Matt Williamson

Just gonna leave this here for folks in Academia

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words

but rather short, easy words

like,

‘What about lunch?’”

—Winnie the Pooh

A mega white board sheet covered in post it notes. This is somehow our plan for a new slides and data workshop!

This is somehow our plan for a new slides and data workshop!

Matt and I are having a few days auditing our content and rebuilding workshops!

Nothing like facilitating yourself when your a facilitator!

Matt covered in post-it notes, adds one to Duncan head and draws on it with intent!

Matt stands in front of a wall covered in post it's and scribbles.

Duncan Leaning on a beach ball smiling and holding out a hand

It has been something of a busy week!

We've rebuilt all our workshops (keep an eye out for those getting announced).

Sold more places for the Presentation Summer Camp - last chance to get tickets now!

And had an excellent photoshoot with the brilliant Rachel McClumpha!

🤦

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

Big day for the matriarchy! 🥳 Huge congrats to the awesome Prof. Doughtery, lead on the Jupiter-bound ESA JUICE mission & STFC Exec Chair.

If anyone's confused on the astro royal hierarchy: Michele and I are the astro equivalents of 🇬🇧Westminster and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Holyrood 🤗

ℹ️: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 👩‍🔬🔭🧪

UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years Prof Michele Dougherty is the first woman to be appointed to the influential post.

About time, you might say!

BBC News - UK gets first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Last chance to sign up to our open training sessions on presentation skills... Storytelling and PPT this August. Do it now!

thoughtful-motivator-597.kit.com/posts/you-ar...

Last chance to sign up to our open training sessions on presentation skills... Storytelling and PPT this August. Do it now!

thoughtful-motivator-597.kit.com/posts/you-ar...

A man standing behind a large wooden desk with a large projector behind him

Two men sitting on benches waving rainbow fans

A large group of people posing in front of lecture theatre seats

Well, it's home time.

Grateful to everyone who helped bring #BIGEvent25 to life as the best #scicomm event in the UK.

As with all events, I have improvements to make and I am excited to continue that journey for next year!

A white background with purple and black text reads. BIG Committee 2025/26 Chair Hana Ayoob Vice-Chair Naomi Foster Secretary Chris Snowden-Smith Treasurer Claudia Antolini General Officers Ash Redhouse White Elizabeth Mills Sophia Constantinou Khalil Thirlaway

Executive Committee Results 2025

Thank you to everyone who put themselves forward to be part of exec, this amazing group of volunteers are what makes BIG able to run every year!

Congratulations to those who have been duly elected, your freelance team are excited to work with you all!

A white man and white woman hold a silver trophy in front of a book case

Well, it's been a bit of a whirlwind and our event manager has struggled to find time for social media

But here's a highlight for you!

The winners of this year's Best Demo Competition, in joint 1st place, are @kathrynboast.bsky.social and @petergallivan.bsky.social

Hana wearing a black tshirt which says badass science lady, a rainbow pencil necklace, traditional Indian earrings and a brightly patterned skirt in oranges and blues The royal institution logo and motto is above her

Leaving my 10th BIG Event as the incoming Chair of @big-stem-network.bsky.social

Not bad for someone who was told SciComm was probably ‘too competitive a career for someone like you’ 15 years ago.

Here’s to the next year of BIG!

Michael Faraday's statue holding a coiled wire that looks a bit like a frisbee.

Or to give him his proper name, Michael Faraday, inventor of the frisbee

Matt having spotted the statue of a Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution where this event is taking place.

It's Mikey Boy!

For the first time ever we're running open presentation skills sessions over the summer.

It's for you if
• You want to be better at presenting but don't know how
• Want ideas to energise your teaching
• Know most presentations are a bit shit and want to be better!

thoughtful-motivator...

Can’t quite believe this will be my tenth year in a row! #BIGEvent25

A speaker on stage at the Royal Institution

And were off!

The BIG Event 2025 is now underway!

