Southampton scientist gets winning vote in schools competition

Jon took part in I'm a scientist, get me out of here, a competition which aimed to bring science alive for secondary school pupils.

Described as 'school science lessons meet the X-Factor', the competition gave students the chance to quiz 100 scientists about their research, their job and anything about science. The children chose who they thought gave the best answers to their questions and online chat in 20 different themed zones.

'It was great fun.' says Jon, who won his zone. 'The questions that the students asked were very challenging, making me dust off long-forgotten subjects like relativity as well as answering their questions about my own research. But seeing the world through the fresh eyes of their questions was inspiring and energising.'

Zone winners were awarded £500 to further communicate their work. The event, which ran over two weeks, was funded by the Wellcome Trust.