I received an Arts Council Ireland Project Award to create the Institute of Physics' inaugural Writer in Residence Programme for 2023. My focus for this programme is to investigate the relationship between poetry and science communication, while platforming voices from backgrounds and identities underrepresented in STEM. The programme consists of a series of events, a workshop for young people, and a body of work based on interviewing physicists about their research stories and turning them into poems.
Below are details about the events and projects as they happen!
Below are details about the events and projects as they happen!
Event 1: The Whole Scope of Sky: Underrepresented Voices in Science Writing at NI Science Festival
In this event I brought together writers to talk about science writing across genres and disciplines, from science fiction, to poetry, to science communication. Joining her will be poet Viviana Fiorentino, medical expert, journalist, editor and public educator Dr. Shubhangi Karmakar, researcher and poet Dr Carolann North, and writer and curator Morgan L. Ventura.
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Biographies
Viviana Fiorentino lives in Belfast. Her poems appeared in anthologies (Dedalus Press, Salmon Poetry, Arlen House) and magazines ( i.e. The Stinging Fly) and were recorded for the Irish Poetry Reading Archive (UCD). She translated Irish poet Freda Laughton into Italian (Arcipelago Itaca Press, bilingual Ed.). In Italy she published a novel and two poetry collections. She is one of the winners of the 2022 Irish Chair Of Poetry Student Prize. Viviana is supported by a SIAP grant founded by the ACNI. She is a board member of the Irish PEN and Le Ortique, an initiative to rediscover forgotten women artists.
Dr. Shubhangi Karmakar is a Clinical Tutor in Psychiatry, with postgraduate degrees in Translational Medicine and in Medical Law. They are a TEDx speaker, a public educator with contributions to the Oireachtas, IHREC and BBC News, and a freelance journalist writing for the Business Post, Medical Independent, the Journal, among other publications. They are Trainee Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, with almost a decade of experience in journal reviewing and editorship, including as Editor in Chief of the Trinity Student Scientific Review, and the Trinity Postgraduate Review and International Journal of Medical Ethics. They have also been an Advisor shaping the programming and communication priorities of the Science Gallery Dublin. They are a READ Advisor to the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, working on inclusive co-production in ethical clinical research affecting vulnerable communities. They hold the 2021 Jeremy Swan Medal in Medical Jurisprudence, Ethics and the Law in Trinity College Dublin, and they are currently training in a postgraduate law degree at the King's Inns. They are passionate about developing rights- and choice-affirming physical health, public policy and social services for vulnerable people.
Dr Carolann North is an independent researcher and poet in Northern Ireland and co-investigator on the 2022 Books Beyond Boundaries NI project which fostered diversity in speculative writing. Her specialisms include identity politics in SFF and contemporary American literature, and is recognised internationally for her creative and academic publications.
Morgan L. Ventura is a writer and curator, who recently obtained their MA in Poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre. Currently PI of a digital repatriation project funded by the University of Exeter's Imagining Futures through Un/Archived Pasts initiative, Morgan also holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. Their short fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lackington's, Strange Horizons, and The Honest Ulsterman, among others. Morgan's research and writing has received support from the Fulbright-Hays, Mellon Foundation, American Philosophical Society, Chicago's Field Museum, and Poetry Day Ireland.
Dr. Shubhangi Karmakar is a Clinical Tutor in Psychiatry, with postgraduate degrees in Translational Medicine and in Medical Law. They are a TEDx speaker, a public educator with contributions to the Oireachtas, IHREC and BBC News, and a freelance journalist writing for the Business Post, Medical Independent, the Journal, among other publications. They are Trainee Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, with almost a decade of experience in journal reviewing and editorship, including as Editor in Chief of the Trinity Student Scientific Review, and the Trinity Postgraduate Review and International Journal of Medical Ethics. They have also been an Advisor shaping the programming and communication priorities of the Science Gallery Dublin. They are a READ Advisor to the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, working on inclusive co-production in ethical clinical research affecting vulnerable communities. They hold the 2021 Jeremy Swan Medal in Medical Jurisprudence, Ethics and the Law in Trinity College Dublin, and they are currently training in a postgraduate law degree at the King's Inns. They are passionate about developing rights- and choice-affirming physical health, public policy and social services for vulnerable people.
