MRC Festival - Thackray Medical Museum - 14th of June 2017

MRC Festival of Medical Research: apply for funding

Read experiences of academics who secured funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to deliver public engagement activities at the MRC Festival of Medical Research for the first time.

One of the MRC Festival’s objectives is to increase awareness and understanding of the benefits of medical research to society, taking place across 21 UK and two African sites.

This is the first year that the University has taken part in the Festival, with two research groups receiving funding to offer free drop-in sessions at the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds.

Surfaces and hand-hygiene: washing away fluorescent germs

Marco-Felipe King (Civil Engineering), Martin Lopez Garcia (Maths) and Catherine Noakes (Civil Engineering) received £1200 from the Medical Research Council to offer an activity directly related to their research.

They explained to visitors the importance of hand-hygiene to avoid the spread of bacteria, and why this is especially problematic in hospital settings. People of all ages learnt through the means of videogames, exploring how mathematical and computational modelling can help to better understand these infection processes.

Marco says: “These events help us to learn how to communicate research in a very fundamental way that is helpful to both of us when we are dealing with the general public, and we learn about how the research is perceived. From the survey, it’s great to see that most people have responded well and let us know they’ve understood everything”.