In addition to reconstructing neurons, our group has also been busy with many other things. Apart from attending conferences, symposia and the like, here are some of the major events we've been involved in.
Public engagement
Blog
We have a blog to which members of the group contribute. It includes, for example, a series on connectomics, a 2 part introduction to olfaction in flies and a Neuron of The Month feature.
BrainFest
In June 2017, we took part in the first Festival of Neuroscience in Cambridge, the Cambridge BRAINFest, organised by Cambridge Neuroscience. The festival gathered 130 neuroscientists that presented their work and put together over 30 interactive exhibits. Over 3 days, there were over 3,000 visitors, of all ages!
Our group had a stand with lots of activities, from looking at fluorescent fly brains on the microscope and electron microscope images of a fly brain, to a game of 'Can I smell like a fly?'.
We also put together some videos explaining why the fly is a good model for research, and showing some simple brain anatomy. Follow the links to see them on youtube.
Every one of us thoroughly enjoyed the experience (apart from transporting a delicate microscope down a cobbled street!) so were keen to continue taking part in outreach events.
Other things
We've also taken part in several other festivals or one off events.
- the LMB Open Day (June 2017)
- the Cambridge Science Festival (March 2018 and 2019)
- Zoology Department alumni weekend (September 2018)
- Zoology Live! (June 2019)
- Imaan Tamimi, a Research Assistant in the group, gave a talk entitled “What is in a fly brain?” to year 1-6 (5-10 years olds) students at the Ridgefield Primary School in January 2020. The aim of the talk was to dispel stereotypes about who scientists are, and Imaan shared with the students her personal and academic journey from her childhood in Tanzania to her current research position. This short video accompanied her talk.
Open Research
Our group took part in the Open Research Pilot, a two year project organised jointly by the Open Research Team at the Wellcome Trust and the Office of Scholarly Communication at the University that started in January 2017.
The primary aim is to identify the barriers preventing researchers from sharing all of their research outputs (beyond selected data shown in publications) and what incentives might be used to promote the accessibility of these outputs.
Of special interest to us, we contributed to a 3 part blog series on Open Resources, and who should fund them.
- Sustaining long-term access to open research resources – a university library perspective
- Sustaining open research resources – a funder perspective
- Open Resources: Who Should Pay?
The final blog post of the Pilot recaps our participation in the programme.
