This page gives details of all of the work that I have been doing since summer 2004. Scroll or click to see details of recurring work and current and completed contract work.
Recurring work
Science shows and talks
I do science shows and talks to schools and other audiences. Sometimes these are one-off arrangements with individual schools, museums or science centres, but often they are contracts with funders such as the Royal Institution, Glasgow University Science Festival, Colour Group GB.
Teaching Product Design Engineering students, Glasgow School of Art
I work 2 days a week as a Lecturer for the Product Design Engineering degree course at Glasgow School of Art. This follows several years of casual teaching on the course, which in turn was the continuation of a collaboration that started when I worked at at Glasgow Science Centre, when the first-year students did a project in which their task was to design and prototype hands-on science exhibits.
I am the co-coordinator of the third-year studio. Together with a colleague, I am responsible for the planning and running of the third-year student projects, and for their assessment, as well as general departmental duties. In Autumn 2009, the students that I teach did a project where they made kinetic sculptures that involved engineering mechanisms such as cams, cranks, and gears. To make it even harder, the sculptures had to be made predominantly out of desktop modelling materials such as foamboard. One of the students has made a short video of some of the sculptures and their creators.
In previous years I was involved with teaching first-, second-, and third-year students. I also did assessment as well as teaching. In 2009 I became involved with the related (but distinct) Product Design course.
The picture on the left shows a model of a "giant hand" exhibit made by a group of first-year students. The fingers are operated by users pulling the black "tendons". The students envisaged that the real thing would be about 4 metres high.
Open University tutoring
I am an Associate Lecturer with the Open University. I am the correspondence tutor for a group of students on the introductory maths course MU120 Open Mathematics. This work involves helping students by phone or by e-mail, marking and giving feedback on assignments, and holding face-to-face tutorials.
Newsletter writing
I write a newsletter for a Glasgow-based consulting engineering company.
Efficient speed networking events
As a sideline I organise speed networking events. These operate somewhat like speed dating, except that people meet in a succession of small groups rather than in pairs. I have developed ways of allocating people to groups so that, as the event proceeds and people move from group to group, nobody meets anybody else twice. This is the "efficient" in the title.
Current freelance work
Exhibit design and building
I am designing and building two hands-on exhibits for Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, Edinburgh. These exhibits are based on two demonstrations that I used in shows - the mystery lights and the grey squares.
Training
I am preparing a workshop on "Working with different audiences" for the Engaging Researcher meeting in Manchester in 2010.
Shows and workshops
I will shortly be delivering shows and workshops as part of Dumfries and Galloway Science Festival.
Teaching Fellow, Colour Science
I have been appointed for a second year as a Teaching Fellow by the Colour Group GB. I have developed a talk on colour, with many demonstrations, which I presented to school pupils early in 2009, and which I'll present again in in 2009/2010.
Completed freelance work
Sculpture workshop
I spent a weekend helping James Hutchby of Madlab with a kinetic sculpture workshop for adults at Edinburgh Science Festival 2010.
Brewing workshop
Rebecca Crawford and I ran our brewing workshop at Newcastle Science Festival.
Science pub quiz
I wrote and delivered a "what happens next?" science pub quiz for Newcastle Science Festival
Stereoscopes
I built two stereoscopes and two kaleidoscopes for Prof. Julie Harris in the department of Psychology at St Andrews University. These items were for use at a university open day.
Research for an exhibition about materials
I did English language copy-editing of translated exhibition text for Northern Light CoDesign, Netherlands..
Research for an exhibition about materials
I researched content for an exhibition about materials being planned by Thinktank, Birmingham's science museum.
Research for an exhibition about health
I researched content for an exhibition about health for Glasgow Science Centre.
Exhibition texts and multimedia concept development
I wrote the exhibition text for the visitor centre at Europe's largest wind farm, run by Scottish Power at Whitelee, near Glasgow. I also developed concepts for multimedia exhibits in the exhibition.
Brewing workshop
With Rebecca Crawford, I devised and presented a brewing workshop at Glasgow University Science Festival.
"Meet the Scientist" in Manchester
I spent a weekend doing a "Meet the Scientist" event at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester. I gave shows about colour to the public and spent the remainder of the time informally showing visitors my favourite colour demonstrations.
Open University course review
I worked as consultant to the Open University, reviewing the first draft of the course materials for the course that will replace MU120 Open Mathematics in 2010.
Open University course materialsreview
I worked as consultant to the Open University, providing enrichment materials (historical snippets, mathematical curiosities, quotations, etc) for the course that will replace MU120 Open Mathematics in 2010.
