Student outreach team win gold at the Optics Outreach Games

Postgraduate members of the Optics and Photonics Society (OPSoc) at the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) competitively beat 19 other student chapters from around the world to claim first prize in the Optics Outreach Games at the Optics and Photonics Conference in San Diego.

Whilst competition was tough, OPSoc were fortunate to be highly rated across all criteria by the judges. The panel said that ‘the team brought something not just fun and exciting but also educational with a well thought-out narrative’. PhD student, Alexander Jantzen, won a Student Officer Travel Grant from SPIE to represent the ORC’s student chapter at the student leadership conference preceding the Optics Outreach Games. Alexander worked closely with fellow PhD student, Callum Stirling, to deliver the winning activity: ‘From Shadow Theatre to 3D Cinemas’, targeting children aged eight up to undergraduate level.

OPSoc’s winning outreach activity explores how shadows are formed through shadow puppets and how they change in relation to a light source. The journey continues to investigate white light, how it can be split into different colours, the primary colours of light and how this is used in TV screens. As a finale, the team use a demonstration to show the polarisations of light and explain the magic behind modern 3D cinemas. The depth into which each aspect is covered is designed to be adaptable for different audience age groups, which the judges applauded.

On receiving the prize Alexander said: “It’s an honour to be named the winner of these highly competitive games, and testimony to the great outreach work we do within our student chapter.”