by Rachael Shuttleworth
Pint of Science is the largest science festival in the world- operating in over 400 cities across 24 countries. This year from 20-21-22nd May researchers came together with members of the public to share the story of their science over a pint at a local pub, bar or café.
It started back in 2012 with a couple of post docs in their local pub in London and has expanded to almost every city across the UK. This year I had the opportunity to organise the ‘Planet Earth’ events in Southampton. Over the 3 nights we had 8 speakers from the University of Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. The first evening theme was the ‘biology of time’ looking at crop evolution and body clocks which brought two speakers from the biology department. The second night “Nature’s Fury” included talks about the large scale earthquakes that occur in subduction zones and the causes of sea level rise. Prof. Simon Kemp led a very energetic ‘model United Nations’ activity where regions had to work together to get their top sustainable development goals voted through. The final night had an oceans themes, with talks from three speakers around plastic pollution, deep sea sediment avalanches, and what we can learn about sustainable cities from coral ecology.
Pint of Science is a fantastic event, held annually, which aims to bring together researchers, science and local communities. It is a really fun event to get involved with, and almost entirely run by volunteers. I could not recommend getting involved with it enough, whether that is helping to organise it in your city, volunteering to give a talk, or simply going along to one for drink!
For more information: https://pintofscience.com/
Geochemistry Group 