not the best looking moments and definitely not very good manners but it was the opportunity to learn to use this technique. Ok, at that point I was definitely awake.

It was sad to leave when the session ended as all I could think about was coffee, coffee and coffee.

  

Sustainability everywhere

When I arrived on Sunday evening, it was dark and only did I learnt more about the university's layout yesterday. It was interesting to see why the student accommodation is named "The Green". It is obvious that all student accommodation and even some (well most) building are very "green".

According to the university's website, 

"The Green is the most sustainable development of its kind in the world, making the most of natural resources like solar power and rainwater and costing very little to heat and light."

 

Also, looking around the university, the buildings all seems to be very sustainable too with its appearance being very green and brown...

 

Day 1 at British Science Festival

A very enjoyable and adventurous first day in Bradford. As always, i have kept myself busy by signing up to all the potential sessions I could attend- that is changing lecture rooms every hour and walking up and down those hills.

Attending the "Rhapsody in blue: the story of the blue LED" lecture by Professor Stephen Sweeney from the University of Surrey reminded of my time at secondary school. Reminded the physics of light brings back good memories. As it is the International Year of Light, the blue LED technology was explored to its root of discovery. The research and its applications were discussed to show how important it is to have LEDs around us everywhere. As a result, such device won the Nobel Prize last year in 2014.

It has been a while since I last breathed in the fresh air. It was down a long memory lane this morning when I went for a stroll prior breakfast. The sun was beaming behind me as I walked up to the main entrance and taking in the beautiful scenery over the University or Bradford. Unlike yesterday when the place was so quite that all you can here is your own breathing, this morning there were more people walking around campus before 8am.

The lecture "Follow the leader: the social lives of animals and humans" from Dr Shaun Killen (University of Glasgow) explored the social behaviour of how fishes behave, and understanding who and why others follow the leader in different situations. Relating to humans also, it was interesting to see how concepts experimented on animals applies similarly to us mammals. Starting the lecture with a physical active of Mexican wave, the audience were asked to initiate the activity without asking someone to start the wave. It was all due to social behaviours which was explained later on, that someone from the audience had to be brave and confident to being the Mexican wave.

Studying nutrition as my degree, I would have never thought of attending the next lecture. However, due to my hobby, my passion in music has led me to attend "The Daphne Oram Award Lecture for Digital Innovation", "Live Coding: creating languages for making music". Dr Alex McLean from the University of Leeds demonstrated live to us how to make music through coding. It was a fascinating method of demonstrating a new way to make sound through coding. To me, coding was just something which in the past I thought, "What has this got to do with me?". However, through recent experience on working in a summer research project with academics, coding seems to have found a place in my list of hobbies. It was just so surreal when Dr McLean created a piece of music in front of our eyes; seeing cods up on the screen whilst hearing notes put together to create a small tune. I wondered after the lecture, "have I chosen the right degree course to study?"

 

Speeding across from one room to the next with lectures being back to back for the whole day and is not even lunchtime yet... However, this next lecture began from the smell I received when walking down the corridor without even arriving at the door. "What does death smell like?" was my third lecture of the day. The smell down the corridor smelt dieffenbachia compared to earlier on when I was in the same room. Dr Anna Williams, a forensic anthropologist from the University of Huddersfield gave a very interactive lecture taking us on the journey of body decomposition and the effects it has on the body post death. Bringing with her the different smell of death at different stages of chemicals givin off by decomposing corpses, it was a chance for us to test our scent of smell by discovering what each stage of death smells like. I must say, I am glad I am not studying in this field!!

 

After lunch was the "Drinking in later life" lecture by Professor Clare Holdsworth from Keele University and working in collaboration with the Geography Section of BSA. Drinking behaviour changes between different age groups and evidence shows how as people age, our health and lifestyle also changes with research demonstrating that there are links between these aspects of life. A paper published by her on the "Alcohol consumption, life course transitions and health in later life" was used to demonstrate the title of the lecture. Statistics and facts were provided to make us more aware of the amount of alcohol consumption through an individual's life, and how the correct interventions can be provided to help inform the public on guidelines and targets.

 

With the recent outbreak of Ebola, the "Tracking viral infection" was a very popular lecture by Professor Paul Kellam from the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute. History and technologies were explored to demonstrate how the transmission of viral infections such as the flue or Ebola can have an affect on a population. Going back to the famous cholera outbreak in 1854 Broad Street, London, the concept of how diseases were identified and treated was applied to the Ebola case in today's time. It was discussed also that information should be shared between different parties, and interventions should be applied where needed as soon as positive to prevent further transmission.

 

The last lecture of the day was the best in my mind and has been the highlight so far. More to come on the post!

Surviving the first night

So, I managed to survive the first night at the University of Bradford. It was not so bad! Well. I had the whole double bed to myself, so what more to say?!?

Up and early this morning and feeling ready for the long day ahead...well, I have given myself a very busy timetable for the day, going to lectures every hour until this evening. Follow me on Twitter also as I will try and attempt to tweet throughout the week!! (@kiusum)

  

Journey to University of Bradford

Packing done? Check...managed to pack everything I needed (finally) for the week before I lef the house. It was strange in fact that we were asked to bring toiletries with us.

Anyway, journey to Bradford seems to be quite long. To my memory, I think Bradford has been the second furthest North of England I have travelled, minus the the time when I travelled to Lancaster for something else and to Ulster in Northern Ireland for a conference.

Bye bye London and hello to Bradford!!!!! ☺️

I have always learnt to bring work with me wherever I go to keep me awake and keep my mind working, especially on such long journeys like this afternoon. All in all, it took me about 5 hours to arrive to my room on campus at the University of Bradford through the means of walking, bus, train, tube, train and then finally walking a very hilly road to read my destination.

Bradford is definately not like London, flat and quite. It seems to me that Bradford was indeed a very peaceful area; but then again it was a late Sunday afternoon. It was definately a very interesting journey from the station to the university, carrying my luggage up the hill and making such loud noises from the wheels!
 

Pictures below on some things I saw before on the way up the hill...

This evening, I attended the 'Welcome Reception' at the Bradford Brewary where I met other Bursary students for the British Science Festival as well as staff. It was good to network with others and seeing what univeristies they are coming from. I also met (finally) the other student from University of Westminster. Funny enough that we both are living at the same flat on campus and next door to each other!

From 2 weeks to 2 days

Train tickets ready? Check. Sessions booked and got tickets? Check. Packed camera? Check. iPad ready for blogging? Check. Bags packed? Errr...half ready?

 

 

Never mind two weeks, but now is ONLY two days till my travel to Bradford. As each day goes by, I am feeling more and more excited for this trip. It will be a jam packed week and I am very much looking forward to the British Science Festival. My first taste of Bradford hopefully will be good!