Top to bottom : ‘ Curious neurons ’ by George Joseph ; Matt Dunn , PhD student ; ‘ Blazin neurons ’ by George Joseph ; ISTM staff at the UHNM International Clinical Trials Day 2016 event .
Public engagement
Bringing research closer to people
Our students and staff have been especially busy over the last twelve months promoting their research and engaging with the public . PhD student , Matt Dunn , won “ I ’ m a scientist - Get me out of here ”, a national competition where participants take part in live chats and respond to emailed questions from secondary school students . Matt went on to win the competition and was awarded a small grant to spend on outreach activities . Matt was also selected to present some of his work to Members of Parliament as part of the SET for Britain competition .
Another PhD student , George Joseph , won national attention with some of his remarkable images . George was short listed and given special mention for his image ‘ Blazing Neurons ’ in the ‘ Picturing Parkinson ’ s ’ national competition ran by Parkinson ’ s UK . George also went on to win second prize for his ‘ Curious Neurons ’ image in the national EPSRC Science Photo Competition 2015 . The aim of the competition was to promote a greater understanding of science and engineering research and the role it plays in developing new technologies that will ultimately make the world a better place . Both of George ’ s images made it into the national press with coverage in the Guardian on separate occasions .
ISTM held its first open day to prospective Master ’ s degree students in May . Participants were able to learn about the School of Medicine ' s M . Sc . courses in Biomedical Engineering and Cell and Tissue Engineering ( taught by staff at ISTM ) and about the cutting edge research being carried out in our laboratories . As well as inviting the public in to see some of the work going on in ISTM , staff have also been taking their science out into the public . One such event was for International Clinical Trials Day , where staff participated in a public engagement event hosted by the University Hospitals of North Midlands ( UHNM ). The event highlight both ISTM ’ s and UHNM ’ s commitment to collaborative research and clinical trials with the aim of improving patient care and treatment .
Dr Dimitra Blana has also co-authored an article that was published in The Conversation , entitled ‘ How brain implants can let paralysed people move again .’ The Conversation is a global media resource with it ’ s articles written through collaboration between editors and academics to provide informed news analysis and commentary that is freely available to the general public .
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