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Oxford Festival of Ideas: a public engagement with science event

Rowena Fletcher-Wood
Science Oxford
rowena.fletcherwood@gmail.com
ECG Bulletin January 2020
In one of over 100 events running as part of Oxford’s 11-day Science and Ideas Festival (IF), members of the ECG ran the outreach stall “Blue Sky Research”, engaging 560 of the 13,500 visitors.

On 19th and 20th October 2019 volunteers Omofolawe Otun, Melanie Witt, Sanaa Rashid, and Guy Fletcher-Wood supported the committee in delivering two hands-on activities and our spectacular Ocean Acidification demo. This dedicated team entertained a diverse audience including very young children, teenagers, experienced scientists (who were often parents) and other adults with an interest in environmental science. The stand was situated in two locations in Oxford: the Saturday activities were run in the Westgate Shopping Centre in central Oxford, whilst the Sunday venue was Oxford Town Hall. These sites enabled us to engage two different audiences; the first consisting primarily of passing shoppers who were unaware of the festival, and the latter drawing in those who had specifically come to explore the festival.

Participants searched for microplastics in soils, analysed the pH of tap water from different UK locations, used sensors to detect air quality and temperature, and a Geiger counter to quantify the background radiation in the venue. Visitors were especially keen to hear more about what chemists across academia and industry are doing to combat environmental change, and to find out what our volunteers were working on. Discussions with the public included the topics of some of our recent Distinguished Guest Lectures, such as the link between the hunt for microplastics in our soil samples to the prevalence persistent organic pollutants (POPs), their regulation, behaviour, and environmental impacts. The air quality monitor sparked some interest in the chemistry of diesel emissions and the energy storage and delivery options for hydrogen fuel and electric vehicles. The Geiger counter provided an opportunity to introduce visitors to the banana equivalent dose and discuss biodiversity in sites such as Chernobyl National Park. Through the ocean acidification and water testing activities, discussions included what pH is, human changes to the natural environment, and the chemical reactions that underlie the colour changes we see in indicators. After playing with the IR temperature probe, several visitors were interested in its range, accuracy, and how electromagnetic radiation performed analyses, such as temperature measurements.
Picture
The two forms of bromothymol blue exist in solution in equilibrium at pH 7.1, and are colour sensitive to the pH variations of tap water.
Picture
Exhibition at the Westgate Centre, Oxford.
If you would like to find out more about our activities, please check out our previous Bulletins and webpages for details, including ‘How To’ guides for most of our public engagement activities. ‘How to Remove Plastic with Dissolved Gas Floatation’ may be found on page 25 of this Bulletin, whilst ‘Ocean Acidification’ is outlined in our July 2019 edition, and ‘Microplastics’ in our July 2018 edition. All our outreach exhibit information may also be found on our website, at envchemgroup.com/resources. Risk assessments are also available online.  You are welcome to replicate any of our outreach activities yourself, and we are always happy to answer questions about them.

Volunteer with us
Please email rowena.fletcherwood@gmail.com if you would like to participate in a similar ECG outreach event in the future, or suggest one to us. We provide full training and are always interested in new exhibits and activities. If you want our help running outreach activities for your existing event or would like us to help source volunteers, please get in touch, providing details.
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  • Home
  • About
    • Committee
    • Annual reports
  • Environmental Briefs
  • Distinguished Guest Lectures
    • 2022 Disposable Attitude: Electronics in the Environment >
      • Steve Cottle
      • Ian Williams
      • Fiona Dear
    • 2019 Radioactive Waste Disposal >
      • Juliet Long
    • 2018 Biopollution: Antimicrobial resistance in the environment >
      • Andrew Singer
      • Celia Manaia
    • 2017 Inside the Engine >
      • Frank Kelly
      • Claire Holman
      • Jacqui Hamilton
      • Simon Birkett
    • 2016 Geoengineering >
      • Alan Robock
      • Joanna Haigh
      • David Santillo
      • Mike Stephenson
    • 2015 Nanomaterials >
      • Eugenia Valsami-Jones
      • Debora F Rodrigues
      • David Spurgeon
    • 2014 Plastic debris in the ocean >
      • Richard Thompson
      • Norman Billingham
    • 2013 Rare earths and other scarce metals >
      • Thomas Graedel
      • David Merriman
      • Michael Pitts
      • Andrea Sella
      • Adrian Chapman
    • 2012 Energy, waste and resources >
      • RAFFAELLA VILLA
      • PAUL WILLIAMS
      • Kris Wadrop
    • 2011 The Nitrogen Cycle – in a fix?
    • 2010 Technology and the use of coal
    • 2009 The future of water >
      • J.A. (Tony) Allen
      • John W. Sawkins
    • 2008 The Science of Carbon Trading >
      • Jon Lovett
      • Matthew Owen
      • Terry barker
      • Nigel Mortimer
    • 2007 Environmental chemistry in the Polar Regions >
      • Eric Wolff
      • Tim JICKELLS
      • Anna Jones
    • 2006 The impact of climate change on air quality >
      • Michael Pilling
      • GUANG ZENG
    • 2005 DGL Metals in the environment: estimation, health impacts and toxicology
    • 2004 Environmental Chemistry from Space
  • Articles, reviews & updates
    • Articles
    • Reviews
    • Updates
  • Meetings
    • Upcoming meetings
    • Meeting reports
  • Resources
  • Professional Qualifications
  • Index