#BIGEvent25

And all so that @dyellowlees.bsky.social can get his patio done.

Matt sitting in a train seat advertised as a window seat, but with no window to look out of.

Matt crossing the Forth Bridge by train. The view out the window includes the waters of the Firth of Forth and the structure of the bridge itself, which is lots of steel struts painted a ruddy brown.

The view out the train window was better yesterday! Busy week, training online for Politecnico Milano, then a night in Newcastle and now I'm on to Leeds for some lovely chemists, and then it's the BIG event in London with @big-stem-network.bsky.social

YouTube video by CanopyRobin Cup or Mug? BIG Best Demo 2024 by Robin Hayward

Heading to the @big-stem-network.bsky.social annual meeting and can't believe it's been a year since I won the Best Demo competition with what was totally a demo of the scientific distinctions between cups and mugs and not at all a call out of gender critical pseudoscience 👀 youtu.be/oxg-COlAqcY?...

A graphic of green pinstripe deck chairs with purple and white text which reads "29C Each Day Bring a Water Bottle Dress for the weather Look out for each other Hot Weather Warning"

It's a hot one!

We wanted to let you know that the Royal Institution is going to be a HOT building this week, and to make sure you are ready for the London heat.

If you need any assistance, please speak to a member of the BIG Exec Committee or a member of staff at the Royal Institution.

A pin badge saying “I’m a safe space” featuring pride coloured police boxes.

David Tennant pointing to a small pin on his cardigan

My first collab pin!
Stevie’s Safe Spaces & I both went viral when David Tennant wore our designs, so pin badge producers Made By Cooper asked us to fuse our designs to create these LIMITED EDITION SAFE SPACE pins. I’ll donate all profit to @aktcharity.bsky.social

www.jamiebgall.co.uk/shop

A graphic showing an image of the Royal Institution lecture theatre. Overlaid is text that says Hang out with BIG Event delegates The Goat Tavern, 15th @ 7pm BST Seven Dials Market, 16th @ 7pm BST Join us for networking!

Are you in London this coming week and wanna hang out with cool #scicomm professionals?

You can join delegates from the BIG Event 2025 at the Goat Tavern in Mayfair on Tuesday from 7pm BST.

And then, you could come join us for a bite to eat or drinks at Seven Dials Market on Wednesday at 7pm BST.

🤣 aww bless

Alas not getting in until Thur morning

A white man with a beard, glasses and an orange hat looks at the camera

Anyone travelling to London today?

Event Manager Sam and his Event Manager Plan are almost there, a whole 48 hours early

When do you get to the capital?

#BIGEvent25

Can you use high heels as a weapon? #fantasy #combat #weapons #nerd

It's almost time for #BIGEvent25 and we're so excited that @hanaayoob.co.uk and @acescicomm.bsky.social will be running their #NerdyLooks challenge all week!

Get your nerdiest looks sorted, whether it's that new Lucy & Yak jumpsuit, an over the top lanyard or something else, we wanna see it!

Text heavy graphic. BIG does #NerdyLooks 14th to 20th July. Prompts for the week are M - Spark, T - Bright, W - Life, T - Matter, F - Count and S & S - Free choice. Smaller text in a speech bubble says Bonus challenge: Wear one thing which has previously sparked a SciComm conversation. The text is on a grey centre which is surrounded by a pale green border covered in purple doodles related to science and science communication.

Whether you’re attending @big-stem-network.bsky.social next week or not, we have a special #NerdyLooks challenge planned!

Snap a photo of your outfit or part of it and share with the hashtag. Pls use alt text!

@acescicomm.bsky.social

Hundreds of scientists are set to take part in the first performance of a new Scottish country dance inspired by the ripples in spacetime whose existence was first theorised by Albert Einstein.

More: gla.ac/3ICip4Q

#GR24Amaldi16 #GravitationalWaves #Glasgow
@uofgravity.bsky.social