Careers Service Science Outreach co-ordination Nicola Buckley Office of External Affairs and Communications

Cambridge Science Festival UK’s largest free science festival Over 180 talks, hands-on activities, drop-in events, experiments, workshops, schools’ events 30,000 individuals visiting 1000 staff, student and partner volunteers Several student societies: CHaOS (Cambridge Hands-On Science run an event called Crash Bang Squelch and also go on a summer tour); TimeTruck (Earth Sciences); Triple Helix (science and society); BlueSci (science magazine and podcasting) Numerous departmental initiatives: Engineering Outreach, Millennium Maths, Physics Outreach, Astronomy Other departments starting to have a member of staff responsible for community outreach part of the time Started in 1995 as part of National Science Week, now in 17 th year

Schools’ activities Schools’ Roadshow: 25 academics and PhD students visiting around 50 schools in Cambridgeshire (primary and secondary) each year Schools’ Masterclasses: about 550 GCSE pupils from 30 schools in Eastern England Schools’ Fair: new for 2010, 9 schools presented their projects to the public

Mostly free High number of student and staff volunteers Mix of drop in events (stands, hands-on, talks) and some pre-bookable Schools’ roadshow and schools’ masterclasses Community roadshow Numerous partner organisations eg other universities, tour guides, other museums Benefit from nine University museums Some celebrity involvement Grown our own stars too and built a loyal audience Format of festival

Other community outreach activities Community Affairs team (7 staff) part of Office of External Affairs and Communications. Built up over 5 years through a patchwork of funding. We run a ‘Rising Stars’ public communication training scheme for mostly postgraduate students: 5 afternoons over a term – covers communication skills, planning an outreach activity, delivering an outreach activity, evaluation and media training. Cambridge in the Community with over 160 initiatives in directory at University-wide ‘Working with Schools’ network including outreach officers and people with outreach responsibilities across all subjects Other outreach events year-round, eg talks for the University of the Third Age, a SummerDaze programme with the City Council Youth Service, events in community centres and mostly recently a Bioblitz We would like to develop more community partnerships which go beyond events – so we are developing a ‘science shop’ type project, called the Community Knowledge Exchange

Cambridge Festival of Ideas UK’s first festival of arts, humanities and social sciences Launched October 2008 Over 200 events including 15 core evening discussions / lectures 8,000 individuals attended in 2008 and staff, student and partner volunteers Some high-profile speakers eg politicians, journalists, children’s authors Many interactive workshops for all ages Outreach in community centres and now a schools’ day

Any questions? Nicky Buckley Head of Community Affairs