Eleonore Poli

In September 2020, I was asked to be a speaker for a highschool and present my work as a candidate astronaut, scientist and analogue astronaut. I was asked to share my experience, and I chose to tell them about my failures, how they led me to a become a better person. I interacted with the students throughout the talk, trying to inspire them. I told them to become their own heroes, to never give up, and presented my recipe on how to make dreams come true. The talk was one hour long, mostly improvisation, and the public made of 80 highschool students in their 14-18s.

This talk was the first edition of a series of talks on sustainable fashion. As a member of the Global Shapers Cambridge Hub, I lead a project on sustainable fashion, where we aim to raise the awareness of all on the impact of fashion on the environment. I hosted a webinar with Gordon Renouf as main speaker, CEO from the Good On You application, and coorganised by Jivan Jivanji. I explained the role of Global Shapers, the project, as well as coordinated the Q&A session

On Lucy Cavendish Research day (University of Cambridge) in March 2020, I presented my research as a first year PhD student in materials and metallurgy. I had an audience with a varied background, mainly based on education, so I had to adapt my talk to make it understandable for my audience. I started by explaining that my research focussed on alloys that were just like superheroes: super strong, super tough, resistant to all kind of environments. But like all superheroes, my alloys needed a side-kick. My coatings are like side-kicks, they allow the superhero to go even further. However, they have flaws, and my research focussed on research these flaws, what they originate from and how to prevent them.

During my MPhil in Materials & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, I presented my research on thermal barrier coatings for gas turbine. Thermal barrier coatings are materials that protect the base material of turbine blades by serving as a heat shield. However, the environment of turbines is full of contaminants, which can penetrate those porous thermal barrier coatings and damage the base material of the turbine, leading potentially to failure. My research was focussing on combining existing thermal barrier coatings with additions of titanium, which would serve as trap for those contaminants, reendering the thermal barrier coating corrosion resistant.

I presented my research at the Lucy Cavendish College Research day in March 2019 (University of Cambridge), for an audience of all backgrounds, so I had to reender it accessible to all. I then presented my research in a seminar at the department of Materials & Metallurgy of Cambridge.

This short video was made for school students, to try and motivate them during corona, to follow their dreams. I explain shorty who I am, what my work is as an analogue astronaut and why one must pursue dreams.