Buzzing draws the crowds to Hampshire’s Science Centre April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.Tags: Hampshire, INTECH, Save our Bees
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People of all ages swarmed to INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium this National Science and Engineering Week for the South of England’s regional Save our Bees Campaign event.
The theme of ‘Busy Bees at INTECH’ was to raise awareness of the plight of our bees with the Winchester Beekeepers taking centre stage at the event demonstrating the ancient and vital practice of beekeeping with the observation hive. Attendees picked up their free seeds and made a fingerprint pledge to ‘save our bees’.
Badge making, honey tasting, seed planting and computer microscopes were just a few of the activities on offer, as well as arts and crafts and bee-nest making. The plant display also showed the wide variety of plants and flowers you can plant in your garden to attract your local honey bees.
The Planetarium played host for the first time in its history to a live musical event with the Buzzing! show by Anneliese Emmans-Dean of thebigbuzz. The 30 minute ‘edutainment’ show featured musical poetry and imagery projected onto the dome, inspiring and informing younger minds about the amazing life of the honey bee.
…bees are a major pollinator and without them there would be a huge decline in fruits, nuts and berry yields…
The UK’s bees are reportedly facing mass extinction, with colonies disappearing up and down the country there is still a lot of research to be done to find out why this is happening.
We do knowthat bees are a major pollinator and without them there would be a huge decline in fruits, nuts and berry yields, not only having a knock-on effect to the agriculture industry, but also the food available to nature’s foragers.
Saving Britians bees became a major project for the British Science Association this March, in our efforts to highlight the plight of the honey bee we managed to give away over 22,000 packets of seeds all across the country and have had countless downloads of the education and information pack.
The British Beekeeping Association was vital to the success of the national campaign, as were Rowse Honey who kindly sponsored our national and regional efforts and donated honey tasting kits and posters.
While the free seed supply has now been completely exhausted, you can still register and download a free education pack at www.saveourbees.org.uk
Upcoming opportunities in the region April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in From the Regional Office.Tags: British Science Festival, famelab, perspectives, Science Communication Conference
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Publicise your research to a non-specialist audience with perspectives
Scientists often have to show that they are aware of the social & ethical context of their research. Yet most early-career researchers have little time set aside to consider the social implications of their work.
perspectives, a poster session with a difference, is a chance for you to discuss your research with a non-specialist audience. Attend an interactive training day – learn about poster design and sharpen your communication skills. Then present your poster at the British Science Festival in September, at the University of Surrey in Guildford. Cash prizes are awarded by a panel of expert judges.
Click here for for more information, and to apply online
perspectives is open to postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers
Application deadline: 8 May 2009
Sponsored by Research Councils UK
Online events database April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in From the Regional Office.Tags: National
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The British Science Association online events database can tell you what’s going on in your part of the country. From the Science of Cocktails to Mathematics and Cryptography, there’s something for everyone.
Are you an events organiser? You can upload your event to our database too.
Join our regional team! April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in From the Regional Office.Tags: Branches, Volunteer
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Are you interested in organising events that engage and inspire the public with science and engineering?
The British Science Association are currently looking for enthusiastic individuals to join our regional branches and to help organise innovative and exciting public engagement programmes.
If you are in Exeter, Bedfordshire or Southampton then get in touch!
The richness of the Associations’ annual calendar of events is due to our strong network of branches spanning the UK from Plymouth to Caithness. Volunteers, supporterd by the staff on our regional team, organise local events covering a range of formats, topics and diverse audiences. These range from café discussions to talks and hands-on days for schools to minis science festivals.
New branches in Exeter, Bedfordshiire and Southampton are recruiting, and we are looking to fill a range of roles across these. If you are interested then please contact the Regional Officer, Dan Richards our check out our website.
We want your event videos! April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.add a comment
Did you organise an event for National Science and Engineering Week this year? If you videoed it, or created a podcast, then we’d like to hear from you!
Watch this to find out more…
Click here to post your video to our YouTube Website
Bath taps into science April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.add a comment
Contributed by Professor Chris Budd
‘Bath Taps into Science’ won this year’s National Science and Engineering Week events award for best Science event
The 2009 Bath Taps into Science Festival gave people of all ages the chance to learn about the world by having fun with science, through interactive and attention-grabbing displays and demonstrations.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘complexity’, looking at how science can help us to make sense of a complex world, and exploring patterns in nature. Visitors were able to experiment with a special ‘chaos machine’ to understand more and were able to look at patterns emerging from complex situations.
Highlights this year also included a maths magic show, a slime stall and robotic lego. A liquid nitrogen show froze everything from bananas and batteries to balloons; musical instruments were made from straws, reflexes were tested by medical students and there were explosions, bangs and whistles galore.
…it was fantastic to see the next generation of scientists in action…
Twenty different primary and secondary schools from Bath and the surrounding area, plus a school from Spain, brought over 700 local school pupils. They visited the fair at the University of Bath on 13th March and were joined by both the Mayor of Bath and a film crew from ITV.
