This month, we are joined by Oliwia Zawadzka, a Research Laboratory Technician at the Cavendish Laboratory. Oliwia grew up in Poland before moving to the UK aged 9. Dropped in at the deep end, she spent the next few years learning English just in time to sit her exams. Despite doing well, she decided the typical path through university wasn’t for her and set about finding an apprenticeship that suited.

This brought her to the Cavendish, where she started as a laboratory technician apprentice, helping the technicians in their work supporting the research of the department.

Today, we’ll talk about where her time as an apprentice has taken her, what it’s like telling Cambridge academics what to do, her work around the university to bring awareness to the programmes available, and her advice to anyone thinking about following a similar path…

• Learn more about the apprenticeship scheme at the Cavendish and about the National Apprenticeships Scheme.
• Explore the Cavendish Outreach projects and events.
• Listen to the People Doing Physics episode with Lisa Jardine on outreach, Isaac Physics and the STEMSMART programme.

• Help us get better by taking our quick survey. Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you!
• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at podcast@phy.cam.ac.uk or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Jacob Butler and Charlie Walker
• Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

Today we are joined by Professor Sam Stranks, Professor of Optoelectronics and Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and a Joint Member here at the Cavendish Laboratory. Growing up in Australia, Sam graduated from the University of Adelaide with a BA in German and Applied Mathematics, alongside a BSc in Physics and Physical Chemistry, before completing a PhD at Oxford University.

His research focuses on developing novel materials for low-cost electronics applications, such as solar cells and LEDs, and he is co-founder of Swift Solar, a company taking this technology to market by developing lightweight perovskite solar panels.

If working in business and academia wasn't enough, Sam teaches at the university, setting up several new PhD programmes, and is one the co-founders of Sustain/Education, a national charity developing content for Primary Schools looking at climate change solutions.

In this episode, we talk about his multidisciplinary route through science, how he manages to keep a foot in both research and industry, and just how many times he came close to dropping physics entirely...

• Learn more about Sam Stranks’ research by visiting his group website.
• Sam’s spin-out company: Swift Solar - Next generation lightweight and efficient solar technology
• The new PhD programme PhDin Sustainable Energy Materials Innovations is now open for applications!
• Visit the Sustain/Education website to learn more about their actions in primary school classes across the country.
• Listen back to Stuart Macpherson, co-founder of Sustain/Education, talking about his own journey into physics on this podcast.
• And finally, explore the Cavendish Laboratory, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2024

• Help us get better by taking our quick survey. Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you!
• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at podcast@phy.cam.ac.uk or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Jacob Butler and Vanessa Bismuth
• Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

Our guests today come from very different walks of life and have been following widely different paths, which have both led them here to Cambridge and the Cavendish. More than just location, it’s clear that our guests have a lot in common and a lot to share.

Ugandan contemporary artist, dancer and researcher, Robert Ssempijja, is the third Cavendish Arts Science Fellow at Girton College, a programme that creates collective encounters between art and science, that explores the world, our humanity and our place in the world. His work explores things that spoken language cannot always explain, and that are too difficult to talk about out loud.

Harry Cliff is a particle physicist working on the LHCb experiment, a huge particle detector buried 100 metres underground at CERN in Switzerland, to study the basic building blocks of our universe, in search of answers to some of the biggest questions in modern physics.

He is also a recognised author of popular science books, and a former curator at the Science Museum in London.

Ssempijja and Harry have met in Cambridge as part of Ssempijja’s fellowship, and have instantly recognised a common curiosity, and a desire to continuously question the world around them.

So it’s very logical that we are welcoming them both today to the podcast, to expand upon their journeys with us, and discuss their shared questions and approaches between art and physics.

• Explore Ssempijja's work: Robert Ssempijja – Dance, Life and Philosophy
• Harry Cliff's website has details about his books, research and outreach works.
• The annual Cavendish Arts Science Fellowship is delivered in partnership with Girton College, thanks to the vision and generous support of Una Ryan. Cavendish Arts Science will soon announce their new Fellow for 2024/25, stay tuned!
• Learn more about Robert B. Laughlin's book "A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down"

• Help us get better by taking our quick survey. Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you!
• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at podcast@phy.cam.ac.uk or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Charlie Walker and Vanessa Bismuth
• Recording and Editing: Chris Brock