Ask Yan - Meet the Experts

The Open University

The Open University (OU) is a UK university dedicated to distance learning and promoting educational opportunity. Nearly all students study part-time.

Jimena's chief research interest is electron-molecule collisions.

Ian is an academic engineer and applied mathematician with a passion for taking science to the masses.

Peter is currently focussed on the nature of perception and consciousness, and he has been exploring these through hypnosis.

Andrew's area of research is time-domain astrophysics, in particular the astrophysics of compact accreting binary stars and planets around other stars.

David's research interests are in animal communication, acoustics and evolutionary biology.

Dave's expertise is in geology (especially volcanoes), planetary and space science.

Stephen is interested in finding the birth of galaxies like our Milky Way, by looking in infrared light for violent convulsions of star birth.

Peter's main interest is in organosilicon chemistry and public science engagement.

The Beacons for Public Engagement

The Beacons for Public Engagement are university-based collaborative centres working to build capacity for public engagement. The initiative seeks to change the culture in universities, assisting staff and students to engage with the public and is funded by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust.

Lisa is studying for a PhD in particle physics. Her research concerns neutrinos, elementary particles created from nuclear reactions like those happening in the sun.

Mark is associate director of the Wolfson Research Institute and is focussed on the study of parisitic diseases in Africa.

Joseph is a reader in cognitive neuroscience with a special interest in human language.

Bruce manages the Beacon for Wales, working to get universities in Wales to work better with their communities to engage in research.

Robert is a research fellow in particle physics with a particular interest in neutrinos. He currently works on the NEMO 3 and SuperNEMO projects searching for neutrinoless double beta decay.

Martin is an astronomy lecturer. He also writes popular astronomy books, and is heavily involved in the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

DJ's research area is quantitative genetics. "That makes me something between a zoologist and a statistician with a hint of agriculture," he says.

Michelle studies the neural mechanisms underlying human epilepsy and tries to understand the minute details of neuronal oscillations - a type of activity which is believed to underlie so-called 'higher' brain functions like memory, attention and sleep.

Daniel is a civil engineer specialising in timber, looking at everything from trees to construction. Much of his work relates to improving UK timber production and usage.

Andrea is a synthetic inorganic chemist by training but has been doing public science for years, particularly live chemistry for adults and children.

Tom is a biologist who studies how food-hoarding birds like titmice and magpies remember where they left their food. He also studies the evolution of this behaviour.

Nina is currently a researcher in animal welfare, and is interested in evolution, ethology (how animal behaviour fits their environment), human and animal vision, and animal behaviour and welfare.

Steven studies the immune systems of mammals. He is a research fellow in the Division of Pathway Medicine and the Centre for Systems Biology.

Bill is a pharmacologist by training, but works within the field of physiology. His particular research interest is the physiological role of ion channels, and how ion channels work at the molecular level.

Helen is an applied mathematician working on the flow of complex fluids - liquids like snail slime, that have weird elastic properties.