It was clear from the feedback received that the young people greatly enjoyed the range of activities offered, the hands-on approach and the chance to visit a university. Many families and shoppers as well as the local MP, enjoyed the second day of the fair at Bath’s Green Park Station on Saturday 14th March.
Some of the stalls at the fair were staffed by local school children and students who had been trained to be ‘expert presenters’ by their teachers and lecturers. They demonstrated volcanoes, kitchen chemistry, electricity, cotton-reel races and electric cars to an audience of their peers, and it was fantastic to see the next generation of scientists in action.
The fair was organised, supported and run by dozens of volunteers from the University of Bath, Bath Spa University and the City of Bath College together with local organisations like the BRLSI, Envolve, the Herschel Society and Wessex STEMPOINT, the Proprioception Trust, Science City Bristol and the local branch of the British Science Association.
It was widely advertised by some highly colourful posters produced by the graphic design unit at the University of Bath and was opened by a fabulous lecture from Hugh Hunt on Science in a Spin.
Roll on 2010!
There’s blood on the kitchen floor! April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.Tags: Event Awards, University of Southampton
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This event was part of the University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day, which won the National Science and Engineering Week awards for Best Engineering Event, sponsored by ETB
If you came to the University of Southampton’s National Science and Engineering Event 2009, you would have been mesmerised by the massive numbers of activities for families to try.
This year the University of Southampton won a new award from the Engineering and Technology Board for the UK’s ‘Best Engineering Event’ for National Science and Engineering Week.
However becoming real-life investigators to solve the murder of a ‘famous celebrity chef’ is probably not what was expected by some attendees. But this is exactly what some of them did…
‘Blood on the Kitchen Floor’ was a completely new kind of event for the University’s Science and Engineering Day, in which children and their families watched a rather humorous reconstruction of the murder of a famous chef, scripted and acted by the Nuffield Theatre, before visiting labs in many different university schools to solve clues to the murderer’s identity using lasers, lie detection, GPS, robots, and DNA analysis.
Postgraduate students in the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics were at hand at each of the locations and had been trained especially in how to engage the children and present the activities in the context of the narrative.
The families were guided round by ‘special constables’ who were student helpers with police hats on. Everyone truly got into role… including the kids! It bought science to life… it’s not every day young people get to solve the murder of a chef (a celebrity one at that!) and hopefully inspired everyone who came to look at science in a different way.
Attendees received a casebook to write their ideas and clues down as well as a badge to congratulate them for taking part.
The idea came from my work in schools as part of my PhD research I’m investigating why young people (especially girls) are not keen on careers in technology.
Reena Pau, University of Southampton
The concept of a murder mystery event was devised by Electronics and Computer Science PhD student Reena Pau. The funding for this event came from the Roberts Fund, which a grant for postgraduate training. The event not only taught kids about science but it also taught postgraduates about outreach.
So the big question is… who did it??
Come and find out! We may be holding another event so contact Reena (rp05r@ecs.soton.ac.uk) for more information.
Its buzzing in Plymouth April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in Branch News.Tags: Plymouth Branch, Save our Bees
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News from the Plymouth Branch
The newly reformed Plymouth branch caught the Save our Bees bug this NSEW, which saw them dancing, buzzing and nesting around the Plymouth University campus.
The branch’s special Save our Bees day attracted many school children from the local area thanks to their partnership with the University’s Widening Participation Office.
The day began with an introduction from the University and a talk by branch members about science, science communication and opportunities for studying science at University.
The Primary school children then got into groups to make bamboo cane bee nests and were explained about the need to create a safe haven for the honey bee during the cold winter months.
After this very strenuous activity the Bee Movie was shown, which gave our branch members time to get into their specially-made bee outfits!
Branch Chairperson and Queen Bee Kirsty Yule then led the children in small groups on a special waggle dance around the room to their lunch areas.
Later in the day the children were taken on a bee-hunt around the University campus, where they collected stickers to show all the things that bees need to survive, before a treat in the University’s Immersive Theatre.
The teachers were provided with information packs courtesy of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust which included posters, factsheets and seeds.
The event was funded by the Branches NSEW Grant, and the branch plans to continue the bee theme throughout the Spring, ending in a 2-day Save our Bees Exhibition in the local Drake Circus Shopping Centre.
London branch launches innovative new bookclub April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in Branch News.Tags: bookclub, Central London
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From the Central London Branch
Mutants and wine mixed with a prize-winning author was the theme of the launch event of the British Science Association’s newest branch.
Science London hosted the first in its series of Popular Science Book Groups on Wednesday 11th March in Waterstones, Piccadilly. Evolutionary biologist and author Armand LeRoi discussed his latest book Mutants and answered a variety of questions from the audience.
…the group brings the author directly in contact with their audience…
Science London’s monthly event is a book group with a difference. In-line with the aims of the British Science Association, the group brings the author directly in contact with their audience with the author themselves talking about their book, why they wrote it and how they wrote it, followed by a general discussion of the book’s topics. Other popular science events are currently in the pipeline, each one slightly different from a traditional branch event.
