On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week ESS staff were at Experimentarium, a science centre on the edge of Copenhagen, to share with families the excitement of neutrons!
Along with students from Copenhagen university, ESS staff helped explain the science of ESS and neutron scattering to teenage audiences and their families and answer their questions.
As a European organisation hosted by Sweden and Denmark, ESS takes part in regional events that allow the general public to get familiar with what we do and how it fits in the science landscape.
As well as a poster and short video about ESS and some leaflets, there was a hands-on activity to allow children to explore the difference between x-ray and neutron imaging.
The event was timed to take place during the Danish autumn holidays. In the three afternoons, we met around 800 people, most of whom were parents or grandparents with children.
Jo Lewis, public engagement lead for ESS, organised the event in partnership with Experimentarium, and was pleased to be at the event on Tuesday and Thursday.
“When a family has made a decision to have a day out to discover science, we at ESS are eager to be part of the story,” she said.
Special thanks to all those who joined the event for your enthusiasm and role in raising awareness of ESS with new audiences.
The event also coincided with the launch of "Accelerate Your Teaching", an free online course for high school teachers across Europe. ESS are part of the ERASMUS+ funded consortium that put together the course, which uses pedagogical and didactic research to give real examples of how teachers can use the stories of large accelerator-driven facilities to bring to life the topics they teach in their STEM lessons.
Teahers interested in joining the course can still enroll here and will be able to participate in a live event with some ESS scientists next Thursday 26 October at 17.00 CET.