Superbugs goes Cheltenham 🎪
My impressions from attending the greatest science festival in the world
Thursday 9th June 2022 started the same as pretty much any work trip. Last minute panic to pack a bag, paranoid that every food-based mishap possible will happen to me so throwing in about double the amount of clothes I will actually need. Inevitably forgetting either my phone charger or some key element of my toiletry bag. Kissing my family goodbye but making sure Riley gets an extra-long cuddle (he is the most handsome Labrador in the world and he deserves it).
The last minute packing will have meant I had no time to make lunch, so as always an instantly regrettable McDonalds drive through is required. En-route I will inevitably garner at least three strange looks off fellow motorists as I pretend to perform to 100,000 people at Glastonbury when in fact I am drumming along to my journey playlist on my steering wheel whilst stuck in traffic somewhere along the M4. The journey playlist will invariably consist mainly of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (the greatest of all — take this as some free musical education). And then I’ll arrive at my destination probably about 4 hours to early- sometimes a hotel, sometimes a train station, often an airport as I travel off to foreign lands! This time however? Cheltenham Science Festival!!
Back in 2021 I finally plucked up the courage to do something I had wanted to try for many years: Participate in FameLab UK.
Famelab is the world’s largest international science communication competition. Participants have three minutes to present an area of science that interests them in a fun and engaging way. No Powerpoint slides. No animations. Just you and any props you can carry. I was lucky enough to win through both my Welsh Heat and Welsh Final (check out the video).
On Wednesday 19th May 2021 I had the real honour to participate against other regional winners in the Famelab UK Final 2021 (you can watch how the final unfolded here). Regrettably, thanks to a little thing called COVID, Famelab 2021 was competed entirely online — not in-person as it would be in non-COVID times. The UK Final was held on our best lockdown buddy, Zoom rather than live at the Cheltenham Science Festival as would normally be the case. Nevertheless, I learnt a lot through the process, I received my UK Final Certificate through the post, and I parked the competition as an excellent experience that I would look back upon with fond memories
Fast forward to early 2022. Out of the blue I received a rather exciting email. Myself my fellow UK finalists from Famelab 2020 and 2021 were being invited to the Cheltenham Science Festival 2022 and given the opportunity to finally present at a special Famelab Celebration event. The decision as to whether accept the invitation was an easy one…
About time we return to Thursday 9th June 2022? I’d say so…
DAY 1 (Thursday 9th June): I arrived at my hotel in Cheltenham and quickly got ready for a social event giving me the chance to meet my fellow 2021 finalists for the first time face-to-face, rather than through a lens. It was a wonderful hour to chat and share experiences of the competition. We took a good look around the site, located at Cheltenham Town Hall in Imperial Square Gardens.
It was a lovely sunny day with hundreds of people out in the gardens and each of the sections of the festival, enjoying what was on offer and creating a buzzing atmosphere! The Arcade tent allowed visitors to learn about lots of technology and cyber science. The MakerShack provided a whole host of science-themed arts, crafts and hands-on activities (more on this later!). The Discovery Zone was full of weird and wonderful science stations for visitors to explore. And this was all in addition to the coutnless talks and workshops within the Main Hall and many other venues across the site. I was lucky enough to have a quick look at the venue on which we would perform the following night. And that certainly got the nerves going!
DAY 2 (Friday 10th June): The second day at the festival was a pretty busy one! In preparation for the Famelab celebration event that evening, we were given a masterclass by professional science communicator Dr Jamie Gallagher. We were given some amazing tips on live performing and great insights into the career of a Science Communicator. Then it was back to our rooms to prepare for the evenings Famelab performance. We were expected at the venue about an hour before for a soundcheck. We took some opportunities to take some photos on stage and then had some free time before we were due on stage. Some Famelabbers went to grab a coffee, some just sat down and relaxed. Me? I walked up and down the street outside the venue muttering my lines to make sure they were ingrained into that leaky brain of mine. So if you have heard stories of the strange looking Welsh gentleman talking to himself at this year’s festival… it was probably me!
At 5.45pm, it was show time! 14 Famelabbers, 3 minutes each. I am thrilled to say everyone smashed it out of the park. The audience were so warm and responsive to the many different ways we all tried to make our particular topics of science engaging and informative. They seemed genuinely appreciative and captivated of the sheer breadth of science on offer — from social science and personality disorders to microbiology lovemakers & infectious diseases. From answering the question ‘what do spitting fish tell us about ourselves’ to all manner of areas of physics. There was no winners crowned, it was simply a celebration of science and the ways in which it can be used to inspire and inform the public. And I think we did a pretty good job of it! You can watch my performance below. I dare you to spot the part at which one particular elderly Lady was rather unimpressed… (PARENTAL WARNING)
DAY 3 (Saturday 11th June): Day 3 started with us Famelabbers repaying Cheltenham Festival for the amazing gesture of hosting us, but volunteering for an hour in the MakerShack. The MakerShack was probably the busiest part of the festival. It consisted of about 15-20 different ‘hands-on’ stations consisting of science-related arts, crafts, and games. I was put on a rather messy stall involving clay modelling. Children were challenged with creating a sea creature out of clay, and then putting them on the display table to dry. They were then asked to select a dried clay animal and place it in the tanks of water. Before their eyes, the model would dissolve into wet clay, which would be then used by the next child to create a new one. The activity was framed around positive messages of recycling and aquatic conservation.
That afternoon, I had the honour of being the introducer for a Festival Lecture. The session was ‘Variant Hunter’ by Dr Sophie Prosolek — an account of Sophie’s work on the genetics of COVID-19 — you can read more here. To be honest, introducing someone else’s performance is almost more nerve wracking than giving your own. Why? Well, if I am giving my own performance and I mess up — I break wind, my trousers fall down, I fall off the stage… you get the drift, then it is only my performance I am disrupting. BUT, if that was to happen when introducing someone else’s performance, well, they would be equally associated with your buffonary!!
Luckily, Sophie was really happy with what I wrote for her introduction, and it went without a hitch. Sophie had a great turn out, and the was really interesting to here about the work going on during the pandemic from a scientist who was working on the frontline. Hopefully we can bring you a blog entry from Sophie in the not to distant future!
And there we have it. The next day, Sunday the 12th was where my Cheltenham adventure ended. I bid a final farewell to my fellow Famelabbers, stuffed myself silly with the last meal from the Green room, and headed home.
I hope this blog doesn’t read as a rather self-indulgent re-telling of my festival experience. There is reasoning behind me sharing this story, and that is to show you just a taster of the amazing and unique experiences on offer to you and anyone who pursues a science-related career. I am a scientist crippled with self-doubt and anxiety of imposter syndrome. Science communication and public engagement makes up a small percentage of job. Yet, despite this even I was able to grasp this opportunity and make the most of it — and I will benefit personal and professionally for a long time to come. I am so glad I took the plunge and applied to Famelab all that time ago. So please, don’t pass up opportunities, grab them with both hands and you never know what wonderful adventures they may take you on!
Cheltenham Festival beware. I’ll be back. And this time I’m bringing Superbugs with me!