Tagged With: public engagement
Biology in the Park: Lambeth Country Show
Amidst the food stalls, music, and farmyard animals, the Royal Society of Biology was at the Lambeth Country show last weekend chatting to the public about anatomy, genetics and more. Thousands of people descended onto Brockwell Park on 15th and 16th July for one of the biggest public events in the UK. The Lambeth Country … Continue reading
The IBO live blog Day 2: practical exams and the science of zombies
Peter Morrison, a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick, is one of the 100+ volunteers helping run the 28th International Biology Olympiad, taking place at the University of Warwick this week. This morning marked the beginning of the exam stages, with three groups taking turns at each of three practicals throughout the day. After … Continue reading
The IBO live blog: arrivals and the opening ceremony
Peter Morrison, a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick, is one of the 100+ volunteers helping run the 28th International Biology Olympiad, taking place at the University of Warwick this week. Months, if not years of preparation go into organising the Olympiad, and this weekend marked the completion of the last preparatory tasks.
Biology Week in Schools: The Eggs-cellent Victorian Eggs-periment
By Dr Diane Lees-Murdock CBiol MRSB, course director BSc (Hons) Biology, Ulster University and Mr Chris Murdock, DH Christie Memorial Primary School, Coleraine, N. Ireland. Year seven pupils at DH Christie Memorial Primary School have been learning about the Victorian diet and how nutrition varied between the rich and the poor. To celebrate Biology Week, … Continue reading
Tackling the Global Food Crisis at the NI Science Festival
By Anna Holderbaum, Marie Curie early stage researcher at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast Staged at Belfast’s historical St. George’s Market, ‘The Hungry Games’ (February 2016) attracted young and old to learn about important facts and get advice about nutrition, not only in relation to the impact on our health … Continue reading
Five good reasons for doing science communication
By Dr Joana Moscoso, research associate at Imperial College London and co-founder of the Native Scientist. Last year Joana won the Royal Society of Biology’s Established Researchers Prize for Science Communication. Applications for the RSB Science Communication Awards 2016 are open until 30th June. Coming from a small village in Portugal and wanting to become … Continue reading
Explaining complicated ideas is not always easy
By Dr Emily Grossman, molecular biologist, broadcaster and educator, who trains contestants for the FameLab International science communication competition. Dr Grossman is running a Science Communication Workshop at the Royal Society of Biology on Monday 18th April. When trying to explain complex information to an audience, the first task is to get the content right. But how we communicate is also … Continue reading
The evolution of Big Biology Day
By Ian Harvey FRSB and Amanda Burton, Cambridge biologists The seed In early 2012 the (then) Society of Biology announced the first Biology Week and invited us all to devise events to celebrate all things biological. For my colleague Amanda Burton and I it was an instant ‘light bulb’ moment! We’d both been heavily involved … Continue reading
The Hungry Games
Rachel Burnett, education and public engagement officer at the Biochemical Society discusses the success of ‘The Hungry Games’ at Big Biology Day in Cambridge, in celebration of Biology Week. Encouraging people to eat a healthy diet is nothing new; from eye-catching headlines announcing the latest ‘superfoods’, to documentaries such as ‘Super Size Me’, we encounter … Continue reading
The surprising power of celebrity stories for science communication
Robin Bisson, director of Genetic Expert News Service (GENeS), discusses the powerful combination of science and celebrities. Angelina Jolie is probably the most famous person to have had a double mastectomy and reconstructive breast surgery. An interesting little study recently found that media coverage of Angelina Jolie’s decision to go under the knife increased public … Continue reading