In the run up to next month’s Explorathon celebration, the Glasgow coordinating team and researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde will be sharing the excitement of the range of events taking place and insight into their incredible work. Here’s the first in the series on the Glasgow City of Science blog…
On Friday the 30th of September Scotland will come to life with curiosity as we host Explorathon! All across the country we are celebrating European Researchers Night, a huge celebration of research and researchers across the continent. In Scotland we call this Explorathon and it takes the form of huge public engagement events in our biggest cities.
The event, which is now in its third year and funded by the European Commission*, will see researchers from across Scotland take to the streets, visit local schools, pop-up at shopping centres, museums and cinemas, to showcase the latest research. We invite you to get up close with cutting edge research as you find out who works in universities, what they do and how you can be part of it.
This year there is a focus on school engagement, with around 50 schools in Glasgow taking part. Researchers from Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities will pair up with local primary and secondary schools to deliver hands-on activities, discussions, debates and interactive workshops, based around their research. We hope that by taking part in the event, pupils will consider research as a career in years to come.
Researchers from the Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation (CMAC) will be delivering a variety of engaging workshops on the 30th of September. The CMAC team will visit a local primary school and in the evening will join in the fun at the Explorathon Extravaganza event, at the Glasgow Science Centre.
The team, led by Helen Feilden and Andrea Johnston will be demonstrating how crystals form into different structures and packing arrangements, and will highlight the importance of crystallisation within the pharmaceutical industry.
The fun doesn’t stop there, with a packed programme of events for all ages in the afternoon and evening of the 30th and a selection of activities to choose from on Saturday morning (1st October). Highlights from the programme include, a Pokémon Go Tour of the Glasgow University campus, and our popular Explorathon Extravaganza at the Glasgow Science Centre, with planetarium shows, spotlight researcher talks, hands-on activities. New this year, we will be swapping our shopping bags for science, at the Forge Shopping Centre. There will be an eco-playground to play in and the Glasgow Science Festival Team will be helping us to discover how Scottish scientists have changed the world!
For more information about Explorathon 2016 and how you can get involved in events in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St. Andrews visit our website or follow us on social media (@ernscot #explorathon16). Booking for events may be required.
Look-out for more posts from Explorathon 2016 participants on the Glasgow City of Science Blog in the coming days and weeks.
*EXPLORATHON (European Researchers’ Night Scotland) is funded by the European Commission under the Marie Sklowdowska-Curie Actions programme. Grant agreement No 722967
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