Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LIFE LAB (LIFE LAB - Connecting Communities with the UK's leading Biotechnology and Life Science Hub)
Período documentado: 2019-03-01 hasta 2019-12-31
"LifeLab's mission:-
LifeLab is Cambridge and the East of England's European Researchers' Night, led by the Wellcome Genome Campus Public Engagement team working with the following world-leading research organisations: Wellcome Sanger Institute, European Bioinformatics Institute, Babraham Institute, University of Cambridge and the Laboratory for Molecular Biology.
The mission of the project is to extend the reach and opportunity of Cambridge's vast research and innovation infrastructure in the life sciences and biotech sectors into communities where people would be otherwise unlikely to engage. This is important because of the skills gaps in areas of biodata and bioinformatics and the potential for reaching out create new and exciting career paths.
LifeLab was hallmarked by an inaugural programme of events in September 2018 building on education, cultural and engagement partnerships developed across our region. Through the events, LifeLab showcases the importance of collaboration in science. We also celebrated Europe’s Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018 by casting a spotlight on science through local stories from the past, present and future. In 2019, LifeLab extended its reach to include three cities - Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely.
LifeLab's approach
We identified locations for activities and events where our audiences felt comfortable. This included shopping malls, cafes, libraries and other city centre locations. In 2018, throughout 36 hours of events, LifeLab brought together 150 scientists and 3,500 adults, families and school students. In 2019, over a similar period we brought 210 researchers together with 3,538 people.
Events included talks, performances, storytelling, hands-on activities and tours. LifeLab helped inspire new efforts to work collaboratively across our research institutes, forging new formats of engagement and extending reach to people not traditionally engaging with science. We made a special effort to take ""the lab"" to the people, which in Peterborough happened quite literally via an improvised biology and genetics lab setting up in the heart of the city's main shopping centre. A summary of all our 2018 and 2019 events and a video is available at www.camlifelab.co.uk with additional activity viewable at our twitter account @camlifelab."
LifeLab is Cambridge and the East of England's European Researchers' Night, led by the Wellcome Genome Campus Public Engagement team working with the following world-leading research organisations: Wellcome Sanger Institute, European Bioinformatics Institute, Babraham Institute, University of Cambridge and the Laboratory for Molecular Biology.
The mission of the project is to extend the reach and opportunity of Cambridge's vast research and innovation infrastructure in the life sciences and biotech sectors into communities where people would be otherwise unlikely to engage. This is important because of the skills gaps in areas of biodata and bioinformatics and the potential for reaching out create new and exciting career paths.
LifeLab was hallmarked by an inaugural programme of events in September 2018 building on education, cultural and engagement partnerships developed across our region. Through the events, LifeLab showcases the importance of collaboration in science. We also celebrated Europe’s Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018 by casting a spotlight on science through local stories from the past, present and future. In 2019, LifeLab extended its reach to include three cities - Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely.
LifeLab's approach
We identified locations for activities and events where our audiences felt comfortable. This included shopping malls, cafes, libraries and other city centre locations. In 2018, throughout 36 hours of events, LifeLab brought together 150 scientists and 3,500 adults, families and school students. In 2019, over a similar period we brought 210 researchers together with 3,538 people.
Events included talks, performances, storytelling, hands-on activities and tours. LifeLab helped inspire new efforts to work collaboratively across our research institutes, forging new formats of engagement and extending reach to people not traditionally engaging with science. We made a special effort to take ""the lab"" to the people, which in Peterborough happened quite literally via an improvised biology and genetics lab setting up in the heart of the city's main shopping centre. A summary of all our 2018 and 2019 events and a video is available at www.camlifelab.co.uk with additional activity viewable at our twitter account @camlifelab."
Awareness
A fun and accessible visual identity was created for LifeLab, avoiding stereotypical science designs. Work then commenced on awareness raising through press and digital channels. Articles in several publications helped build visibility, including Cambridge News, Peterborough Telegraph and a full page advertorial in the Cambridge Edition. Radio and TV pieces accompanied the Night itself. In 2019 we estimate a total awareness reach of 1.6 million through all our publicity channels. LifeLab for both years of the project made strong use of its website at www.camlifelab.co.uk which served as the hub for the programme (including the booking of all events). The site also highlighted careers journeys through print and video resouces. Google Analytics showed around 3/4 of visitors to the site were from the UK and the majority of visitors using mobile devices. Our social media presence @camlifelab spanned Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Twitter was used extensively throughout events, with current following of 443. Designated tweeters maintained vibrant social media activity throughout the events. In parallel with the public awareness, a researcher awareness and training programme was delivered, with two training sessions, attended by researchers from all 5 partner institutes. This contributed to the 210 researchers engaged in the 2019 Night (350 researchers in total over both Nights in the project).
Activities
Drop in events centered on four EU corners across Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely in 2019. All of these were in high footfall locations. In addition, evening pre-booked events made up around 15.5% of our total audience. In total, 3,100 people engaged with LifeLab events over 36 hours from the Friday at noon until late on Saturday afternoon in 2018 with European Year of Cultural Heritage celebrated through a Culture Crawl street tour programme. A further 500 students engaged via our schools roadshow in 2018, highlighting the many and varied career journeys available to young people through research (beyond the traditionally perceived academic routes for examples. In 2019, the total engagement with adults numbered approximately 2,800 and around 760 school children in advance of the Night.
