Edinburgh International Science Festival (EISF) is the first and one of the most respected science festivals in the world, taking place annually in April. Known for producing world class live events, the 2023 Festival invited everyone to get hands-on with science and embrace the concepts of experimentation, innovation, creativity, curiosity and inventions that lies at the heart of this year’s theme, which was ‘Let’s Experiment’. Researchers from the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health were delighted to be involved in this year’s Festival in a number of ways: Professors Andrew Horne and Colin Duncan took part in the ‘Let's Experiment: The Professors – Change and Renewal’ event (14 April). They told the audience fascinating stories of the experiments that have shaped their research and their lives. Image Professor Duncan’s talk discussed polycystic ovary syndrome and its link to weight gain. Professor Horne’s talk focused on repurposing existing drugs to reduce pain for people living with endometriosis. Both talks were extremely well received and followed by a lively Q&A. Image Ginnie Clark, Nikki Graham, Rocio Martinez-Aguilar, Triin Ounapuu, Francesca Hearn-Yates, and Grace Forsyth facilitated two fully booked workshops called ‘Ready Steady Grow – the lifecycle of a human body’ (12 April). This gave youngsters the opportunity to take part in microscope activity to discover how cells grow and change and what happens when cell growth goes wrong. They played ‘jigsaw cell match’ to reveal the role of different cells and organs within the body (prizes were awarded), experimented with fluorescence, and worked out the different stages of fetal development by examining mouse embryos. The feedback received was overwhelmingly positive. Dr Rosie Townsend (CRH Associate) took part in the ‘Our Planet, Our Health and Our Future’ event (14 April) at Dynamic Earth as part of an evening exploring the interaction of environment and climate with our health. Dr Townsend focuses on health from the womb throughout the life course and the event explored how the public as citizen scientists can engage with research that can help us to understand, adapt to and shape our environment for a healthy community and planet. Interactive talks and stalls were available throughout the evening and the event was deemed a great success. Image Congratulations to all who participated and engaged the public in our research. This article was published on 2024-09-10