Schools workshop consultancy
I advised Historic Scotland on possibilities for school workshops about water power.
Interactive exhibit consultancy
I advised Historic Scotland on the design of interactive exhibits in a water mill, and also writing materials for teachers to go with the exhibits.
Talks about colour science
I gave a talk on colour, to 20 audiences of primary school pupils at Glasgow University Science Festival in summer 2009. I gave a similar talk on behalf of the Royal Institution to three schools in London in June 2009.
Physics calculations
I calculated the trajectory of a rollercoaster car for Glasgow Science Centre, who want to use the data in a website. The calculations allowed the user to see the effectsof varying rolling resistance and air resistance.
Manchester Science Festival 2008
I did science shows and science busking at Manchester Science Festival, both for the Festival itself and on behalf of the Royal Institution.
Bulk speed networking
I organised a speed networking event for about 250 people for the British Association at their annual Science Communication meeting in summer 2008, and again in 2009.
Glasgow Science Festival
I delivered my talk Ten True Things About Vision to a public audience at Glasgow Science Festival.
Science shows for schools
I wrote and delivered a science show about forces for schools on behalf of the Royal Institution. I did a short tour of Scottish schools, and also a two-week season at Glasgow Science Festival, also funded by the RI.
Wrexham Science Festival
I delivered my talk Ten True Things About Vision (in English this time) to a public audience at Wrexham Science Festival. This talk was funded by the Institute of Physics.
Manchester Science Festival
I delivered two science shows about vision and the brain, and spent an afternoon "busking" with science demonstrations.
Ten True Things About Vision, in German (2)
I delivered my talk Ten True Things About Vision in German to an audience of schoolteachers, pupils and other friends of Turm der Sinne (Tower of the Senses) in Nuremberg, Germany.
Ten True Things About Vision, in German (1)
I delivered my talk Ten True Things About Vision in German as part of a training day for new gallery staff at Phaeno science centre, Wolfsburg, Germany.
Translation and translation editing
I "polished" the English translations of some exhibit texts for Phaeno science centre, Wolfsburg, Germany. I translated some of the texts from scratch.
Translation editing
I "polished" English translations of French exhibit texts for a geology exhibition, for Hüttinger Exhibition Engineering.
Interactive exhibit auditing
I performed an audit of the performance and condition of all of the interactive exhibits at Glasgow Science Centre.
Public lecture on the science of vision
I delivered one of the series of monthly public lectures held at Glasgow Science Centre's Planetarium. My talk was about vision: how the properties of our vision matter for looking at the stars, and exploring some parallels between the tasks and problems that astronomers face and those that our sense of vision faces.
FAQs for science centre exhibits
I wrote some FAQs to accompany 4 exhibits being built by Hüttinger Exhibition Engineering for VILVITE Bergen Vitensenter, the Bergen Science Centre, Norway.
Schools resources for the science of music
I provided classroom activities, teachers' notes, science consultancy, and copy-editing for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Science Consultant on an astronomy education project
I was contracted as a science adviser to Ruth Ruthven of Innovative Learning Projects, to review the Ticket to Space website for accuracy and currency of content.
Science Consultant on a renewable energy education project
I was contracted as a science adviser to Ruth Ruthven of Innovative Learning Projects, on education materials for Scottish Power to accompany the opening of a new wind farm.
Research Consultant, Stirling University
I worked with Professor Roger Watt in the Psychology Department on vision research projects. I also provided some teaching materials for the Cognition course of Stirling University's Psychology degree.
Website content development
I worked for Glasgow Science Centre, writing content for a website to accompany one of their exhibitions. For each exhibit, I am aimed to provide an explanation of the science behind the exhibit, one or more activities, related to the exhibit, that people can try at home, and examples of where the relevant science can be seen in everyday life.
Exhibition development
I worked with Glasgow Science Centre on the redevelopment of an area about optical and visual illusions. The work involved some redesign of exhibits, some new exhibits, and work on exhibit texts (new texts and revisions of old ones).
Content for a maths website
I worked for @Bristol on content for a website to accompany the PuzzleMania exhibition that I previously worked on.
Clyde monitoring exhibit
I worked with Glasgow Science Centre on the development of an exhibit to display data about the river Clyde, collected by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's monitoring station at GSC. This involved deciding which data to display, and how to display it, and writing a script for an interactive computer exhibit telling the story of the return of salmon to the Clyde in 1983.
Research for new Open University course
I reviewed existing spreadsheet-based maths teaching resources for the Open University, as part of the development of a new course to replace the introductory maths course MU120 Open Mathematics, on which I am a correspondence tutor.
