And network they did. In no time at all I had a list of almost 15 willing and eager volunteers to help demonstrate science to adults at the Science Museum Lates (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/lates.aspx)
The Science Museum run a special "adults only" evening - nooo nothing like that - on the last wednesday of every month. This month was a special UNESCO International Year of Light event (http://www.light2015.org/Home.html) and IPEM (http://www.ipem.ac.uk/) were asked if they wanted to provide the entertainment for Medical Applications of Light. On show were: Infra red camera and a bucket of ice, smartphone apps for measuring heart rate, a spectrometer and UV torches to show how sunscreen works.
Apart from a little hiccup at the beginning when we realised that we had nothing to project our carefully made 10 minute tour through various applications of EMR to medicine the evening went well. We were just one event of about 30 in the museum that night and although the whole event in general was not as well attended as previous nights we had our fair share of visitors.
The UV and sunscreen example although simple proved popular and although the application of sunscreen isn't exactly a medical application it was an "in" to the idea of how our bodies can be effected by light. The smartphone app was also quite popular - people love finding things out about themselves :) but nothing gave as much fun as the Infra-Red camera kindly donated for the evening by Dr Keith Ison's group at Guy's and St Thomas' in London and wonderfully demo'ed by Emma Walker.
What struck me about last night's event was the demographic of the audience; they were mostly under 25, an even mix of boys and girls - may be not that ethnically diverse but certainly not all British - and it filled me with a glowing sense of hope for the future of STEM.
I'm not sure how one marks the success of the events but all I can say is that we all had a lot of fun, lets see if we inspired anyone to either become a Healthcare Scientist or join IPEM :)
If you want to get involved in this kind of thing please drop your name to me anna.barnes@uclh.nhs.uk or the IPEM office at office@ipem.ac.uk.
The Science Museum run a special "adults only" evening - nooo nothing like that - on the last wednesday of every month. This month was a special UNESCO International Year of Light event (http://www.light2015.org/Home.html) and IPEM (http://www.ipem.ac.uk/) were asked if they wanted to provide the entertainment for Medical Applications of Light. On show were: Infra red camera and a bucket of ice, smartphone apps for measuring heart rate, a spectrometer and UV torches to show how sunscreen works.
Apart from a little hiccup at the beginning when we realised that we had nothing to project our carefully made 10 minute tour through various applications of EMR to medicine the evening went well. We were just one event of about 30 in the museum that night and although the whole event in general was not as well attended as previous nights we had our fair share of visitors.
The UV and sunscreen example although simple proved popular and although the application of sunscreen isn't exactly a medical application it was an "in" to the idea of how our bodies can be effected by light. The smartphone app was also quite popular - people love finding things out about themselves :) but nothing gave as much fun as the Infra-Red camera kindly donated for the evening by Dr Keith Ison's group at Guy's and St Thomas' in London and wonderfully demo'ed by Emma Walker.
What struck me about last night's event was the demographic of the audience; they were mostly under 25, an even mix of boys and girls - may be not that ethnically diverse but certainly not all British - and it filled me with a glowing sense of hope for the future of STEM.
I'm not sure how one marks the success of the events but all I can say is that we all had a lot of fun, lets see if we inspired anyone to either become a Healthcare Scientist or join IPEM :)
Name Check: Colin Swift, Sofia Michopoulou, Jessica Johnson, Emma Walker, Harpreet Dhiraj, Anna Stephenson, Glafkos Havariyoun, Eleanor Holden, Sasha Rai, Matthew Tedder, Natalie Sizer.
setting up the IR camera with plasma screen
Harpreet and Anna posing in front of the IR camera
oooo pretty pictures
The spectrometer and a red laser pointer
Demonstrating the smartphone HR app
Ellie having a giggle with sunscreen
Glafkos explaining..... well you'll have to ask him :)
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