Dr Carolann North is an independent researcher and poet in Northern Ireland and co-investigator on the 2022 Books Beyond Boundaries NI project which fostered diversity in speculative writing. Her specialisms include identity politics in SFF and contemporary American literature, and is recognised internationally for her creative and academic publications.
Morgan L. Ventura is a writer and curator, who recently obtained their MA in Poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre. Currently PI of a digital repatriation project funded by the University of Exeter's Imagining Futures through Un/Archived Pasts initiative, Morgan also holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. Their short fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Lackington's, Strange Horizons, and The Honest Ulsterman, among others. Morgan's research and writing has received support from the Fulbright-Hays, Mellon Foundation, American Philosophical Society, Chicago's Field Museum, and Poetry Day Ireland.
Event 2: Institute of Physics Spring Meeting Presentation
I presented an updated version of my talk 'Written in the Stars: A Migrant's Journey in Science Communication and Poetry' to the Institute of Physics annual Spring Meeting in Armagh, Northern Ireland, and presented my short installation Solar Flares. This was an amazing opportunity to be amongst the physics community, to learn about what they are researching and working on in Ireland and around the world, and also to bring a discussion about art and science into the physics space.
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Event 3: Poetry and Physics Workshop with Trinity Access Programme Students
I was very excited to be given the opportunity to run a Poetry and Physics workshop as part of the TAP programme. Below is a summary of the programme by TAP Pathways to STEM Coordinator Ruth Saunders:
'Trinity Access Programmes (TAP) were delighted to host a workshop by Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. We arrange a Summer School for students who are entering their final year of secondary school. Students are invited from the 21 TAP linked schools, schools that are designating as DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools). The students are divided into six separate modules such as Physics, Film Studies and Law. Students work on their course work in the morning and then have activities in the afternoon. As the Pathways to STEM coordinator, I have been tasked with supporting students to engage with STEM disciplines. I have been trying to find a way to engage students who are not just wooed to STEM with robots and computer games. I have been looking for ways to convince students that they can bring their creativity with them if they embark on a STEM programme of study. When Chandrika got in touch, it was the answer I had been looking for!
'Trinity Access Programmes (TAP) were delighted to host a workshop by Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. We arrange a Summer School for students who are entering their final year of secondary school. Students are invited from the 21 TAP linked schools, schools that are designating as DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools). The students are divided into six separate modules such as Physics, Film Studies and Law. Students work on their course work in the morning and then have activities in the afternoon. As the Pathways to STEM coordinator, I have been tasked with supporting students to engage with STEM disciplines. I have been trying to find a way to engage students who are not just wooed to STEM with robots and computer games. I have been looking for ways to convince students that they can bring their creativity with them if they embark on a STEM programme of study. When Chandrika got in touch, it was the answer I had been looking for!
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On Wednesday the 28th of June, students self selected workshops to participate in. The options included Comedy debate, Musical society and the Creativity in STEM workshop. We had 16 students in the room. Chandrika had created a perfectly pitched and paced 90 min workshop. She was extremely warm and welcoming and did a beautiful job of setting norms and expectations of behaviour and engagement. She began with writing exercises which all of the students worked away on and even shared their work. Students really relaxed into the process and were engaged the entire time. Next was a group exercise where students shared the type of STEM discipline they were interested in and why, drawing from this shared document students were tasked with composing a poem. Chandrika then showed a fascinating clip from 'The Summer of Soul' documentary where people are discussing the moon landing and how it relates to their communities. This seeded a discussion about 'who is Science for?' which was a really energising topic for the students. The workshop was excellent from start to finish. It really broadened the student perspective on ways to engage with STEM and the creative arts.'
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