Bringing Advanced LIGO to Design Performance and Further Sensitivity Enhancements
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Through the design and construction project "Advanced LIGO UK," the UK has succeeded in making fundamental contributions to the Advanced LIGO (aLIGO) detectors in the US by transfer of technology originally developed for GEO 600.
As a direct result, UK groups are in a position to fully exploit the rich science data that will be produced over the coming decade. There is, therefore, a unique opportunity to ensure that UK scientists maintain leadership in gravitational wave science, and that UK delivered equipment and facilities for the aLIGO detectors are fully exploited to maximise the science output. This is true both in terms of their implementation within the aLIGO baseline configuration, and when it is planned that reconfiguration or upgrading of aLIGO will be undertaken. It is envisaged that the UK equipment which has been designed to meet all long-term project goals, will remain in place even following such upgrades, and continued UK technical contributions and R&D effort will be essential to ensure that is the case.
As a direct result, UK groups are in a position to fully exploit the rich science data that will be produced over the coming decade. There is, therefore, a unique opportunity to ensure that UK scientists maintain leadership in gravitational wave science, and that UK delivered equipment and facilities for the aLIGO detectors are fully exploited to maximise the science output. This is true both in terms of their implementation within the aLIGO baseline configuration, and when it is planned that reconfiguration or upgrading of aLIGO will be undertaken. It is envisaged that the UK equipment which has been designed to meet all long-term project goals, will remain in place even following such upgrades, and continued UK technical contributions and R&D effort will be essential to ensure that is the case.
Planned Impact
The immediate beneficiaries include the UK astronomy community - extending far beyond just the applicant group - who will gain access to LIGO data at the time when the first gravitational wave signals are most likely to be seen. In the longer term the research will radically alter our understanding of the Universe, including information on the nature of neutron stars and black holes, and through opportunities for precision cosmology. This will benefit the widest astronomy/astrophysics community, internationally.
As cosmology and astrophysics are always forefront areas for public outreach, there will be considerable impact resulting from the discovery of gravitational waves and the burgeoning science that will inevitably result. To have a major focus for this new science in the UK should help revitalise public interest at a time when economic pressures could potentially fight against the growth of science in our community. There is no doubt that a discovery of gravitational waves would galvanise public interest at all levels from school pupils up. An improved understanding of cosmology and compact-object astrophysics, of the most impressive and even violent nature, is bound to catch the public imagination, and produce demand for creative works such as television programmes. A concrete example of direct benefit of Advanced LIGO UK to the popular culture exists in the Science Museum, London, where pre-prototype test mass and the metal structural components of an Advanced LIGO test-mass suspension, both made available by the collaboration, are on display.
The earlier Advanced LIGO UK construction project brought direct benefit to several areas of UK industry both through the placement of over £3M of contracts, but also by pushing manufacturing techniques to reach higher standards of quality and precision required for our work. Examples include: optics, precision mechanics and electronics. In some cases these companies have subsequently been able to market the resulting technology, nationally and internationally.
In summary there is a wide range of potential impact. The majority of these should start to be realised within the duration of the project (it is likely that a discovery will be made around 2015, if not before). In the later part of this decade gravitational wave science should be becoming mature, and the consequences for both science and its public understanding should have attained major proportions.
As cosmology and astrophysics are always forefront areas for public outreach, there will be considerable impact resulting from the discovery of gravitational waves and the burgeoning science that will inevitably result. To have a major focus for this new science in the UK should help revitalise public interest at a time when economic pressures could potentially fight against the growth of science in our community. There is no doubt that a discovery of gravitational waves would galvanise public interest at all levels from school pupils up. An improved understanding of cosmology and compact-object astrophysics, of the most impressive and even violent nature, is bound to catch the public imagination, and produce demand for creative works such as television programmes. A concrete example of direct benefit of Advanced LIGO UK to the popular culture exists in the Science Museum, London, where pre-prototype test mass and the metal structural components of an Advanced LIGO test-mass suspension, both made available by the collaboration, are on display.
The earlier Advanced LIGO UK construction project brought direct benefit to several areas of UK industry both through the placement of over £3M of contracts, but also by pushing manufacturing techniques to reach higher standards of quality and precision required for our work. Examples include: optics, precision mechanics and electronics. In some cases these companies have subsequently been able to market the resulting technology, nationally and internationally.
