Other Engagement

I have given numerous public talks and presented at science exhibitions across the UK and internationally. I really enjoy spreading my own enthusiasm for science and seeing the wonder on audiences after an engaging talk or interactive exhibition. In addition to this delivery I have led several ambitious engagement projects at the local, national and international level. This includes creating new exhibitions and co-ordinating the distribution and delivery of activities using large teams of volunteers. Some example projects are given here. 

In 2018, in collaboration with Fabrizio Arrigoni Battaia, I designed, won funding for and initiated the "ESO Science Ambassadors" project.  This is now an on-going project at ESO. For this I received additional funding from ESO and from the IAU. This project has three main goals to carry out mostly across Europe (but also now including Chile, Ethiopia and Brazil) to:  (1) provide education resources based on telescope engineering and astronomy to key educational centres; (2) raise awareness of ESO and its activities and (3) promote the studentship and fellowship programmes.  The events we have attended include science festivals, physics teacher training days and scientific conferences. This includes events specifically for minority and under-represented groups.

Whilst I created this scheme I trained and co-ordinated 25 ESO postdoctoral researchers and students who visited their home countries in order to deliver a variety of talks, exhibitions and workshops. I have trained an additional 78 people (teachers, students and volunteers) outside of ESO to deliver activities. Additionally we donated educational materials and trained local educators such that they can then continue to deliver the activities after our visits.  A summary of the activities from the first year (2018) is published in Harrison et al. 2019. A 2019 highlight was going to Ethiopia where we visited a school, worked with vision impaired children, and also trained 40 teachers/scientists from across Africa to run activities for children and students. The materials we donated toured on their "Astro Bus" around Ethiopia visiting 1000s of children in rural communities.  As of 2020 activities are continuing and we have now reached over 14000 people all over the world.

Whilst at ESO I spent some of my time working for the ESO Supernova Visitor Centre & Planetarium. I created the two educational planetarium shows that are currently showing: "A Tour of the Solar System'' and "The Skies Above Us". Combined, in the first year (2018) these shows had a total of 7 showings per week during school term time, reaching ~500-600 people each week. I also co-developed the hands-on educational workshops for 11-19 year old students which continue to be used both inside and outside of the centre and I gave scientific guidance for the exhibition text. I also presented planetarium shows as well as training new planetarium presenters. 

I co-led the development and design of the ``Galaxy Makers'' exhibition, first presented at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition in 2016 by Durham University. I created the branding and initiated the underlying concept of creating ``holographic'' universes and galaxies. I designed the ``Galaxy Maker" where participants create their own galaxies using various ingredients and learn about the different types of galaxies. This machine promotes accessibility by including feeling and sound into the learning experience.

The exhibition has now been toured to numerous events across the UK. Furthermore, my Galaxy Maker design has since been adapted to be a permanent exhibition in Leiden's Old Observatory. 

I also supervised a masters student who made an online version of the exhibition, which enabled participants to re-engage with us after the exhibition and has even been used for undergraduate teaching in the US! The website also served as an effective way of quantifying the reach and impact of the exhibition. 

The exhibition contents and results of the online component are summarised in Borrow & Harrison 2017.