Impact
LifeLab’s central mission was to engage people who do not traditionally engage with science. Pre-booked events largely attracted an audience who already engaged with public science events. In all venues and cities, the interaction between members of the public and researchers was extremely positive. Levels of trust in scientists were extremely high and this question resulted in particularly interesting conversations around scientific objectivity, vested interests and misreporting and the role of the media in scientific communication. Researchers valued the experience, especially interacting with audiences they had not worked with previously. They found conversations interesting and, in some cases, challenging. We were pleased that in 2019, LifeLab events gained coverage on the BBC regional news programme 'Look East' with a live broadcast from Ely Cathedral, one of the main foci of activity in that city.
A fun and accessible visual identity was created for LifeLab, avoiding stereotypical science designs. Work then commenced on awareness raising through press and digital channels. Articles in several publications helped build visibility, including Cambridge News, Peterborough Telegraph and a full page advertorial in the Cambridge Edition. Radio and TV pieces accompanied the Night itself. In 2019 we estimate a total awareness reach of 1.6 million through all our publicity channels. LifeLab for both years of the project made strong use of its website at www.camlifelab.co.uk which served as the hub for the programme (including the booking of all events). The site also highlighted careers journeys through print and video resouces. Google Analytics showed around 3/4 of visitors to the site were from the UK and the majority of visitors using mobile devices. Our social media presence @camlifelab spanned Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Twitter was used extensively throughout events, with current following of 443. Designated tweeters maintained vibrant social media activity throughout the events. In parallel with the public awareness, a researcher awareness and training programme was delivered, with two training sessions, attended by researchers from all 5 partner institutes. This contributed to the 210 researchers engaged in the 2019 Night (350 researchers in total over both Nights in the project).
Activities
Drop in events centered on four EU corners across Cambridge, Peterborough and Ely in 2019. All of these were in high footfall locations. In addition, evening pre-booked events made up around 15.5% of our total audience. In total, 3,100 people engaged with LifeLab events over 36 hours from the Friday at noon until late on Saturday afternoon in 2018 with European Year of Cultural Heritage celebrated through a Culture Crawl street tour programme. A further 500 students engaged via our schools roadshow in 2018, highlighting the many and varied career journeys available to young people through research (beyond the traditionally perceived academic routes for examples. In 2019, the total engagement with adults numbered approximately 2,800 and around 760 school children in advance of the Night.
Impact
LifeLab’s central mission was to engage people who do not traditionally engage with science. Pre-booked events largely attracted an audience who already engaged with public science events. In all venues and cities, the interaction between members of the public and researchers was extremely positive. Levels of trust in scientists were extremely high and this question resulted in particularly interesting conversations around scientific objectivity, vested interests and misreporting and the role of the media in scientific communication. Researchers valued the experience, especially interacting with audiences they had not worked with previously. They found conversations interesting and, in some cases, challenging. We were pleased that in 2019, LifeLab events gained coverage on the BBC regional news programme 'Look East' with a live broadcast from Ely Cathedral, one of the main foci of activity in that city.
"LifeLab has been an influential project for the Cambridge science engagement scene and the research institutions involved, for the following reasons:-
- The first collaborative project between the major Cambridgeshire research institutions, where accessibility and reach come before institutional brand or motivators.
- A dedicated effort to target the region's largest city - Peterborough - which has truly reached new audiences.
- Stimulating careers conversations beyond the PhD / academic researcher route, possible due to the wide range of technical, computing and research support roles embedded across the organising partners.
- Pilot cross-Europe evaluation from 5 Night projects. The results, summarised in our Deliverable 3 and Technical Report, include insight into how ""science"" and ""research"" are regarded in different settings.
- LifeLab offers new value of public engagement to a wide sector of our researcher community for whom European collaboration is key to achieving scientific outcomes - especially topical in the UK's social and political landscape at present.
- We were particularly successful in attracting MSCA Fellows into our 2019 LifeLab events, helped by extending invitations beyond our partner beneficiary institutions. In total we had 22 Fellows involved across 9 institutions.
- LifeLab is one of the very few European Researchers' Night projects to share a beneficiary - the EMBL European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- Researchers highly valued the experience of taking part in LifeLab. The project allowed them to reach new audiences and to improve their communication and project planning skills. Based on experience gained in 2018, training was adapted to better provide researchers with the skills and confidence to approach and engage with new audiences."
- The first collaborative project between the major Cambridgeshire research institutions, where accessibility and reach come before institutional brand or motivators.
- A dedicated effort to target the region's largest city - Peterborough - which has truly reached new audiences.
- Stimulating careers conversations beyond the PhD / academic researcher route, possible due to the wide range of technical, computing and research support roles embedded across the organising partners.
- Pilot cross-Europe evaluation from 5 Night projects. The results, summarised in our Deliverable 3 and Technical Report, include insight into how ""science"" and ""research"" are regarded in different settings.
- LifeLab offers new value of public engagement to a wide sector of our researcher community for whom European collaboration is key to achieving scientific outcomes - especially topical in the UK's social and political landscape at present.
- We were particularly successful in attracting MSCA Fellows into our 2019 LifeLab events, helped by extending invitations beyond our partner beneficiary institutions. In total we had 22 Fellows involved across 9 institutions.
- LifeLab is one of the very few European Researchers' Night projects to share a beneficiary - the EMBL European Molecular Biology Laboratory
- Researchers highly valued the experience of taking part in LifeLab. The project allowed them to reach new audiences and to improve their communication and project planning skills. Based on experience gained in 2018, training was adapted to better provide researchers with the skills and confidence to approach and engage with new audiences."