MRC celebrates National Science Week
14 March 2005
As part of its mission – “to promote public engagement with medical research” - the Medical Research Council is sponsoring twelve events during National Science Week, part of a global and national celebration to increase public awareness of science.
The events, including interactive workshops, open days, talks and competitions, will take place throughout the UK, with locations in London, Cambridge, Manchester and Oxfordshire.
A highlight of the week will be the MRC Science Roadshow. Dr Lizzie Burns, artist and scientist, will visit five schools in the Didcot and Reading area. Her mission is to encourage 500 schoolchildren to find artistic inspiration in the human body. Science lessons will be replaced with pots of paint as National Curriculum topics such as hearing, movement and micro-organisms - are brought to life with colour.
A regular MRC collaborator, Lizzie has been working with the MRC since 2003. A recent project “Thinking Science Making Art” engaged over 700 junior schoolchildren in the tricky task of ‘creating’ nerve cells. Lizzie’s first project, “Medical Research Revealed” took her to MRC-funded labs throughout the UK to create paintings inspired by their works. “Medical Research Revealed” was first shown at the BA Festival of Science 2003 in Salford and has since been exhibited in Oxford and Newcastle and as far afield as India.
Other MRC National Science Week events include a talk on diet and health, an open-day at a cancer cell research unit, interactive workshops with scientists and actors, a quiz and a poster competition. MRC-funded scientists who received public engagement funding last year will present four events including a brain-awareness exhibition, open days on genetics/DNA and Alzheimer’s disease research and a hands-on science exhibition on brain, cells and genes where participants can prepare a sample of their own DNA.
For further information contact the MRC press office on 020 7637 6011
Notes to Editors
The Medical Research Council-sponsored events as part of National Science Week include:
MRC Science Road Show
14 – 18 March
Dr Lizzie Burns, a frequent MRC collaborator, will visit local schools in Oxford and Reading and run workshops for Key Stage 2 pupils to look at science through artistic eyes. The workshops will explore the National Curriculum’s ‘Movement in Humans’ with fun activities to stimulate the children’s imagination.
SET for Britain Poster Competition for young bio-scientists
14 March
The Medical Research Council has partly sponsored a poster competition for young bioscientists with the SET for Britain organisation. The competition will take place at the House of Commons on Monday 14 March. Several MRC scientists will take part. For details of reception please see www.setforeurope.org
NIMR Human Biology Essay Competition
Ongoing
The MRC's National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) Third Human Biology Essay Competition (1000 words) forms part of National Science Week. A prize of £100 for the winner and £50 for two runners-up. Prize-winners will be NIMR’s guest for a day. Every entrant receives a certificate to show they participated and a copy of Mill Hill Essays. Closing date 15/4/05.
More info: www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/schools/essay or contact
How does Topical Science & Research influence our daily lives?
16-17 March
The MRC Clinical Sciences Centre will visit two London colleges to present a discussion and lecture with students on the contribution of research to particular current scientific issues and how those discoveries impact on everyday life. The cross-disciplinary nature of research today will also be explored and the possible career paths for students considering a scientific vocation.
Diet and Health: Past and Present
17 March, Mill Lane Lecture Rm 3, Cambs
Today, diet is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. In the past, however, people ate what they were given and didn’t worry. What does this mean for our health? Dr Gail Goldberg of MRC Human Nutrition Research will talk about the relationship between diet and health – then and now.
More info: www.cambridgescience.org/
You Know it Makes Sense 2! - From Lab to Layman
18-19 March, Manchester Museum
MRC-funded postgraduates and drama students will present an interactive workshop to explore how our brains sense our environment and how we can trick our senses. The senses will be introduced using short live performance of Little Red Riding Hood. The audience will then be invited to explore how the senses can be tricked by stepping up to one of three ‘sense stations’ developed by science communicator Erinma Ochu. The workshop is part of a ‘public as communicators’ programme in which non-scientists will help deliver the workshops to a public audience. The actors will give the science demonstrations (with coaching from the scientists) whilst the scientists (with some help from the actors) will give the drama performance.
For further details contact Erinma Ochu: erinma.ochu@manchester.ac.uk
RCUK Science Race 2005
18 March
All schools in the UK have the opportunity to race against the clock in the award-winning on-line science race quiz, which takes place on Friday 18 March 2005. Multiple choice questions from a wide range of science disciplines including physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, maths, engineering and IT will be set. The mix will include questions from the national curriculum, questions requiring logic, questions requiring calculation and questions involving research on the Internet.
The Evolution of Cancer
19 March. Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, Cancer Cell Unit Cambs
Home and take a walk through the history of cancer with the Department of Oncology. What was thought to be the cause of cancer? What do we know now about how it develops? How will it be treated in the future? Come and ‘see’ the changes that happen in cells and tissues during the evolution of cancer.
More info: www.cambridgescience.org
Public engagement awards
LLast year, the BBSRC, the NERC and MRC ran a competition for a joint small grant scheme to support Public Engagement activities during National Science Week. Four awards were given to MRC-funded scientists:
Helping Make Sense of your Brain
16 March, Manchester
Why do we have two eyes? And what is your brain up to inside your head? Come along to our Brain Discovery Stand at the Trafford Centre in Manchester and fool your brain and senses, try our brain quiz and win brain-related goodies, and talk to young researchers.
Genetics and DNA – Interactive science day
18 March, MRC Harwell
Activities include supervised practical experiments, an introduction to genetics, DNA and the work at the MRC Harwell, a tour of the working laboratories and an informal discussion session on current scientific hot issues. The target audience is a group of 29 AS level biology students from the Henry Box School, Witney.
Alzheimer’s disease Research Open Day
12 March, Kings College London
The Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, conducts a wide range of research on Alzheimer’s disease from molecular studies, through clinical trials to carer research. The open day will demonstrate the process of research in action as well as sharing some of the excitement about the rapid growth in knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease. The main part of the day will be small group interactions with research workers including hands-on activities wherever possible. There will be an audience of 150 including members of Alzheimers Society and other charities, as well as people from local NHS trusts.
Brain, Cells and Genes – an interactive exhibition
12 March, UCL
An interactive, hands-on science exhibition, aimed at GCSE to A-Level students and university students from non-scientific background. The theme of the exhibition is ‘Brain, cells and genes’. The exhibition is prepared and manned by young researchers and PhD students from UCL and other colleges. Participants can handle brain models, to observe cells under microscope and to prepare their own DNA. There are three stands with several short demonstrations and hands-on experiments.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC’s expenditure of £450 million is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools.
