Inaugural CPS Outreach and Engagement Award Winners!

We are delighted to announce the winners of the inaugural CPS Outreach and Engagement Awards, designed to recognise and reward those who have given their time and expertise to planetary science outreach and engagement. The awards were first announced at the CPS Summer Meeting on Thursday 22nd July, where the winners who attended were presented with their award certificates.

Project Award

For an individual or team for excellence in communicating planetary science through the organisation and delivery of a specific engagement project with stimulating or innovative activities to a target public. We were looking for projects that have made a significant contribution and have a robust impact assessment. 
 
After reviewing the nominations, the panel decided to award 2 winners for this category, with each project receiving £100 in Love2Shop vouchers (£50 per person): 
 
The winners are: 

Catherine Regan and Priya Patel (MSSL) for the Eyes on Mars project

Eyes on Mars, inspired by Rosalind Franklin PanCam was designed to inspire school students to pursue a STEM career by providing educational resources and also to spread awareness of the UK’s involvement in Mars exploration with the general public via social media.  The panel were impressed that the project has been initiated, designed, and run by PhD researchers Catherine and Priya and that they used innovative ideas for engagement with school students. They successfully applied for support from STFC and RAS and participated in hands-on workshops with their target group, as well as extending it more recently to share resources with disadvantaged groups, in this case children undergoing long term treatment in hospital. 

Gordon Yip and Ingo Waldmann (P&A) for the Ariel Data Challenge project

The Ariel Data Challenge serves as a platform for engaging with the AI/ML community. Each year, the ADC focuses on a specific area of Planetary Science, either scientific or technical, and presents it as a competition to encourage participation from the AI/ML community. The panel were impressed by engagement with ML professionals and academics outside of planetary field and its wide reach. Also, the project’s demonstratable impact which was assessed through robust evaluation using various metrics, including participant demographics, score progression, and methodologies employed by the competition winners. 
 

Individual (Newcomer) Award

Recognising an individual member of the CPS for excellence in communicating planetary science to a public audience or a specific target group. This award is specifically aimed to recognise postgraduate students and early career researchers that are new to outreach. £50 Love2Shop vouchers to each.
 
The winners are:

Catherine Regan (MSSL)

Catherine has made an outstanding contribution to outreach and public engagement in 2023. The panel were impressed with the extensive range of outreach and public engagement activities that Catherine has undertaken in addition to being co-founder of the Eyes on Mars project. This includes playing a key role in outreach at MSSL, such as chairing the MSSL outreach working group, running themed open evenings for the public, and participating in Mars Week events and science festivals. She also manages the website and social media platforms for EOM where interviews with leading engineers and scientists are shared. 

Anastasia Kokori (UCL)

Anastasia had a critical role in the development and global success of the Exoclock program. The panel were impressed with Exoclock’s reach of amateur astronomers internationally publicizing Ariel and that she developed new educational resources for observatories and schools enabling them to support the future of exoplanets research. 
 

Congratulations again to our 2023 winners! Catherine, Priya and Gordon were present at the Summer Meeting to receive their certificates, and Anastasia’s and Ingo’s certificates have been forwarded on, with gift vouchers sent separately to the recipients.
 
Everyone who has contributed to outreach and public engagement endeavours this year, particularly students and early career researchers, should be warmly congratulated! Thanks also for the nominations and to the awards panel for reviewing the submissions.

We are hoping to make this an annual award to encourage more newcomers within the CPS to become involved in outreach and public engagement, so please do get involved and feel free to reach out to Karen Devoil and Jo Fabbri if you would like any guidance or help in promoting your activities. 

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From left to right: Priya Patel, Catherine Regan and Gordon Yip receiving their Outreach and Engagement Award certificates at the CPS Summer Meeting 2023. Credit: L. Preston.