Researchers from Oxford’s two NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRC) took over the city’s Westgate Centre on Thursday 29 May for their annual Health Research Showcase.
Hundreds of half-term visitors, including a large number of children, were able to find out about work of researchers looking to improve diagnosis, treatment and care for health conditions as diverse as cancer, mental health, dementia, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, infection, sleep problems or genetic diseases.
As well as being able to engage with leading researchers, there were also a wide range of fun hands-on activities designed to help visitors understand and be excited about science.
As well as highlighting to the public the important research taking place in Oxford, the Open Day was a chance to encourage people to get involved in research, whether by participating in trials or getting involved in designing and evaluating studies.
Daniel Iheanacho, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Officer In the Oxford BRC’s Translational Data Theme said: “It’s been quite engaging talking to kids and their parents. They’ve been trying to work out data science, seeing it not just as abstract but using Lego to see how data can be visualised and using different tools to see how data can be collected.”
Angela Conlan, Patient and Public Involvement, Engagement and Participation Lead at the Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility, commented: “We’ve been really busy all day. We’ve had quite a lot of interaction on our stand. We’ve been running a game looking at randomisation and teaching children about placebos and how randomisation works.”
Dr Philip Fowler, a researcher in the Oxford BRC’s Microbiology and Infection Theme, said: “Probably the most popular thing we’ve had is a dance mat game, where you get to fire different coloured antibiotics at different bugs. The more of one particular antibiotic you use, the bugs start to get resistant, so it’s a nice way of introducing the idea of antibiotic resistance to people.”
NIHR BRCs are collaborations between universities and NHS organisations that bring together academics and clinicians to translate scientific breakthroughs into potential new treatments, diagnostics and medical technologies that benefit NHS patients.
The NIHR Oxford BRC is a partnership between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust, while the NIHR Oxford Health BRC is a partnership between the University and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Together they conduct research across 26 different healthcare themes.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the UK’s largest funder of health and care research.