\u201cIt was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the public in such an awe-inspiring location, it was also the first time I had given a talk in wellies!\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nKaren was followed on stage by School of Physical Sciences\u2019 Professor Monica Grady, who delivered her 2022 Faraday Prize Lecture \u2018Astronomy by Microscope\u2019.<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 visitors joined AstrobiologyOU researchers in a marquee to take part in a range of activities such as creating aliens out of Lego, and a \u201cMars or icy moons\u201d challenge.<\/p>\n
The group also showcased their research into terrestrial analogue sites, giving festival go-ers the opportunity to interact with OU research directly. Interactive screens also allowed them to explore astrobiology and other content on OpenLearn.<\/p>\n
Karen was also recorded at the event for BBC\u2019s Inside Science as a panellist alongside the UK Space Agency\u2019s Libby Jackson and the Jodrell Bank\u2019s Tim O\u2019Brien. The show will be available on BBC Sounds.<\/p>\n
AstrobiologyOU was invited to take part by the Director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, Professor Teresa Anderson who has been a champion of the group\u2019s work for several years.<\/p>\n
Sharing science<\/h2>\n
AstrobiologyOU Public Engagement Officer, Hannah Cooper, who developed and managed the Bluedot contributions said:<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt was incredible to be back at large events, sharing science with people in person, something that we\u2019ve been missing since the pandemic.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe AstrobiologyOU team that delivered the event included: PhD students Amy Dugdale, Anushree Srivastava, Ben Tatton, Grace Richards and Veli Ilieva, postdoctoral researchers Julia Semprich, Mark Fox-Powell, Jess Crumpton-Banks, Rachael Hamp and Peter Fawdon, and academics Karen Olsson-Francis and Vic Pearson.<\/p>\n
Photos by Hannah Cooper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Author: Victoria Pearson AstrobiologyOU \u2013 an Open University research group looking into life beyond earth and the challenges of astrobiology missions \u2013 were showcased this summer at the Bluedot festival, held at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jodrell Bank Observatory. The annual festival combines live music, comedy and culture with science and space delivered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,16],"tags":[861,1525,1640,1643],"class_list":["post-23872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-mct","category-space","tag-faculty-of-stem","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}