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Makers, hackers, creators: help to showcase Ri 2014 CHRISTMAS LECTURES

27 Oct 2014

The Royal Institution of Great Britain (Ri) has launched an online community to help showcase the creativity and ingenuity of the UK and international maker movement

In preparation for this year's CHRISTMAS LECTURES ‘Sparks will fly: How to hack your home’, to be given by the University's Professor Danielle George, the new online gallery will aim to show how - with just a spark of imagination and some twenty first century tinkering - anyone anywhere can change the world. The most inventive and imaginative hacks will be selected by Professor George and Ri team to appear in the CHRISTMAS LECTURES broadcast and will be championed across the Ri’s other social media platforms.

The gallery is now open for video and photo submissions and will close at 11.59pm GMT on Friday, 31 October. No project is too big or too small! For example, have you hacked yourself a self-timing dog feeder, modified your house’s light switches, or reinvented your phone? Ideas that use a lightbulb, a phone and/or a motor are particularly welcomed.

Danielle, who is Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, said: “When I was eight years old I was given a telescope by my parents and I was fascinated - I would get up in the middle of the night to watch lunar eclipses. I knew immediately that some form of hands-on investigation was what I wanted to do in life.

“Today’s generation are in a truly unique position. The technology we use and depend on every day is expanding and developing at a phenomenal rate and so our society has never been more equipped to be creative and innovative. I want everyone to realise that that they have the power to change the world right from their bedroom, kitchen table or garden shed.

“If we all take control of the technology and systems around us, and think creatively, then solving some of the world’s greatest challenges is only a small step away. I believe everyone has the potential to be an inventor!”

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