23.04.24
Thursday 9 December 2021
A St Catharine’s postgraduate student has been the focus of a new YouTube video from creator Simon Clark, whose channel has amassed 388,000 subscribers. Simon’s new video profiles Sam Ryan, a second year PhD student based at the Institute of Astronomy, and has already been watched by over 17,000 viewers.
Throughout the 25-minute video, Sam proudly wears a St Catharine’s sweatshirt. He starts by explaining his PhD in galactic archaeology and how he is studying overdensities in our galaxy (the Milky Way). These reveal information about a second galaxy (the Gaia Sausage, which was discovered by astronomers in Cambridge) that deposited matter when it collided with the Milky Way billions of years ago. He then gives Simon a whistle-stop tour of the University, starting with the 19th century Northumberland Telescope and featuring Sam’s first ever attempt at punting.
Sam explains that his journey to Cambridge didn’t go as expected when he achieved BCCC in his A Levels. When asked about how he copes with imposter syndrome, Sam wisely explains:
“[Astronomy] is a humbling subject: to be able to look at the sky and to be able to understand the motions of the heavens and stars… I’ve just got to keep it in perspective. I know that I’m lucky and I have an opportunity. I’ve always been taught: if you have an opportunity, if you’ve got the privilege to be somewhere, use that privilege for good.”
Simon Clark’s YouTube channel started in 2010 and was initially focused on helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds apply to prestigious universities. His videos now span a range of scientific topics, climate issues and life as a PhD student. The video about Sam Ryan was the fifth in a new series about the work of different PhD researchers.
Kathryn Singleton, Outreach Manager at St Catharine’s, comments:
“It is great to see students creating content that engages the public and prospective students in their life at Cambridge and their academic interests. The College is actually in the process of expanding our own outreach activities so we can reach even more students from backgrounds that have been traditionally under-represented in higher education. This means there will be plenty of opportunities for undergraduates and postgraduates to get involved as student ambassadors. Any St Catharine’s students interested in supporting our outreach programme can contact outreach.manager@caths.cam.ac.uk to find out more.”
