Posters in Parliament

The British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) is an annual competition which invites undergraduate students from all disciplines to submit their work in various forms, including poster presentations. For the second year running BCUR invited over forty students to present their research in the Houses of Parliament, and I was one of the lucky students to get a call.

The BCUR events are absolutely fantastic. I think it is really important to showcase and champion undergraduate research; it demonstrates that a.) undergraduates can produce quality, publishable research and b.) how important research is as a learning experience. The undergraduates at the event  were truly amazing, so passionate and enthusiastic about their research – it was a pleasure to present alongside them. Undergraduates are the scientists of tomorrow and events such as BCUR really help to promote and ensure smooth running into research careers. The topics presented were incredibly diverse, as was the audience. I think it is so important to be able to communicate our science projects to everybody, from the average member of the public, to senior professors, policy makers and grant awarders. Events like BCUR really help to develop undergraduate communication skills.

I presented my undergraduate honours project as a poster, we had an hour long poster session where the other students could learn about each other’s work, there were a lot of discussions, and we were visited by a variety of mps during the session. I then had five minutes to present my work to the judging panel; hundreds and hundreds of hours research, and just five minutes to present – this is where communication skills are essential. There is no point in doing science and not telling anybody about it, I don’t want my work to be stuck in a scientific vacuum.

My undergraduate project focussed on plastic pollution, specifically small plastics, called microplastics. We know that microplastics are globally dispersed in the marine environment, we know microplastics accumulate harmful pollutants, we also know that many marine organisms ingest microplastics. My project asked the question: do the harmful compounds on the surface of the microplastics go into the tissues of the animals which eat them? Or more scientifically, are micoplastic co-contaminants bioavailable?

I was very proud to be highly commended at the BCUR Posters in Parliament 2014. The calibre and diversity of student work was mind-blowing! The passion in the room was second to none. It was a real privilege to present amongst such a great group of undergraduates.  Thank you BCUR!!

 

BCUR press release:  http://bcur.org/posters-in-parliament-2014/