BU Research Blog

With the Festival of Learning two months away, our On-Tour programmes are well underway. In May of this year we have an opportunity for you to get involved in running a public engagement activity for the general public.

What are the benefits from being involved in the Festival of Learning on tour?

Running an activity as part of the on-tour programme will enable anyone who’s new to public engagement to gain confidence in communicating research to the public, as well as providing a fresh perspective on research from audience members with differing levels of knowledge and understanding.  Most of all … it will be great fun!

What kind of activity could I run? 

In the past we have had very successful activities which have engaged the public and created a great atmosphere when taking the Festival of Learning On-Tour. The first example is an activity run by Marine Archaeology, who brought artefacts and wrecks from their dives; this included full size cannon (which was very popular with the younger generation).  A second example is painting fossils as an activity; this had a great appeal to families as the activity provided a hands-on experience. We also encourage Post Graduate students to run activities around their research, an example of this was an activity which looked into our DNA and provided a quiz to test what participants had learnt.

If you are interested in running an activity, please email Harry Gibson, who will be able to provide you with more information on what will be required for the day and help you develop your activity.