In summary there is a wide range of potential impact. The majority of these should start to be realised within the duration of the project (it is likely that a discovery will be made around 2015, if not before). In the later part of this decade gravitational wave science should be becoming mature, and the consequences for both science and its public understanding should have attained major proportions.
Publications
Aartsen M
(2014)
Multimessenger search for sources of gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos: Initial results for LIGO-Virgo and IceCube
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2015)
Characterization of the LIGO detectors during their sixth science run
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Aasi J
(2013)
Parameter estimation for compact binary coalescence signals with the first generation gravitational-wave detector network
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2015)
SEARCHES FOR CONTINUOUS GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM NINE YOUNG SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aasi J
(2014)
Improved upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background from 2009-2010 LIGO and Virgo data.
in Physical review letters
Aasi J
(2014)
FIRST SEARCHES FOR OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE CANDIDATE EVENTS
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Aasi J
(2014)
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM KNOWN PULSARS: RESULTS FROM THE INITIAL DETECTOR ERA
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aasi J
(2014)
Search for gravitational radiation from intermediate mass black hole binaries in data from the second LIGO-Virgo joint science run
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2013)
Search for long-lived gravitational-wave transients coincident with long gamma-ray bursts
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2015)
Narrow-band search of continuous gravitational-wave signals from Crab and Vela pulsars in Virgo VSR4 data
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2013)
Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light
in Nature Photonics
Aasi J
(2014)
Search for gravitational wave ringdowns from perturbed intermediate mass black holes in LIGO-Virgo data from 2005-2010
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2015)
Searching for stochastic gravitational waves using data from the two colocated LIGO Hanford detectors
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2014)
Methods and results of a search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts using the GEO 600, LIGO, and Virgo detectors
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2014)
Constraints on cosmic strings from the LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave detectors.
in Physical review letters
Aasi J
(2014)
First all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from unknown sources in binary systems
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2014)
Search for gravitational waves associated with ?-ray bursts detected by the interplanetary network.
in Physical review letters
Aasi J
(2015)
Directed search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with initial LIGO data
in Physical Review D
Aasi J
(2014)
Application of a Hough search for continuous gravitational waves on data from the fifth LIGO science run
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Aasi J
(2014)
Implementation of an $\mathcal{F}$-statistic all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves in Virgo VSR1 data
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott B
(2016)
Directly comparing GW150914 with numerical solutions of Einstein's equations for binary black hole coalescence
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2016)
LOCALIZATION AND BROADBAND FOLLOW-UP OF THE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE TRANSIENT GW150914
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2019)
Properties of the Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
in Physical Review X
Abbott B
(2016)
Publisher's Note: Observing gravitational-wave transient GW150914 with minimal assumptions [Phys. Rev. D 93 , 122004 (2016)]
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2019)
Narrow-band search for gravitational waves from known pulsars using the second LIGO observing run
in Physical Review D
Abbott B
(2016)
SUPPLEMENT: "THE RATE OF BINARY BLACK HOLE MERGERS INFERRED FROM ADVANCED LIGO OBSERVATIONS SURROUNDING GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 833, L1)
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Abbott B
(2016)
SUPPLEMENT: "LOCALIZATION AND BROADBAND FOLLOW-UP OF THE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE TRANSIENT GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 826, L13)
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Abbott B
(2021)
A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott B
(2020)
A guide to LIGO-Virgo detector noise and extraction of transient gravitational-wave signals
in Classical and Quantum Gravity
Abbott B
(2019)
Tests of general relativity with the binary black hole signals from the LIGO-Virgo catalog GWTC-1
in Physical Review D
Abbott BP
(2016)
GW150914: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Binary Black Holes.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2016)
Characterization of transient noise in Advanced LIGO relevant to gravitational wave signal GW150914.
in Classical and quantum gravity
Abbott BP
(2016)
GW150914: First results from the search for binary black hole coalescence with Advanced LIGO.
in Physical review. D. (2016)
Abbott BP
(2016)
GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2016)
GW150914: The Advanced LIGO Detectors in the Era of First Discoveries.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2018)
GW170817: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Compact Binary Coalescences.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2019)
Constraining the p-Mode-g-Mode Tidal Instability with GW170817.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2016)
Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2020)
Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA.
in Living reviews in relativity
Abbott BP
(2016)
Tests of General Relativity with GW150914.
in Physical review letters
Abbott BP
(2017)
Erratum: Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 121101 (2017)].
