Monday, 10 March 2025
With more exhibitors and visitors than ever before, Science in the Park had a bumper weekend with visitors getting hands-on with a huge range of exciting activities, from scanning brains with the latest wearable technology to finding out about the origins of George the gorilla and building robots.
Scientists from the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University joined forces to showcase their research at ‘Science in the Park’, a free annual festival at Wollaton Hall that takes place as part of British Science Week.
Tickets for the free event were snapped up in record time with all available tickets going within 48 hours and 4,000 visitors attended the event.
The popular family event featured more interactive exhibits than ever, which were suitable for pre-school children through to adults, and for the first time the exhibits were also upstairs in the hall.
The brain team from the University of Nottingham chatting to visitors
The ‘Brain Team’ from the University of Nottingham’s School of Computer Science demonstrated different types of wearable brain scanning devices to find out how people would feel about using this new type of consumer neurotechnology.
Visitors also had the chance to build their own robots, with experts from the Cobot Maker Space holding workshops to build and programme robots – plus demonstrations from some robot special guests!
Nottingham Trent University engineers were able to help visitors experience how bees and butterflies viewed the world and forensic science students challenged children and adults to become crime scene analysts and match fingerprints using different light wavelengths to identify minute differences.
The University of Nottingham’s team from Life Sciences were alongside George the gorilla, giving visitors the opportunity to see George’s hairs under the microscope. Tom Hartman is part of the University of Nottingham team working on a project to discover the origins of George by analysing DNA. Using state-of-the-art facilities at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (nmRC) he recovered four hairs from the taxidermy gorilla at Wollaton Hall and prepared them for microscopy that visitors could see.
Biomedical scientists from NTU showed how disease is detected in blood and urine and families dressed up as scientists and operated on a mannequin, performing lab tests and building microbes from plasticine.People discovered what the cells that make our bodies are made of while making fun and tasty cell biscuits, extracted DNA from strawberries using everyday household items and learned the science behind balance and strength.Visitors also fished for “poo germs” in a ball pit pond, discovering how such microbes are counted and studying their superpowers in the lab.
Young visitors enjoying an NTU activity
Every year we have a bigger and better offer for visitors to this popular event and our volunteers go all out to create activities that are fun, educational and engaging. It’s a great way to showcase the important research that’s happening at the city’s two Universities, making it accessible, and hopefully inspiring future generations of scientists.
It was an extremely busy and fun-filled event, and fantastic to see science and engineering presented in an accessible and hands-on way to people of all ages.
Visitors also had the opportunity to explore the Hall, including its Natural History Museum with the Living Planet, Changing Planet, and Taxidermist’s Tale galleries.
Visitors enjoying the University of Nottingham race car displayed by the Faculty of Engineering
Story credits
More information is available from Jane Icke, Media Relations Manager for the Faculty of Science on Jane.Icke@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 24 in Europe and 15th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
More news…