British Science Association Award Lecture win for Dr XinRan Liu
Congratulations to Dr XinRan Liu who has received a British Science Association Award Lecture for Physical Sciences and Mathematics.
British Science Association Award Lectures
The British Science Association has announced its Award Lectures winners for 2021. Dr XinRan Liu is the Award Lecture winner for Physical Sciences and Mathematics. These awards are given to UK researchers in recognition of their work and commitment to public engagement efforts. Previous Award Lecturers include Brian Cox, Richard Wiseman and Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
All Award Lecturers create a video where they delve into their research and its real-world implications (link below), and take part in a Q&A event as part of the British Science Festival. The 2021 Festival will be held in Chelmsford from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 September.
Dark matter experiment
Dr XinRan Liu is currently a Research Fellow at the School of Physics and Astronomy working on the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter search experiment. The project is in its final stages of construction at the Sanford Mine in South Dakota and is expected to rapidly become world leading. XinRan specialises in ultra-low background radiation detection and has several leadership roles within the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment including on-site cleanliness during the critically important final construction phase. XinRan is also currently the lead scientist for the Boulby XIA, a world-leading surface radiation detector.
Next generation of scientists
Outside of his research, Dr XinRan Liu has huge enthusiasm for public engagement, his most remarkable outreach activity to date being the “Remote3” project which he conceived and currently leads the delivery of. This project enables pupils from schools in the most remote parts of Scotland, otherwise underserved in STEM opportunities, to build, program and operate small robots in the STFC Mars Yard at the Boulby Underground Laboratory.
Dr XinRan commented on his work:
Our aim is to inspire the next generation of students into science and have lots and lots of fun whilst doing it!
Searching for the invisible
Dr XinRan’s work focuses on attempting to detect dark matter, one of the most common, yet most mysterious and hard-to-study substances in the field of physics. During the British Science Festival event, he will discuss the extreme lengths that scientists have gone to, in order to find the answers to some of the Universe's biggest questions. From studying the stars millions of miles above us to delving several kilometres below the surface of the Earth, he explains why dark matter could be the key to our understanding of the Universe.