By Ellie Barnes, SciTech Subeditor
What an incredible year for the SciTech section! Corin, Miles, James, and I congratulate you all and want to express our sincerest gratitude for writing such amazing articles and coming up with the most intriguing ideas. To acknowledge and praise the amazing scientists that have worked with us this year I have composed a SciTech Wrapped!
This year we have published thirty eight articles on the Epigram website (at the time of writing), compared to the equally impressive thirty last year. The aim has been to keep science fun and interesting, encouraging people to see that science doesn’t have to be tedious and full of statistics - it can be relevant and exciting!
This year we were able to collaborate with the Intersectional Feminist Society. Jenine Alathari, a second year biochemistry student, discussed with Sonia Jordan, Tess Rayner, and our very own SciTech editor Corin Hadley about the heavy metals that were found in sanitary products. Being able to relate science to real, topical issues is something that has been so important for us and sharing that with other societies is a privilege we are extremely grateful for.
Furthermore, SciTech deputy editors James Lewis and Miles Gilroy collaborated with Robogals for the second part of our International Women’s Day series, where they discussed the overrepresentation of men in the STEM workforce and how Robogals are breaking boundaries. They are providing more female role models that encourage women to feel comfortable and seen when expressing their interest in the field.
Hannah Stainbank wrote on the University of Bristol’s Student's Union ending all forced swim experiments that were used to understand the neurobiology of stress, creating a beautifully fused science and student news article. I think merging the topics of sections to create something more diverse and current will only be beneficial for us to improve the section.
Harry Mayes wrote an astonishing four articles for us this year. His work ranged from AI innovations, to the history and chemistry of bread, to Skyrim. I have thoroughly enjoyed editing his articles or just seeing his name pop up in the SciTech email.
Alice Guskov, another quad-contributor, has impressed us all this year with her fascinating articles about the mini-moon that joined us in late 2024, the sustainability of Christmas, the benefits of learning to code, and now the life and death of the Gaia space observatory. Alice’s breadth of style has kept us glued to the pages all throughout the year.
Cali Stott has kept us up to date on all things AI and computing this year. Her articles about the new Isambard 3 supercomputer at the University of Bristol and how AI is affecting banking have been informative and extremely engaging. Cali’s ability to explain complex scientific ideas in a digestible way has been second to none.
One particularly impressive aspect we have added this year is the writing workshops, these happened across the whole of Epigram and helped answer any questions or queries about writing for us. It was lovely to put faces to names and get to meet some of the many talented writers in our section. This is something that we all agree would be beneficial to continue next year to create a more social and interactive aspect to the section.
The Student Publication Association National Conference 2025 took place on the 5th of April in Exeter where, I am proud to announce, we won ‘Best Science Publication’! This means we are officially the best student lead science publication (or section) across the whole of the UK. Obviously this couldn’t have been done without our incredible writers and my remarkable SciTech editors. I am incredibly proud and honoured to have worked alongside such astonishing people who are interested and care so deeply about the world. Not only did we win ‘Best Science Publication’ but Epigram won ‘Best Publication’ overall! There is something so special within this newspaper and the environment it fosters and it is truly beautiful to see that recognised at a higher level. I am grateful to be a part of it and hope that you all feel the same.
If you would like to write for our award winning SciTech section over the summer or next year you can join the whatsapp group, using the QR code in the top right corner, and take commissions we put out, or pitch us an idea through our email:
scitech.epigram@gmail.com
Featured image: Julia Mullins
