Cambridge Outreach asked about a separate in-person event (to the Davidson Inventors Prize) for younger KS2-3 pupils at the Cambridge Festival School Days. So if anyone is able to make it to Cambridge for 25-26 March 2025, I’d love to put you in touch.
I noticed the Cambridge Festival website says
covering all aspects of the world-leading research happening at Cambridge
It seems similar in nature to the Swansea Science Festival that ran this past weekend showcasing research at Swansea University. Sounds like the Cambrige Festival folks don’t mind people outside of Cambridge University exhibiting as well?
Hi @gerrit
The School days may take a slightly different stance, as I think they’re about STEM outreach rather than specifically showing off Cambridge. They certainly invited me, knowing that I wasn’t at Cambridge, and then yes when I said it was a bit far for me to travel just for this, they were happy for me to ask for volunteers closer to hand.
Thanks to everyone who has responded to this via email, I’ll try to summarise the latest updates from Cambridge. They “need to confirm all activities to the central Camfest team by Friday” so we should try to bottom out what we can/can’t offer asap.
They have been asked to deliver three ≤1 hour activities at 10am, 11:30am and 1pm on Wednesday 26 March 2024.
The participating students are KS3 11-13 year olds, mainly from local secondary schools. They anticipate getting a group of 30 students at a time.
Given that we’re unlikely to see optical density growth within 45 minutes of inoculation, I think we might need to set up an experiment in one pioreactor, then move to a second for a “here’s one we made earlier” that can show the growth with time.
With an audience of 30, the pioreactor could be a bit on the small side, so I’d propose the hook up a camera to a projector so everyone can also get a close view.
And if they can get a close view then why not also show some under an Open Flexure Microscope? If doing this then Spirulina may be a good option.
A little talk on how HOB can make flour from sunlight and CO2 and how precision fermentation can make almost any chemical you can dream of, may help spark the imaginations.
Hi AMYBO Team - nice to e-meet you! 
. This is Elena from Marketing and Outreach at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Cambridge. I am gathering all the activity submissions for the Cambridge Festival Schools Day for KS3 (11-13 year olds) which we will be hosting in our department in West Cambridge on Wednesday 26 March 2025 - on the day all the activities in thr programme need to be repeated for different school at 10:00am, 11:30am and 1:00pm. Activities to last 1 hour max. You would be dealing with a class at a time, so about 30 students max per session. Martin tells me that soeme of you would like to volunteer and I was hoping that we could have an intro chat in Zoom may be sometime tomorrow to see what you have in mind, as if you decide to go ahead, I would then need to confirm details centrally by the end of Friday i.e. the name of the activity, a relevant image, and provide a description stating what the activity involves, what the students would be doing, key learning points and benefits to students attending. The central office would then use this content to finalise the programme and promote to mainly local schools so they can book them in for different sessions. At a later date you woulld also be asked to provide a risk assessment for the activity (we would provide a template for this and our H&S Manager would first need to check and approve it before central submission) I hope this makes sense but we can chat about it tomorrow Btween 10 am- 12 noon or after 4 pm if posssible please. Thank you!
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I would love to have a call, unfortunately I’m really busy at work at the moment. Because of this, 18:30 would be the earliest I could do. I understand this may be a bit late for people, but thought it was worth letting you know when I’m free in case it works for other people.
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I can do 10 or 4 pm for anyone who could join then, unfortunately not 6.30 pm as dealing with my daughter then 
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Thanks Elena, I’ve sent a meeting invite for 10am.
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Hi Gerrit, just a gentle reminder to please email me the activity title and descritption along wih a relevant image by 5 pm today so that I can submit it centrally. Thanks!
Hi Elena! We (mainly @Martin) have written up the following, including two images (choose whichever makes the most sense for the format):
Making sustainable food with biotechnology
Description
Students will engage in a hands-on session using open-source bioreactors (Pioreactors) to culture sustainable protein and the OpenFlexure microscope to observe the microbes that we’re culturing. The activity will include:
- Discussion: Exploring the role of microbes in sustainable protein production and biotechnology - considering:
- Cyanobacteria that can turn sunlight and carbon dioxide to protein.
- Hydrogen oxidising bacteria that can grow on carbon dioxide and any renewable energy source.
- Precision fermentation - where microbes can produce almost any chemical you like, including insulin and cheese.
- Bioreactor demonstration: Showcasing microbial cultivation with real-time monitoring and control of research-scale bioreactors operating in ‘turbidostat’ mode.
- Microscopy: Taking samples from the Pioreactor and preparing them so we can all observe them on screens using OpenFlexure microscopes.
Key Learning Points
- Understanding microbial growth processes.
- Understanding what a bioreactor is and what a turbidostat is.
- Hands-on experience with bioreactors and microscopy equipment.
- Insights into biotechnology applications, including sustainable protein production.
Benefits to Students
- Enhanced understanding of microbiology and biotechnology.
- Practical experience with scientific equipment.
- Inspiration for future work in biochemical engineering & related fields.
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That is great Gerrit, thank you so much, all submitted now. I will keep you posted.
Best,
Elena
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Hi Gerrit and all, just a quick update: all activities were submitted centrally to the Festival Team, and I am just waiting for central approval of all the activities proposed. If we hav enot heard back by 6 December, we are to assume all is good. To be fair we have never had an activity rejected and I am not expecting this to happen either 
The next step would then be a submission of a risk assessment for each activity. For those of you who are new to Camfest, these risk assessments have to be submitted internally to be approved by our department safety officer Jessica J. Fitzgibbon before we are allowed to submit them centrally. The mammoth task of checking and and approving all of these takes a great deal of her time, and we also need to factor in time for amendments and further revisions, so we will need you to please submit these to us (a risk assessment folder will be created here under ‘files’ for this purpose) by Friday 24 January 2025 so that we can meet the central deadline for RA upload. See the main template for you to use. When you have completed this please email it to me and I will submit it internally for review and approval.
I am trying to send you the RA template by this system does not seem to allow teh upload of word documents…shall I just email it to you Gerrit? Thanks!
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Hi Elena! Yes, you’re welcome to to email it to me and I can distribute it to the folks that will be attending Camfest.
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