Celebrating Healthcare Science Week 2024

 

Healthcare Science Week is back for 2024 and we encourage you to take part and join in the celebrations.

Healthcare Science Week is an annual celebration and awareness-raising for the many careers in healthcare science. Every year, the event shines a light on the incredible work of biomedical scientists, support staff, and students.

It is an invaluable opportunity to promote our work to the communities we serve and other healthcare professionals and inspire the next generation of biomedical scientists. 

How you can get involved

You can run activities, give a presentation, host a workshop, shoot a video for social media or even sign up to become a healthcare science ambassador; there are many ways you can get involved with the celebrations this year. In this blog post, we share some ideas on how you can take part and provide some resources to help you celebrate. 

However you decide to participate, we hope you will take up this excellent opportunity to raise the profile of our Biomedical Scientists at the heart of healthcare and promote careers in our profession.

Shoot a video

Record a 30-second video sharing your experience working in healthcare and send it to us at communications@ibms.org. We'll collect videos throughout the week and share them on our social media.

Here are some ideas for what you can share:

• a quick introduction to what you do
• the most exciting thing about your job
• advice you would give to students wanting to go into biomedical science.
• A short tour of your laboratory

Run an event

Being involved in public engagement for Healthcare Science Week is a rewarding way for our members to inspire the next generation of biomedical scientists and promote the profession to the public. You can: 

• Host a stand in a public area or the hospital foyer.
• Give a presentation, in person or virtually, to a school, college, university, science society or club, or even your trust board.
• Invite school and college students for a tour of your laboratory or run a workshop.

Become an ambassador

• Run by STEMNET, around 400 healthcare science staff across the country are signed up as NHS healthcare science ambassadors. They say the role is great fun, rewarding and excellent for personal development and professional networking. Read more about being a healthcare science ambassador and sign up today! 
• Also, become a STEM Ambassador for healthcare science. 

Try an online course  

Health Education England has shared some great opportunities to try out two new online courses on genomics and bioinformatics during the run-up to and during Healthcare Science Week. Learn about the fundamentals of a person's DNA – their genome – and discover the principles and practices of biological data, known as bioinformatics.

Available for anyone to participate, the courses are accessible through the Health Education England website and everyone gets a certificate at the end! 

Tell us what you have planned and share it on social media

As IBMS members are at the heart of healthcare, we'd love to hear how you and your team engage with Healthcare Science Week. Send us an email to communications@ibms.org and we'll help promote your event

Tag us in your social media posts @IBMScience use the hashtag in your tweets #AtTheHeartOfHealthcare (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn). 

You can also follow the weeklong events on Twitter using the hashtag #HCSweek23 and use them to promote your events.

Gain inspiration from our members

In 2019, Annie Cook and Bethan Philips ran a canteen stand. They organised lab tours to promote the healthcare scientists working in blood sciences within the Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services network. Read the case study for more ideas on how to celebrate.

Fill in our news proforma 

If you would like us to cover your event or activity in a news story on our website and social media channels, fill in our news proforma and send it to communcations@ibms.org 

Resources to help you celebrate 

We can provide you with promotional materials and items, magazines and online resources for your stands and events.

Promotional Items 

If you wish to order promotional items for a public engagement event, we encourage you to request your items very soon.

Request promotional materials 

IBMS members can access free materials to support their events - Request Promotional Materials (login required) >>>

Non-members can download posters and leaflets from our website. 

Become a Biomedical Scientist Videos

Last year, we released four videos to support biomedical scientists in the UK at any stage of their career; from track 1 for those at the start of their biomedical science journey, to track 4 for those working at the level of a biomedical scientist but not yet HCPC registered. 

Sample Journey Videos 

We have released five sample journey videos to promote the role of different biomedical science disciplines. Featuring stories of semen, urine, blood, and tissue samples, viewers can learn about biomedical scientists' roles in patients' healthcare. You can also access the Healthcare Science Ambassador Toolkit.

Doing public engagement in primary schools? 

SuperLab Comics

SUPERLAB is our comic for children at Key Stage 2 (7-11-year-olds) and features all sorts of fun activities - each one designed to inform young people about the science at the heart of healthcare.

• The new comic features: 
• A diagnostic activity with tie-ins to clinical chemistry and microbiology
• A petri dish biscuits baking activity
• Activities to understand PCR & viruses
• And much more!

DOWNLOAD HERE or request printed copies

Activity Sheets 

We also have Activity Sheets to download, featuring fun and educational experiments you can use at home or school.  

Check out NHS England's & National School of Healthcare Science pages for further information on Healthcare Science Week 2024.