ERIBA Outreach Team

ERIBA Outreach Team

Medical Sciences/UMCG, University of Groningen

From the moment we are born, we can’t escape it: growing older. But why, actually? The researchers and staff of the outreach team at the European Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) contribute to interactive public education and develop teaching learning packs such as the “Science Box” and the “ERIBA Escape Rooms” to introduce people to biomedical research on ageing.

The research group aims in this way to raise awareness of the importance of ageing research among the general public and especially among schoolchildren, students, and families. The Science Box, for example, is intended for secondary school and college students; it contains materials (including flatworms as model organisms) for experiments on regeneration. The ERIBA Escape Rooms involve solving various puzzles – such as with DNA codes, molecular structures, or a simple experiment – so as to provide an accessible introduction for children and adults to ageing research and science in general.

The research team will use the grant from the Rewarded! Fund to work on expanding the Science Box and Escape Rooms projects. This will involve, for example, a new “Science Box” for ageing research using baker’s yeast and an Escape Room on the biology underlying vaccines.

Websites:
Eriba.nl
Eriba – Science in a box

Coordinator:
Judith Paridaen, universitait docent, onderzoeker

Other group members:
Iris Sommer, hoogleraar
Saar Lagerweij, student
Isabel Janmaat, student
Sander Martens, universitair docent
Robert Schoevers, hoogleraar, afdelingshoofd
Janniko Georgiadis, sectiehoofd

Een docent kijkt door een microscoop
Foto van voorlichtingsavond voor docenten, waarop wetenschappers de science-in-a-box hebben gepresenteerd, en met de docenten in gesprek gingen over hoe de box in hun onderwijs gebruikt zou kunnen worden.
Illustratie van van science-boxen
Illustratie van inhoud van science-boxen