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Southport mathematician
takes his research to Parliament
DR Stewart Haslinger, 34, a postdoctoral research
associate at the University of Liverpool, hailing from Southport, is
attending Parliament to present his mathematics research to a range of
politicians and a panel of expert judges, as part of SET for Britain, on
Monday, 7 March 2016.
Stewart's poster on research about controlling elastic waves by patterning
plates with a structured array will be judged against dozens of other
scientists' research in the only national competition of its kind. Stewart
was shortlisted from hundreds of applicants to appear in Parliament.
On presenting his research in Parliament, he said:- "I heard about the
SET for Britain competition from colleagues and felt it was a great
opportunity to showcase the exciting research I am looking into. I am using
mathematics to model elastic metamaterials; artificially engineered
super lattice materials designed with periodic arrays so that their function
is defined through structure rather than being limited by their chemistry.
In particular, a thin elastic wave is patterned in specific ways to control
the direction of flexural waves; there are potential applications in the
design of shielding systems to redirect waves in earthquake vulnerable
areas. The details are quite complicated but a poster is an excellent way to
communicate the ideas and concepts".
Stephen Metcalfe MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee,
said:- "This annual competition is an important date in the
parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a
wide range of the country's best young researchers. These early career
engineers, mathematicians and scientists are the architects of our future
and SET for Britain is politicians' best opportunity to meet them and
understand their work."
Sir Adrian Smith, Chair of the Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS)
said:- "The CMS is delighted, once again, to showcase the importance
of the mathematical sciences to a wider audience. It is paramount to
encourage early career research scientists, engineers, technologists and
mathematicians and the SET for Britain event is a very effective way of
doing this. We have been encouraged by the enthusiastic response from early
career researchers in the mathematical sciences and feel sure this will this
continue in the future."
Stewart's research has been entered into the Mathematical Sciences session
of the competition, which will end in a gold, silver and bronze prize giving
ceremony.
Judged by leading academics, the gold medallist receives £3000, while silver
and bronze receive £2000 and £1000 respectively.
The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee runs the event in collaboration
with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the
Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Biology, The Physiological
Society and the Council for the Mathematical Sciences, with financial
support from Essar, the Clay Mathematics Institute, Warwick Manufacturing
Group (WMG), the Institute of Biomedical Science, the Bank of England and
the Society of Chemical Industry. |
