Four NewVIc College A-level Physics students participated in the Queen Mary University of London CosmicCon with 16 schools and college teams from across London. The Newvic team Israt Hossain, Tarandeep Panesar, Sana Ali Syeda and Gabriela Silva were awarded sole prize winners for their presentation entitled “A strange occurrence in the magnetosphere” to an audience of around 100 including both students and academic staff.
The competition is part of the ‘Research in School (RIS) programme’ a pilot programme set by Queen Mary University’s School of Physics and Astronomy to raise awareness of current physics research questions. The Programme aims to help students to develop a better understanding of how scientific research works by conducting independent research. It also aims to develop students own analytical skills working in collaboration with QMUL research and outreach staff.
This year the competition saw record numbers of participants enter the competition, nevertheless, the team again impressed judges and the audience with a PowerPoint presentation that focused on the magnetosphere which is the region of space surrounding Earth. The team used visual diagrams; relevant data from 2015 from Spacecraft g15 (GOES) to illustrate their research and findings.
Tony Dunn, NewVic Physics Teacher thanked mentors Mughees Hassan, Michael Jones, Asif Sadequee, Zain Ul Abidin and Migen Mytari for their support , “..they were the winners of CosmicCon 2016. To win consecutively is such a big achievement it shows the calibre of our students… As proud as I am of them winning, I am also particularly proud of the team work between participants and their mentors to produce a such an outstanding piece of work”
