IBMS Learning Lab at Urdd Eisteddfod

Members of the IBMS Welsh Region attended this year’s Eisteddfod yr Urdd on Anglesey, held between 23rd and 29th May, with the IBMS Learning Lab.
The Eisteddfod yr Urdd is one of Wales’s major annual youth festivals, celebrating Welsh language, culture, literature, music and performance. While traditionally centred around the arts, the event also hosts a dedicated science area to ensure that STEM is promoted alongside the festival’s cultural and creative activities.

For many of the IBMS Welsh Region members, this was the first opportunity to use the IBMS Learning Lab at a public engagement event, and the labs first visit to North Wales. The mobile laboratory provided an excellent platform to introduce the festival goers to biomedical science in a more hands-on and accessible way than we have previously been able to offer at past events.

Across the week, visitors were able to take part in a range of activities, including making DNA bracelets or keychains, using pipettes, and exploring samples through microscopes. 

The DNA bracelet activity proved especially popular with many of the school-aged visitors, while some of the younger children were completely mesmerised by the pipetting stations, filling the 96-well plates with various colour patterns, and using the microscopes. Several visitors returned to the Learning Lab more than once across the day or week, fitting in repeat visits between competitions and time spent exploring the wider showground.

One of the most rewarding parts of the week was hearing young people say that they wanted to become scientists after visiting the Learning Lab. The event also created opportunities for deeper conversations with older pupils about biomedical science careers, with considerations for subject choices for A-levels, and accredited university courses for the different ways into the profession.

These informal discussions were a valuable reminder of how important visibility is in helping young people understand that biomedical science is an amazing and accessible career pathway. With the event taking place shortly before Biomedical Science Day, it was also a timely opportunity to promote the role of biomedical scientists and the wider pathology workforce.

We would encourage all members to consider using the IBMS Learning Lab for future careers events, school engagement activities and public science events. It provides a professional, practical and engaging way to promote biomedical science and to start conversations that could influence future biomedical careers. The Learning Lab itself was straightforward to set up each day and came well equipped with resources, activities and giveaways, many of which proved extremely popular with visitors. While the days were long and busy, the level of engagement from children and young people made the experience highly worthwhile.

Thanks to Llinos Harris, Catrin Williams, Guto Jones, Awel Owen-Jones, Destine Moan, Helena Cruickshank, Oliver O’Keeffe, Luke Hughes and Simon Charnley for manning the stall and representing the IBMS during the week.