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Public Engagement
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Case Studies

Turtle Project

The Turtle Project is a collaboration between the Eizaguirre Lab (School of Chemical and Biological Sciences), Non-Goverment Organisations interested in conservation, and students and local communities within Cape Verde. The project focuses on developing long-term, community-driven programmes based around science and innovation, to address the at-risk sea turtle population in the Cape Verde Archipelago.

Local higher education students were provided with hands-on practical training to enable them to conduct activities that feed into active research-- such as DNA sampling, measuring morphometrics and parasite monitoring. Students were then able to undertake placements on different islands of the Archipelago living within local communities, spreading positive messages the ecological importance of sea turtles to these groups whilst undertaking the research work. Additionally students supported local school teachers with organising activities to promote the importance of turtles for marine ecosystems.

This programme has now been running for over 10 years and has found its' way through the many barriers inherent to conservation programmes. The group have since gne on to develop a number of additional engagement programmes including ATLANTIS-- a VR virualisation of a turtle's movements based on real scientific data.

 

People's Palace Projects

People's Palace Projects (PPP) was established in 1996 when Professor Paul Heritage came to Queen Mary to establish a new Drama Department. PPP was created as an independent arts charity to explore the ways in which the arts can respond to urgent social crises, and has now become a full charitable subsidary of Queen Mary.

PPP has worked internationally for the past 23 years, creating and debating art that makes a difference to people'e lives. One community that they have worked with on these projects is the indigenous Kuikuro people in Brazil. PPP developed an artistic residency in the Kuikuro indigenous village to forge new connections between this community and cultural insitutions in Brazil and abroad.

As part of this work, PPP engaged new audiences in the UK with indigenous cultures from the Xingu territories of Brazil through a series of immersive installations and workshops at the Horniman Museum. This also offered the opportunity to explor how Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality technocologies could be developed to provide museums with a means to access indigenous cultures, ideas and practices, that usually remain beyond the reach of the wider public.

Centre of the Cell

Centre of the Cell is a science education crentre located withing the biomedical research laborities in the Blizard Institute. Since its' opening in 2009, the Centre of the Cell has sought to have a positive impact on the education, health choices, and career of the children, young people and families who visit the Centre and has had 195,000 engagements. They aim to inspire the next generation of scientists and healthcare professionals, stimilate interest and dialogue about biomedical research, raise aspirations within the local community, widen participation in further edication, and create a centre of excellence in public engagement.

The Centre of the Cell staff deliver a number of school and group activities both on-site and off-site (outreach) for schools/groups the content of which has strong links to the curriculum. They also run a youth membership scheme (YMS) for young people who are looking to study science or medicine at University, to give them opportunities and mentorship. Additionally Centre of the Cell run a number of public activities open to families, such as running on-site STEM Pod shows during holidays specifically for families or home educators, participating in the Festival of Communities, and running a number of evening events suh as their 'Big Question' Lecture Series.

Centre of the Cell additionally are collaboratiors on a number of other public engagement programmes across Queen Mary, including beng part of the Children's Health in London and Luton (CHILL) study-- highlighting the collaborative potenital between researchers and the Centre.

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