in Physical review letters
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for continuous gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars in the early O3 LIGO data
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search in early O3 LIGO data for continuous gravitational-wave signals from unknown neutron stars in binary systems
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for long-duration gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Diving below the Spin-down Limit: Constraints on Gravitational Waves from the Energetic Young Pulsar PSR J0537-6910
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Abbott R
(2021)
Searches for Continuous Gravitational Waves from Young Supernova Remnants in the Early Third Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
in The Astrophysical Journal
Abbott R
(2021)
Constraints on Cosmic Strings Using Data from the Third Advanced LIGO-Virgo Observing Run.
in Physical review letters
Abbott R
(2021)
All-sky search for short gravitational-wave bursts in the third Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo run
in Physical Review D
Abbott R
(2021)
Observation of Gravitational Waves from Two Neutron Star-Black Hole Coalescences
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
| Description | advances in radiation pressure noise have been included into FINESSE, one of the main gravitational-wave laser interferometer simulation tools. we have detected gravitational waves taking also advantage of the work funded through this grant |
| Exploitation Route | the modelling advances are now part of the standard ground-based laser interferometer modelling tools, and Advanced LIGO as well as other efforts in the world, such as Virgo and KAGRA are using these results and tools. This will also be used by LIGO India that has just been funded |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare,Other |
| URL | https://losc.ligo.org/ |
| Description | the advanced modelling of (sub-)systems in gravitational-wave laser interferometers that has been delivered is now part of the standard modelling tools for Advanced LIGO, the most sensitive instrument in the world, and other GW laser interferometers. This has contributed to the direct detection of gravitational waves, the first observation of a binary black holes and the observation of a binary neutron star merger. |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Other |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | ASPERA |
| Amount | £42,468 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2015 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Astrophysics at the University of Birmingham |
| Amount | £1,830,268 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/S000305/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2019 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, STFC Equipment Call 2018 |
| Amount | £81,350 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/S002154/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 06/2019 |
| Description | Gravitational Wave Excellence Through Alliance Training (GrEAT) Network with China |
| Amount | £6,405 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | n/a |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 12/2020 |
| Description | Marie Courie Fellowship - Haixing Miao |
| Amount | € 200,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 03/2014 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Newton STFC Capacity Building ith LIGO-India |
| Amount | £7,951 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2017 |
| End | 05/2020 |
| Description | Novel Technologies for Cross-disciplinary Research programme |
| Amount | £2,515,589 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | GG-TOP: Gravity Gradient |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2011 |
| End | 02/2015 |
| Description | Proposal for UK Involvoment in the Operation of Advanced LIGO |
| Amount | £304,756 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ST/N000072/1 |
| Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2016 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Title | finesse |
| Description | Frequency domain INterfErometer Simulation SoftwarE |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2007 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | it has allowed design and debug laser interferometers with a simple but powerful tool. It has allowed to simulate many different user-defined optical setups. It has been used for Advanced LIGO |
| URL | http://www.gwoptics.org/finesse/ |
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | Max Planck Society |
| Department | Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |
| Description | GEO Collaboration |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Department | Physics and Astronomy Department |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Collaborator Contribution | Data analysis and instrumental development |
| Impact | Many papers, technology developments, and outreach events |
| Title | finesse |
| Description | Finesse is a software package that allows to design and test par-axial laser optics setups, with a specific focus on precision length measurements. The package is well documented and open source. Development has started in 1997 and software has been used and improved within the international science collaborations ever since. It is still under active development with new features being implemented upon request from the community. Optics, active and adaptive optics, mirrors, aspherics, interferometers, photonics |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | Finesse is a international standard package in the field of gravitational wave science. It is also used in other fields of science. I have been in informal collaborations with companies and defense contractors in the US who have used the software. |
| URL | http://www.gwoptics.org/finesse/ |
| Company Name | Laser Labs Games CIC |
| Description | Laser Labs is a small scale developer for educational apps. Our aim is to promote science using well designed and fun apps. Our endeavour can be traced back to the Gravitational Wave Group at the University of Birmingham where we developed our first applications, from simple simulations to arcade-style games. These were soon used at science fairs by ourselves and by other scientists around the world. The apps work well for attracting an audience and for providing talking points to introduce specific research topics. Our applications became an important element in a highly ranked impact case study for the REF 2014, a regular process for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Laser Labs Games CIC, or Laser Labs for short, was founded to provide the legal structure for bringing our applications to the well known app stores. We are now recreating our applications for modern devices and technologies, and continue to work with research groups to discuss new ideas and to develop new apps to help bringing science to the masses. |
| Year Established | 2016 |
