Scots Businesses Open Doors to Young Scientists
On Friday 12 March, Scottish students got a chance to go behind the scenes and discover how science is used in business.
Companies across the country opened their doors to secondary school pupils in a bid to develop understanding of how science is used every day in Scotland.
The ‘Open Doors’ event was part of the Scottish Government’s ‘Do something creative. Do science’ campaign. The events marked the start of National Science and Engineering Week.
Businesses in Edinburgh and Glasgow were involved in the day, with over 120 schoolchildren taking part.
Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland said:
“It is a scientist’s job to make sense of the world we live in; there is so much variety in the work they do and the career opportunities are limitless. We hope by giving young people the chance to experience what it is like to be a sound technician, a zoo-keeper, an astronomer, a researcher or an inventor first-hand, they will get to see that by continuing to study science they can lay the foundations for a rewarding career.”
Stephen Woollard, Education and Interpretation Manager for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland who is involved with the day, said:
“We are delighted to be supporting this initiative, which will allow young people to gain practical experience of how science is applied in the real world. We hope that in showing a group of pupils the importance of science ‘behind the scenes’ at Edinburgh Zoo they will be able to appreciate the scientific elements of many different professions and the bearing it has on all aspects of life.”
Professor Colin Cunningham, Director of the UK Extremely Large Telescope programme at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, said:
“We are delighted to welcome students to the Royal Observatory Edinburgh as part of the Scottish Government campaign ‘Do Something Creative. Do Science’. We are in a unique position to provide the pupils with a practical insight into how the whole scientific process fits together.
Pupils will meet research scientists looking to find answers to the big questions about our Universe, and engineers who are designing and building the technology to help astronomers find those answers.”
At the Roslin BioCentre near Edinburgh, Ingenza, BigDNA, and Roslin Cellab took part, entertaining more than 30 students from nearby Beeslack High School and Penicuik High School with laboratory demonstrations and a peek into the lives of scientists who have continued on in the field beyond the school lab bench.
Dr Robert Speight, Head of Biosciences at Ingenza, said:
“We are really pleased to be able to offer young people an insight into how interesting and exciting science can be. They will be able to see first hand how challenging, relevant and useful scientific research is. Hopefully after visiting Ingenza, pupils will feel that continuing to study science is important and can lead to a range of fascinating and rewarding careers.”
Dr John March, founder of Big DNA Ltd said:
“We are delighted to welcome young people to visit our labs at Roslin as part of Open Doors Science Week. I am always keen to encourage the next generation to think about a career in science. I never got that opportunity when I was younger and there are so many opportunities in the future – the future of our world depends on scientists and there are quite frankly, not enough of them! Here at Big DNA we have a very young team of scientists who are all highly committed to our goal of finding new ways to administer vaccines which will save millions of lives in years to come. The research we have to do to achieve this will take years and I hope that our young visitors will learn a bit more about how science and business works together on their visit this Friday.”
The “Do something creative. Do science” campaign aims to raise awareness amongst S1-S4 students that anything is possible with science and by studying science you open up many interesting and exciting opportunities. For further information, the Positive about Science website at www.infoscotland.com/science provides further information on the campaign