Preparing the next generation of scientists | Marine@Ugent

Preparing the next generation of scientists

During the Marine Art exhibition (read more about this here), where 1250 pieces of art inspired by 23 marine research topics were displayed for 5 days for a wide audience, a children’s university took place with the ocean as a general theme. Sold out in less than one hour and a half, this can be considered a success. 100 kids between the age of 9 and 12 attended a lecture by veterinarian Marjan Doom on a stranded sperm whale and marine mammals in general. After the 1-hour lecture, they participated in a workshop of their choice: seafood, ocean acidification, tasting algae, plastic soup, or copepods, presented by researchers from the Marine@UGent consortium and Flanders Marine Institute. You can read more about it on the website of the children’s university (in Dutch; http://www.kinderuniversiteit.be/event/de-zee#) and in this article in the Dutch magazine Wablieft.

 

Picture on the left: Lecture by veterinarian Marjan Doom on a stranded sperm whale, attended by 100 kids. 

 

Picture on the right: Workshop on plastic soup. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In September, researchers from the Marine Biology research group will take part in another education and outreach event organized by Ghent University, called ‘science on the street’. This initiative is based on the Children’s University on Tour, which took place for the first time in Vienna in 2007 (watch the movie by clicking on the image on bottom left). Scientists will bring a fair booth with experiments and give a lecture to animate children to try things out themselves. This tour aims to bring universities, research and science into children’s everyday lives. Free of charge, it reaches children and their families who would otherwise have little contact with universities and research. Scientists from the Marine Biology research group will show kids and passers-by more about the biodiversity between sand grains, invisible to the naked eye. Learn more about that by clicking on the image on the bottom right.