Researchers share their expertise at Glasgow Science Festival

Researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University are playing a huge part in this year’s Glasgow Science Festival, sharing their expertise with thousands of visitors of all ages.

Staff and students from the School of Health and Life Sciences (SHLS) and the School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment (SCEBE) will be hosting a series of events during the Festival, which runs from June 6-16.

The theme for this year’s Science Festival is ‘Glasgow’s Transforming’ celebrating the city’s past, present and future on the cutting edge of science and technology.

The festival, now in its 18th year, brings together representatives from UK universities including Glasgow Caledonian, voluntary organisations and government bodies to lead more than 150 activities, talks, workshops, and exhibitions.

Events will take place across the city in venues including the Riverside, Kelvingrove and Hunterian Museums, the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Glasgow Caledonian University, and the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde.

Visitors will have the chance to learn more about the city’s involvement in health and wellbeing research, innovative tech breakthroughs, the intersections between art and science, the importance of nature and biodiversity and Glasgow’s rich scientific and industrial heritage.

SHLS Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) Co-Director Professor Carol Emslie has organised one of the main Festival events, entitled ‘Imagining Scotland with Less Booze’, where the audience can learn about the relationship Scotland has with alcohol and how we can change this with Glasgow Caledonian University.

The event is being held at Glasgow Caledonian University Student’s Association on Wednesday, June 12. Book here - Imagining Scotland with Less Booze.

Vision Sciences’ lecturer Dr Eilidh Martin will host a ‘Vision Matters’ session at Glasgow Botanic Gardens on Monday, June 10, and ReaCH Safeguarding Health through Infection Prevention (SHIP) Research Group researchers Professor Gordon Ramage, Dr William Johnston, Dr Anthony Slate, Dr Jontana Allkja, Mark Butcher, Pranitha Murali, Helen Laking and Ntani Suh Nsutebu will be running sessions on ‘Hand Hygiene and Antimicrobial Awareness’ on Friday, June 7 and Thursday, June 13, also in the Botanic Gardens.

Dr David Hamilton, Reader in Musculoskeletal Health, and Head of the Department of Podiatry and Radiography Dr Diane Dickson will be running sessions on ‘Looking at Injuries Inside the Body’ at the Riverside Museum on Thursday, June 6 and Saturday, June 8.

Physiotherapy researchers from the University’s Europe-wide Health CASCADE project Lauren McCaffrey, Mira Vogelsang and Danielle Agnello will host ‘The Magic of Collaboration: the Four Houses of Hogwarts Working Together to Co-Create a Better Tomorrow’ at Glasgow Botanic Gardens on Wednesday, June 12.

Dr Paul Baker from the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences will host a session on ‘Ticks are on the March. Be Tick Aware’ at Glasgow Botanic Garden on Monday, June 10.

Staff and students from the same Department will be hosting a further six Glasgow’s Transforming Healthcare activities in Glasgow Botanic Garden on June 11 and June 12.

These include ‘Oran-gene-ious’ with Dr Gillian Hunter and student Kacy Chaudry, ‘Holding Your Nerve’ with Dr Jim Reilly, ‘Listen to Your Blood Flow’ with Dr Kathryn Wilson and PhD student Fatimoh Ojuade, ‘Medicine Makers’ with Dr Yvonne Dempsie and PhD student Kate Sloan, and ‘A Ceramic Exploration Into the Landscape of Cancer’ with Dr Mark Williams, and PhD students Stefan Corradini and Glen Watt.

Dr Timothy Humpton, Dr Boatemaa Ofori Frimpong, Dr Liam Butler, PhD student Celine Wittke and research technician Nicola Clements will focus their activity on the ‘Importance of Healthy Eating’.

SCEBE PhD student Pulaporn Sreewichian will lead on the ‘Exploring Music for Health and Wellbeing’ activity on June 11 at Glasgow Botanic Garden and Dr George Loumakis, Civil Engineering and Environmental Management Senior Lecturer will host a session on ‘Renewable Energy Physics’ at the Riverside Museum on Friday, June 7.

You can find the full programme of Glasgow Science Festival events and activities here - https://www.gla.ac.uk/events/sciencefestival/.