Our social enterpise
Laser Labs is a small scale developer for educational apps. Our aim is to promote science using well designed and fun apps.
Our endeavour can be traced back to the Gravitational Wave Group at the University of Birmingham where we developed our first applications, from simple simulations to arcade-style games. These were soon used at science fairs by ourselves and by other scientists around the world. The apps work well for attracting an audience and for providing talking points to introduce specific research topics. Our applications became an important element in a highly ranked impact case study for the REF 2014, a regular process for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.
Laser Labs Games CIC, or Laser Labs for short, was founded to provide the legal structure for bringing our applications to the well known app stores. We are now recreating our applications for modern devices and technologies, and continue to work with research groups to discuss new ideas and to develop new apps to help bringing science to the masses.
Laser Labs is a community interest company (CIC). A CIC is a not-for profit, limited company and a social enterprise, i.e. a business that benefits the community, rather than just the owners or employees. A regulator annually reviews that the activities of a CIC are indeed carried out for the benefit of the community. You can find out more about CIC companies here.
Laser Labs team
Andreas is an experimental physicist who spends most of his time designing gravitational wave detectors. He has been an enthusiastic contributor to outreach activities in Birmingham and for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. Andreas is also the founder and editor in chief of the LIGO Magazine.
Daniel is the lead programmer at Laser Labs. Prior to this Daniel developed many of structural and technical aspects of the apps used by the Gravitational Wave Group in Birmingham and developed the financial education games at Fortune and Venture.
Contributors
Nutsinee is currently an operations specialist at LIGO Hanford. When not fighting with the detector at night she likes to draw! Visit AntimatterWebcomics.com.
Philip is a PhD student in physics at the University of Birmingham, who enjoys programming and games. While not busy studying, Phil spends his time tinkering with technology, 3D modelling and cooking.
Sam is a postdoc at the University of Birmingham who works on building new sensors to improve the isolation of gravitational wave detectors from seismic noise. Sam also spends his time writing code, motorsports, building things and cooking.
Sam is an astrophysicist at the University of Exeter who currently works on better understanding the characteristics and evolution of stars and exoplanets. Sam also spends his time writing code and playing guitar in various bands throughout the South West of the UK.
Aaron is a PhD student in physics at the University of Birmingham and enjoys modeling, tinkering with lasers, web design especially back end architecture. When he is not working he can be found in the climbing hall or exploring historical sites
After completing her physics degree at the University of Birmingham, Isobel continues to pursue her passions for programming and gravitational waves as a PhD student at the University in Melbourne. Isobel likes to draw, run and look after Herschel, her giant African land snail.
Studying physics at the University of Birmingham was Roshni's first step into a career combining physics with politics and sustainability. In her spare time she loves listening to music, reading, and smashing the patriarchy.
Working in the games industry since 2008, Katie is an experienced games designer having worked at studios such as Frontier Developments and Sony London Studio. She has been developing titles from mobile and console to augmented reality. Now Creative Director at her own studio, Triangular Pixels, she partners directly with industry leaders such as Oculus, Google, and Sony, to produce ground breaking and refreshing game play for virtual reality.
Paul is a physicist at the University of Florida who is currently researching optical techniques for gravitational wave detectors, by means of lab experiments and simulations. Paul also plays and records music, and likes to draw and paint in his spare time.
Ludovico is a former instrument scientist of gravitational wave detectors and now R&D physicist at ASML, developing sensors for lithography machines for the semiconductor industry.
Laser Labs Games CIC trading as Laser Labs is a limited, not-for-profit Community Interest Company, registered in England & Wales, No. 09935041. Registered Office: Union House, 111 New Union Street, Coventry, CV1 2NT, UK.