In the first week of July members of the Biological Physics group, with colleagues from the Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology at the University of Warwick, presented their research at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. The “Mini Motors” stand brought together their interests in biological nano-scale transport and spanned naturally occurring motors, such as kinesin and the bacterial flagellar motor, to building synthetic motors from DNA.

Congratulations to Yulin Chen (Condensed Matter) who has been awarded the prestigious Outstanding Young Researcher Award of the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers, with the following citation:

Congratulations to Yulin Chen (Condensed Matter Physics), who was awarded the prestigious OYRA award with the following citation:

"For his pioneering contribution in advancing our knowledge of topological insulators using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, for the realization of the topological insulating state of Bi2Te3, and the discovery of the massive topological surface state in magnetically doped topological Bi2Se3."

Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Katherine Blundell has been awarded the Bragg Medal "For promoting engagement in and learning of physics both by carrying research in astronomy into schools in developing countries and by helping graduate students and postdocs in the UK to talk to schoolchildren about their science."

On Monday 2nd July, the Lindemann Theatre in the Clarendon Laboratory hosted the 'Horizon' BBC film crew, where Robert Taylor (Professor of Condensed Matter) and Marcus du Sautoy (Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics) filmed an episode that was all about temperature scales and the role of Lord Kelvin. They included demonstrations of the transition from normal to superfluid helium and the triple point of nitrogen.

Physics has long been a male-dominated subject. To fulfil the department's scientific mission, it is vital that we use the full potential of the population and redress that imbalance. Since 2010, the department has been developing a portfolio of new and existing actions to improve the employment conditions and practice for all staff and students. Good practice benefits everyone, but disproportionately benefits women. These actions, and the critical assessment that led to them, are described in our application for an Athena Swan Silver Award.