Public engagement
Students actively work to generate public awareness of composites and the research taking place within the CDT. They do this both by running their own activities - making videos, running workshops for schools, writing blogs; and participating in established schemes such as Engineers Without Borders, STEM Ambassadors, Nuffield Research Placements, Pint of Science, to name but a few. Find out more about the many ways our students are engaging with the public below.
Get involved
Interested in finding out more about our public engagement activities? Contact us on composites-cdt@bristol.ac.uk and one of our public engagement representatives (find out more about them below) will get back to you.
Composite HUB
The Composite HUB is an educational outreach channel founded and run by five of our students. It aims to introduce the concept of composite materials to new audiences. It is supported by a series of videos which explain the basics of composite materials in a fun and accessible way. The team at the Composite HUB hope that these videos will inspire younger generations to study engineering and science, and composites in particular.
Our Public Engagement Reps
All our public engagement activities are overseen by a student-led Public Engagement Committee, which comprises one elected public engagement representative per cohort.
They are:
Boss Budninpech (CDT23), Ragnar Birgisson (CDT22), Lichang Zhu (CDT21) and James Uzzell (CDT20).
Community outreach
Outreach in the local community gives students a chance to share their passion for science and engineering with others. Using simple materials such as blocks of ice reinforced with sawdust and straws, school pupils can learn about the properties of composites materials and start to think about the world of possibilities these materials open up and how they can help us to meet the big challenges (transport, energy, health, and so on) facing the next generation.
Three Minute Thesis
Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a global academic competition that challenges students to give an accessible summary of their PhD thesis in just three minutes. The CDT has an impressive record in Bristol's competition: David Brigido won the overall competition plus the People's Choice Award in 2020 and Konstantina Kanari won the People's Choice Award in 2019. CDT students have also made it through to the finals in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.