As exams come to a close, I find myself able to write a piece for this sporadically updated blog. For those who are familiar with the blog, you need only scroll back one year to find a very similar piece to this. For what has most likely become an annual event in my calendar, Pint of Science was back at the English Lounge and once again it was bringing science to the huddled masses.
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| Obligatory logo photo, from the first night. |
Pint of Science
For those who are unaware of Pint of Science (POS), it's an annual festival which aims to bring researchers out of the lab and into the pub, where they can talk about their work over a pint. Now in it's third year overall, POS has exploded into an international event. Anybody can get involved and help with the running of the event, which is where I came in.
This year, like last year and most probably a few years to come, I helped to organise three nights. However, unlike last year, this time I was helping with the 'Our Body' team, which meant I was in somewhat unfamiliar academic surroundings. Yet, as part of an excellent team, the nights were organised with only a few hiccups on the way. You may recognise the pub in the pictures as The English Lounge, which is where we held nights last year.
Who Gave Talks?
The aim of POS is to have anyone who is doing interesting research at the local university to give a talk. For our nights, we mainly had PhD students who were interested in public engagement, so it acted as a perfect platform for them to get their work known. With talks ranging from stem cells to cosmetics and stopping off at discovering new drugs in the battle against cancer, there was something to keep most interested. Obviously, for those not interested in the human body there were other events at other pubs running simultaneously to our nights.
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| Lee chairing a Q&A session on the second night |
The general format of the night was very relaxed, especially when the beer was flowing. Talks generally ran for 25 minutes, then followed up by a Q&A session which was always chaired by our compere Lee Moore (@fullofpenguins). With plenty of breaks for drinks and quizzes galore, the nights always ran smoothly and the audience seemed to enjoy themselves.
When was it?
The event took place on 18-20th May and will most likely be on the Mon-Fri of the same week next year. If you're reading this and interested in getting involved, check out their website or send me an email through the Google+ profile to the right (I promise I will see it). With plans for the event to expand to even more cities and countries, it looks as though Pint of Science is always moving on up.
