Science Insights 2019

At the end of July, 38 school pupils from all over Scotland participated in the 2019 Science Insights work experience programme.

Science Insights provides an opportunity for fifth year high school pupils to spend a week of their summer holidays following a varied programme of activities on four different University of Edinburgh campuses, gaining a real insight into biomedical research.

During the 2019 programme a huge total of over 120 researchers spread across 11  recearch Centres from across College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine took part in hosting pupils and giving them a taster of life in the lab. Half the pupils spent the week in the Central Campus and Edinburgh BioQuarter, including researchers from the Institute for Regeneration and Repair.

Professor Donald Davidson, who hosted a group of pupils at the Centre for Inflammation Research said:

“The pupils clearly enjoyed being able to chat to active researchers and discuss different careers in biological science and medicine”.​​​​​​​

In addition to taking part in lab taster sessions, the Science Insights pupils were shown key facilities, including the zebrafish and imaging facilities. They also took part in discussions on ethics in medical research and learnt about different career routes into science.

The feedback from the pupils was once again overwhelmingly positive, many commenting on how much they valued meeting so many scientists, viewing and participating in research first hand and hearing about their respective career paths.