Thank you to everyone who presented at the Pint of Science events. The aim of the festival is for researchers to reach and engage with new audiences, particularly those involved in or interested in postgraduate research, in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.
This year the three sessions took place in local pubs in Greenwich (London) as well as Chatham and Sevenoaks (Kent).
Anyone with an interest in science over the age of 18 was invited to attend these sessions led by knowledgeable, research-active university staff from the Faculty of Engineering and Science and Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Chatham
The first of the three sessions was held at The Command House in Chatham, Medway. There, The Natural Resources Institute’s Dr Noushin Emami, Associate Professor in Bioinformatics, and Manuela Carnaghi, NRI PhD student and 2021 winner of the national Three Minute Thesis People's Choice Award, led an audience through their talks about their research into deadly mosquitoes and how they might be trapped and/or killed with a sustainable juice trap. Noushin’s trap, which contains beetroot, could be the solution to boosting global health.
Greenwich
The second session, led by the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, took place at Greenwich Tavern, a popular pub in Greenwich. In a sell-out event, audiences were taken on an insightful journey as they learned about the history of new foods emergence from Dr Benz Kotzen, then about food poising in fiction and reality and their gendered nature from Dr Sarah Kilbane, and then about historic recipes dealing with novel ingredients by Dr Sara Pennell.
Sevenoaks
Finally, in another sell-out session, Professor Dennis Douroumis, Professor in Pharmaceutical Technology and Process Engineering and Professor Pat Harvey, Professor of Biochemistry, Head of Aquatic Biotechnology and Biology, then presented ‘Food and Fuel for the Future’ at The Miners Arms pub in Sevenoaks in Kent. The session detailed how seaweed might be used as a health product; for fuel in the future, and as a sustainable source of food.
Some great audience questions were generated at the Q&A sessions after the talks, leading to insightful discussions and engagement. We are proud to have taken part for another year in this worldwide annual festival encouraging the sharing of knowledge and research in science with wider communities, all within relaxed and non-traditional settings.
