Get hands on with science at Explorathon
School of Engineering and Built Environment researchers will be sharing their work with the community at a series of Explorathon events – a celebration of science held across Scotland this month.
Dr Ania Escudero will be taking her research to the Forge shopping centre to help shoppers identify visible and invisible pollution and Dr George Loumakis will be at Explorathon Extravaganza! at the Riverside Museum to share his work on energy. They will be supported at the events by teams of PhD students and Dr Karin Helwig.
Said Ania: “Clear water is not a guarantee of safe water, as it may contain invisible pollutants. Using fun tools such as a huge ‘sewage’ pipe that children can crawl through to discover the big pollutants like plastics and wet wipes, and a mini lab and UV lights to show micropollutants that aren’t visible to the naked eye, we hope to share the work GCU is carrying out with our European partners to develop innovative biological techniques to reduce pollution in our waters as well as raise awareness of the dangers of pollution.”
Said George: “We’ll be demonstrating renewable energy and measuring how much electricity participants can generate at Explorathon Extravaganza! which throws open the doors of the Riverside Museum for a whole night of innovative and fun workshops. It’s my and Ania’s and our teams' first time participating in Explorathon and it’s a great way for academics to get out of their bubble and give kids a hands-on insight into some of the amazing research that is being carried out across Scotland.”
Both events run on September 28 as part of two days of activities across the city until September 29. GCU researchers who’d like to learn more about how they can share their work with the community through participating in events such as next year’s Explorathon can find out more by coming along to the Riverside event – sign up here and view the guide – or by contacting GCU’s Community and Public Engagement Coordinator Susan Grant at community@gcu.ac.uk.