BSGT public engagement

Public engagement day

Each year BSGT runs a Public Engagement Day alongside the annual conference. This day offers members of the public, GCSE and A-level school children, patients, carers and scientists to come along and discuss current issues in gene and cell therapy. Participants will be given an introduction to what gene and cell therapy is and hear from a range of speakers including scientists, patients and members of the wider scientific community.

Art-Science Outreach project

This year the BSGT embarked on a new project to engage pupils in secondary and primary schools with gene therapy. Sciencebased artist, Dr Lizzie Burns along with input from Renee Watson, came up with the idea of creative workshops to help bring to life the concepts behind gene therapy.

Lizzie together with researchers from the University of Edinburgh ran workshops in schools prior to the conference. Six schools took part in the project encouraging pupils to find artistic inspiration in the human body at the microscopic scale. Over 300 pupils from 6 to 16 took part in workshops to help spark the imagination of pupils about the aims and hopes behind gene therapy. Workshops were an opportunity for pupils to grasp a complex subject through the visual media. Pupils also met scientists and gene therapy researchers from the University of Edinburgh in their own classroom.

With thanks to the teachers and pupils for embracing this project. Special thanks also to the scientists who were keen to give up their time to help inspire the next generation.

We asked scientists to vote for their favourite pieces and to give their reasons. We’re including a selection of artwork which were highly commended together with fascinating comments from scientists…