Deborah Oakley
Next week hordes of science-lovers will hit London’s pubs and bars to hear scientists talk about their latest research as part of this year’s Pint of Science Festival.
The annual festival, which will span three days from 18 to 20 May, will see more than 400 scientists share their research in over 65 pubs in the UK.
Students and scientists from Imperial College London are running five of the 21 Pint of Science events in venues across London.
Daniel Gonzalez-Carter and Tamara Alireza, researchers at Imperial’s Division of Brain Sciences based at the Hammersmith Campus, organised the neuroscience-focused event called Beautiful Minds at The Atlas pub in West Brompton.
“It’s always great for scientists to reach out to the public to show that science is not just something hocus-pocus that doesn’t apply to everyday people, and to instil a sense of wonder about what scientists do,” says Daniel. “Pint of Science is a really engaging, informal atmosphere where people can listen to talks about cutting-edge research done by the researchers themselves.”
Pint of Science events coming up next week
The six experts speaking at the Beautiful Minds event include Simone Di Giovanni, Imperial’s Chair in Restorative Neuroscience, talking about repairing spinal cord injury; Claudia Clopath from Imperial’s Bioengineering Department, discussing how networks in the brain code for memories; and David Nutt, director of Imperial’s Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, who will deliver a talk called ‘Drugs: Time for a new scientific enlightenment?’ in which he asks whether current drug laws are the worst censorship of research since the Catholic Church banned the telescope in 1616.
Joni Holmes and Tom Manly from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit will be giving talks at The Castle bar in Cambridge on Wednesday 20 May to answer the question, ‘Can we boost brain power?’
The Pint of Science Festival sprang into life in 2013 when two Imperial researchers – Michael Motskin and Praveen Paul – were concerned by the way the science was presented on TV and in science magazines without the personal touch of the scientists themselves.
Since then, not only has the festival spread to eleven other cities in the UK, but also to eight countries around the world.
For out more about Pint of Science.
For further information, contact:
Susan Watts
Head of Public Engagement and Communications
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre
Du Cane Road
London W12 0NN
T: 0208 383 8247
M: 07590 250652
E:
Deborah Oakley
Science Communications Officer
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre
Du Cane Road
London W12 0NN
T: 0208 383 3774
M: 07711 016942
E:
