Hundreds of visitors found themselves getting hands-on at the third research open day at the Churchill Hospital on 14th March. As part of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre’s ongoing commitment to involve and engage the public in the research carried out in Oxford hospitals, the open day was designed to bring research to life in an accessible and fun way.
Visitors were able to choose from having their personal gait and movement measured, extracting DNA from strawberries, find out what an echocardiogram does, or test their reaction times and they were also able to find out more about how nasty bugs and infections are transmitted.
Seventy students from local schools attended a special session dedicated to all the leading edge research taking place in the Oxford Cancer Research Centre in the morning and then came across to visit the more than 20 interactive exhibits in the afternoon. One student said: “I enjoy science at school but I had no idea it could be such fun. Oh, and I learned a lot as well.”
Another visitor to the open day said: “It’s amazing and reassuring that all this research is taking place in Oxford, and thanks for not talking down to us just because we are not researchers.”
