'What's in your water?' SEES attends the Manchester Caribbean Carnival

Colleagues from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) exhibited river organisms as part of Blastfest 2018 when they attended the Manchester Caribbean Carnival in Alexandra Park, Moss Side.

Aiming to raise awareness of environmental sciences, the team asked the question: 'what's in your water?'

The 'what's in your water?' exhibition has been developed as part of a wider programme organised by the Community Perspective/Blastfest team. Blastfest is a new genre of science festival, where science and technology is explored through Black arts and cultural spaces. Its aim is to promote interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects - especially in deprived communities - and to promote the importance of STEM for sustainable development.

By taking advantage of the Manchester Caribbean Festival, which also included music, food and other creative events, Dr Cecilia Medupin of SEES was able to engage members of the public from the local Manchester community and spread the word about the importance of water quality.

Visitors to the marquee - more than 100 adults and children over the afternoon - used microscopes to see minute river organisms. They picked organisms for identification and asked questions on the importance of river organisms; a wonderful experience that brought people from the local community into contact with scientists from the University, and especially for children - the scientists of tomorrow.