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A team of volunteers from four research groups, alongside Wellcome Trust funded Advanced Imaging Unit Micron, engaged more than 200 visitors at Weston Library on Friday 18 October 2019 as part of The Oxford Science and Ideas Festival.

Photo credit: John Cairns/University of Oxford

IF Oxford is an annual science and ideas festival taking place in locations across the city. It offers a variety of events, workshops and talks to explore the latest scientific research with audiences of all ages, and creates an opportunity for thousands of face-to-face interactions between Festival visitors, researchers and innovators.

In an event entitled "Mice, chicks, fish and me!" led by the Srinivas and Mommersteeg labs, alongside Wellcome Trust funded Advanced Imaging Unit Micron, researchers gave visitors to the Weston Library the opportunity to explore how babies develop in the womb by manipulating embryos in virtual reality and observing them under microscopes. Visitors could also see how the hearts of live zebrafish embyros grow and change shape as they develop.

The stall attracted more than 230 visitors, with many staying for more than 10 minutes or even half hour, trying out their modules and asking the volunteers many questions about their work.

 

We were told repeatedly by visitors that our research was fascinating, that they very much appreciated our work and learned new things from our exhibit. Our team found the conversations with visitors complex and interesting. Our team really enjoyed the day in the library
- Postdoctoral Research Scientist Dr Tomoko Watanabe (Srinivas Group)

IF Oxford HeadlinePhoto credit: John Cairns/University of Oxford

Screenshot 2019-10-23 at 12.39.52.pngPhoto credit: John Cairns/University of Oxford

Screenshot 2019-10-23 at 12.44.08.pngPhoto credit: John Cairns/University of Oxford

IMG_7410a.jpgPhoto credit: Dr Shifaan Thowfeequ 

Volunteers across four DPAG research groups took part and the department would like to thank everyone below for their hard work on the day:

Dr Shifaan Thowfeequ (Srinivas Group)

Dr Matthew Stower (Srinivas Group)

Adwoa Sarfo-Bonsu (Srinivas Group)

Harry Nuttall (Srinivas Group)

Aashika Sekar (Wilson Group)

Will Stockdale (Mommersteeg Group)

Dr Zhilian Hu (Mommersteeg Group)

Irina-Elena Lupu (Smart Group)

Dr Andia Redpath (Smart Group)

Nadia Halidi (Micron)

Mick Phillip (Micron)

Ian Dobbie (Micron)

Prof Mathilda Mommersteeg (Mommersteeg Group Leader)

Dr Tomoko Watanabe (Srinivas Group organiser of the event)

Prof Shankar Srinivas (Srinivas Group Leader and departmental Academic Lead for Public Engagement)

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We would also like to extend a very big thank you to the department's Facilities and Stores team, David Greenwood, Sean Alderson and Saul Pledge, for providing the volunteers with essential support for preparation.