Developing teaching materials for Product Design Engineering students, Glasgow School of Art
I developed some practical classes for students on this course to bridge the gap between the engineering theory that they learn and its application in product design.
Science shows
As part of Glasgow Science Centre's 2006 Stand-up Science season of science shows, I spent a day presenting my show Where's Your Head At? to public audiences.
Hydrogen fuel workshops
On behalf of SETPOINT Scotland and Careers Scotland, I helped to devise and run some short workshops for S2 school pupils as part of the Making It In Scotland events run by Careers Scotland. The workshops were on renewable energy and hydrogen fuel cells.
Training event for Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
I ran a training event for staff at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. I showed them how to make a spectrometer from a CD and a cardboard tube, how to do a demonstration of weightlessness, and how to do my gravity-defying water demonstration. I also made them the equipment for doing the gravity-defying water demo.
More science content for a children's science website
I provided a second batch of material for the Atoms science website for children, a project by the four Scottish Science Centres. The items for which I provided content ideas were games, cartoons, interactive experiments, home science activities, and science FAQs. The interpretation of my ideas was done by another contractor.
Biographical sketch writing
As a subcontractor to Ruth Ruthven of Innovative Learning Projects, I wrote 16 short biographical sketches of prominent Scottish medical scientists, for an exhibition at the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.
Science activities for SETPOINT Scotland
In 2004/2005 I developed a series of 36 science activities for the Science Transition Scotland website, on behalf of SETPOINT Scotland. This website is concerned with easing the transition in science from primary to secondary school. The activities are intended to be suitable for that age group and to use only readily available equipment. You can find some of the activities here.
Exhibit text writing
I wrote 20 supplementary texts for exhibits in the Phaeno science centre that opened in November 2005 in Wolfsburg, Germany. These texts provide additional information, historical background, or other interesting material related to each exhibit.
Exhibit text writing, editing and translating
I wrote over 100 texts for exhibits in the Phaeno science centre that opened in November 2005 in Wolfsburg, Germany. I did this work as a contractor to Hüttinger Exhibition Engineering with whom I was involved during the development phase at Glasgow Science Centre. I was also involved in the translation of another 100 texts from German into English. I translated a few of these myself and polished the English translations of the remainder.
Exhibit text writing
I researched and wrote a text for an exhibit of viscosity tubes, on behalf of an exhibition company in eastern Scotland.
Water rocket workshop
I developed and ran a water rocket workshop for the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, east of Edinburgh. This workshop is based on the Rokit water rocket kit. I also trained a member of staff and provided training materials.
Science content for a children's science website
I provided the science input for the Atoms science website for children, a project by the four Scottish Science Centres. The items for which I provided content ideas were games, cartoons, interactive experiments, and home science activities. The interpretation of my ideas was done by another contractor.
Barbershop science show
With former colleague Amanda Jopling, in April 2004 I did two presentations of our unique Barbershop Science show, as part of the Stand-up Science series of science shows at between Glasgow Science Centre. Well, it's one way to get a free haircut.
Paper aeroplane workshop at the Museum of Flight
I spent 2 days running a drop-in paper aeroplane workshop at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, east of Edinburgh. (March 2005)
Development of a maths exhibition
In the first few months of 2005 I was contracted as Science Consultant for a collaboration between Glasgow Science Centre and @Bristol on an exhibition about mathematics. The exhibition was based on an existing exhibition that Explore@Bristol had acquired. My job was to evaluate all of the existing exhibits (of which there were about 80), to take part in the decision about what would be kept and what wouldn't, to do further research on the exhibits where necessary, to design replacements where necessary, to source components, to write user texts and training documents for gallery staff, and to help with the actual construction of the exhibits.
Water safety
In autumn 2004 I worked with with Steve Allman, exploring possibilities for an interactive water safety exhibit, for Glasgow City Council. We researched existing practice, produced ideas of our own, and made recommendations about the best ways to proceed.
Syrup-pouring at Govan Gathering Light arts festival
I have long thought that the pouring of a thick liquid such as syrup would provide a beautiful and fascinating science exhibit. At last I got my chance when I teamed up with sculptor Sarah Kenchington to make a syrup-pouring video that was shown at the Govan Gathering Light arts festival. There I am on the right, lurking in the shadows of Sarah's workshop.
Book plans
In summer 2004 I was subcontracted by Science Made Simple to write the bookmaps (page-by-page plans) for a series of 7 children's science books. The books covered forces, heat, magnets, electricity, energy, light, and sound. For each page I had to provide a summary of content and suggestions of suitable illustrations. Each book had also to include some activities that the readers could do themselves.