With public engagement events taking place again, IBMS Head of Communications Dan Nimmo offers ideas and resources to help members.
With face-to-face events starting up again and Biomedical Science Day on the horizon (9 June), now is the time to start planning your public engagement activities for the year.
Engaging primary school children
Inspire the next generation of biomedical scientists and get primary school children excited about biomedical science through our SUPERLAB comics.
Aimed at children aged 7 to 11 years old (Key Stage 2), the second edition has just been released and is available for members as an online download or in print. The new edition is packed full of features and fun activities designed to inform young people about the science at the heart of healthcare.
Created in consultation with members, it features new laboratory superheroes, a diagnostic activity with tie-ins to clinical chemistry and microbiology, a Petri-dish biscuits baking recipe, activities to understand PCR and viruses, and much more. Starting with a comic strip about a young girl named Holly, the comic follows her healthcare journey as the audience is invited to follow the clues to help diagnose her condition for the doctor. To order or download comics, visit superlabscience.com.
There are also free downloadable activity sheets on our website ibms.org/resources/activities-for-children. The ready-to-print A4 documents have information on how to perform the activity, as well as a shopping list for resources needed.
Leading career sessions for university students
Hearing perspectives from a variety of specialisms and workplaces within the field allows university students doing biomedical science degrees to better understand and decide which pathway into the profession they should pursue. Students are always looking for advice and to hear first-hand accounts from practising scientists and we regularly arrange for members to attend careers fairs.
If you would like to be included in our future call outs for volunteers to these events, please ensure that your preferences in MyIBMS on our website includes public engagement.
Planning public engagement for Biomedical Science Day?
Consider applying to the Biomedical Science Day Activity Fund. Once again, we are providing grants of up to £500 for IBMS members to develop their activities and events.
Activities should aim to raise public awareness of biomedical science and demonstrate the value of the profession and its role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections and disease.
The grants may be used to support a range of activities and resources for experiments, exhibition space at careers events, marketing and communications materials, incentives and giveaways. Further details can be found at biomedicalscienceday.com.
Order freebies
Once you have signed up for a public engagement event and decided on how to engage with your audience, you can order marketing goodies from us. Simply login to MyIBMS and follow the link to our order form. To make sure we can get them to you on time, orders must be made seven days prior to your event.
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