| Impact | We succesfull managed to port two of our apps Pocket Black Hole and Strecth and Squash to mobile apps in time for the announcement of the first graviational wave detection. Many of the groups in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration used these apps during the public engagement activities around the event. We later published a mobile version of Space Time Quest and are now preparing Black Hole Master for mobile. |
| Website | https://www.laserlabs.org/ |
| Description | BICEP2 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | sparked questions and discussion afterwards people asked to visit research group and talk to scientists |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Astronomy in the City |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Astronomy in the City is our flagship outreach event. It's hosted about 5 times a year, advertised widely by the university in the city and region. Tickets are free and must be booked. We regularly have >100 attendees per event. Each event inlcudes a number of different activities, inlcuding a visit to the University's observatory, a talk by an expert and often hands-on exhibits. We make sure that the talks are related to our own STFC funded research and over the last 12 month gravitational waves and black holes have been the key feature. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.sr.bham.ac.uk/observatory/astronomyinthecity.php |
| Description | BBC Stargazing live |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | many people visited stand TV and radio coverage |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | BSF 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | press conference and pupil workshop press coverage in BBC, Irish time |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Big Bang Fair |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | hundreds of pupils attended - |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | British Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Type Of Presentation | Workshop Facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | people visited exhibition press conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Cavalcando le onde gravitazionali a caccia di buchi neri e chissa' cos'altro |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Many questions and requests for further discussion and participation to events |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.mantovascienza.it/2017/09/15/cavalcando-le-onde-gravitazionali-a-caccia-di-buchi-neri-e-c... |
| Description | Educational computer games |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Development of two completely new computer games (Black Hole Pong) and gravitational wave detection (Space Time Quest). In the first year after its release Space Time Quest achieved 10,000 downloads and Black Hole Pong close to 5000 The games have been used internationally at many science fairs and events and are always a focal point especially for younger children. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.gwoptics.org/processing/space_time_quest/ |
| Description | Founder and editor on chief of the LIGO Magazine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A new magazine was founded in 2012 to cover the activities of the 900 scientists strong LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The magazine's prime audience is the collaboration itself. However, we chose to provide a professionally produced and layouted magazine so that members of the public and policy makes can be targeted as well. So far the magazine has been downloaded more than 10000 times. The magazine was founded by Prof Andreas Freise, who has been editor in chief until 2017, Hannah Middletos is deputy editor in chief. Several individual contributions from the Birmingham group have been published in the magazine over the years. We received several commendation from policy makes and external scientists alike on the professional image that the magazine conveys about our collaboration. However, a detailed impact analysis has not been done. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.ligo.org/magazine/ |
| Description | Girls in STEM, University of Birmingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Organising and hosting a 'Grabitational Waves Workshop' for the Girls in STEM day at the University of Birmingham. Classes from two local school attended. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Gravity Fields Festival, Grantham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Workshop at the national Gravity Fields Festival in Grantham on the gravitiational wave astronomy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.gravityfields.co.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10447 |
| Description | Institute of Physics public lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | sparked questions and discussion and increased interest in related subject areas |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | spark questions and discussion afterwards received requests for more sessions like this and to visit research group |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Public talk for Walsall Astronomical Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 50 people attended the talk which sparked discussion and other talks were requested |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Public talk for the Association for Science Education annual conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | lively discussion |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Raddical Sabbatical, Sarah Farmer |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A new collaboration with an artist in residence, Sarah Farmer, at the University of Birmingham. The aim of the collaboration is to explore artistic explression related to the research effort around gravtiational wave astronomy. This activity has just started. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Wordls Collide, collaboration with Leaon Trimble |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | New collaboration wth audio-visual artist Leon Trimble. The aim of the collaboration is to explore artistic explression related to the research effort around gravtiational wave astronomy, in particular the visualisation and sonification of simulated and real gravitational wave detector activity and performance with cello, modular synthesiser and 360deg projection. This project has just started. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | astrostatistics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | sparked questions and discussion afterwards received requests for more discussions in this area |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | public talks |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | between 10 and 100 people attended events received requests from other organisations to give talks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 |
| Description | visit of Andrew Cohen, head of BBC science |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | discussed research with Andrew Cohen, head of BBC science - |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | visit of David Willets |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Keynote/Invited Speaker |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | showed lab and activities - |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |