Royal Society Science Museum Lates - 24 June 2015
Application guidance
Introduction
The Royal Society and the Science Museum are partnering to create a Royal Society themed Lates event on
Wednesday 24 June 2015. We are inviting Royal Society funded scientists to submit applications to host activities
that promote and explain their research.
The Science Museum Lates are a highly successful series of events that take place on the last Wednesday of each
month at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London. The target audience for these events is 18-30 yearolds and, as such, are full of fast-paced, interactive, high-energy activities.
For more information visit sciencemuseum.org.uk/lates
We want to showcase the breadth of research undertaken by our Research Fellows and show the public how
science is not only incredibly important, but interesting, interactive, inspiring and fun.
Chosen activities will be fully supported by the Royal Society and the Science Museum and will not require any
additional funding.
This document provides you with all the information you need to ensure your proposed activity is suitable and
deliverable. Please consider it carefully when making your application.
Eligibility
This opportunity is open to all those currently funded by a Royal Society grant scheme.
How to apply
Prospective applicants should visit royalsociety.org/lates and download the application form on the right-hand
side of the page.
Completed applications should be sent to publicengagement@royalsociety.org by 6pm on Friday 19 December
2014.
If you require assistance in completing your application, please contact publicengagement@royalsociety.org.
Advice for applicants
As holders of Royal Society Research grants we are confident that your research is of high quality. This means the
most important thing about this application is not necessarily your content, but how you plan to make it exciting
and accessible.
Your activity can take any form that you feel best communicates your research, but for inspiration please take a
look at the formats listed below. These are all tried and tested formats that work in a Science Museum Lates
setting, with popular examples listed.
Formats
Talks
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These need to be informal and pitched at a level for the non-specialist with little or no knowledge of the
subject
Make as interactive as possible
Avoid presentations which have lots of text, charts and graphs
Duration – 30 minutes repeated 3 times over the night
Audience Number – between 60 and 120 per talk
Examples:
The Science of Hedonism
How can wordless collections of sounds send shivers down our spines and tickle ancient parts of our brains we
share with reptiles? How did a chemist’s quest to create a drug to ease the pain of childbirth result in the creation
of LSD? Why do goats partake in oral sex? Find out with Guerilla Science’s Zoe Cormier, author of the book Sex,
Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll: The Science of Hedonism.
Sailing Among the Stars
Travelling at over 27,000 km/h, 400 km above our heads, the Columbus Module is no ordinary laboratory. The
experiments are tended by astronauts and supported around the clock by teams located all over the world.
Columbus Flight Director Libby Jackson lifts the lid on life inside Europe’s part of the International Space Station.
If We Could Build Ethical Robots, Should We?
No current robot is capable of making ethical decisions. But suppose, in the near future, we could build intelligent,
autonomous robots capable of making ethical judgments about which action to select. Would we then have an
ethical duty to build such robots? Would building ethical robots create a new set of ethical problems? Alan
Winfield from the University of the West of England is here to discuss these robotic dilemmas.
Interactive Sessions/Workshops
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These need to be informal and pitched at a level for the non-specialist with little or no knowledge of the
subject
Lots of interaction and audience participation
Duration – Drop in throughout the night or 30 minutes max if timed, repeated over the night
Audience Number – Up to 1,000 visitors per night
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Examples:
Smelly T-Shirt Challenge
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Take the smelly T-shirt sniff challenge and investigate smell, genetics and attraction with immunologist Jake
Dunn.
Hands-On Scanning Electron Microscopy
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Microscopy allows scientists to visualise life, from whole organisms down to single molecules.
This workshop will give you an opportunity to use a sophisticated scanning electron microscope to look at the
fruit fly, a powerful model organism used in cancer research.
Compete, Cooperate or Die!
19.45, 19.50–20.20, 20.25–20.55, 21.00–21.30
It’s easy to outwit one brainless zombie. But what happens when 40 people are trying to escape zombies at the
same time? Test your ability to compete and cooperate with others in this mass-participation game. Compete,
Cooperate or Die! is by eye think lab.Places limited to 40 visitors per session.
Make and Take Workshops
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These need to be informal and pitched at a level of the non-specialist with little or no knowledge of the
subject
Need to be self-led, with little staff involvement
Duration – Drop in throughout the night
Audience Number – Up to 1,000 visitors per night
Examples:
Battle of the Antibiotics and Bacteria
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Are you ready to rumble? Each year an estimated 50% of antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily. This leads to
overuse and disastrous effects on the human body, and in turn to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In this workshop
you get to make either a motorised antibiotic or a bacterium, and join the
on-going battle for the immune system.
Improving Drugs with Sugar
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Build your own (edible!) sugar patterns that coat modern drugs and learn how this final flourish can alter their
effects, increase their half-life and even dupe your immune system...
Robo Races
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
What do you get when you cross a wild beast, a motor and a little creativity? A racing robotic animal! Build your
own robot from scratch and let it loose in our racing paddock. Will you make it to the finish line and catch the
grand prize?
Meet the Expert/Scientist Style Event
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These need to be informal and pitched at a level for the non-specialist with little or no knowledge of the
subject
Lots of interaction and audience participation
Duration – Drop in throughout the night
Audience Number – Up to 1,000 visitors per night
Healthy Ageing
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Experience both the aesthetic and physical realities of getting old while we introduce you to some of the creatures
helping scientists at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing to uncover genetic and environmental treatments for a
long and healthy life.
DNAquiri – How to Make DNA Scrumptious
18.45–21.30
Ever thought about tasting DNA? Join us and learn how to perform a professional genomic DNA extraction while
creating a tasty strawberry DNA cocktail at the same time... This is the fun and drinkable approach to DNA
extraction!
Demonstrations or Showing new Kit
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These need to be informal and pitched at a level for the non-specialist with little or no knowledge of the
subject
Lots of interaction and audience participation
Duration – Drop in throughout the night
Audience Number – Up to 1,000 visitors per night
The Drayson Racer
Drop in, 18.45–21.30
Come and see the fastest lightweight electric racing car in the world. The Drayson racer has a top speed of 215
mph. Meet the engineers designing a super-speedy wireless charging system that could one day power cars like
this one.
Mars Rover Bruno
18.45–21.30
Tonight we have the latest Mars rover prototype, Bruno, in our Exploring Space gallery. Bruno no longer has to
wait for his controllers on Earth to beam detailed instructions to him. They simply provide the coordinates of a
target location, then Bruno works out how to get there safely and trundles off. Come and meet Bruno and the
team who built him. These experts from Astrium, the space business in EADS, are here to answer all your
questions on Mars rovers.
Harpooning Space Junk
18.45–21.30
Ever wondered how we dispose of space junk such as disused satellites? Well, engineers from Astrium have
designed and built a harpoon to do just that, and we have one of the harpoons here for the night. Join one of the
experts who developed this piece of kit as he shows off the harpoon and explains all.
Other Formats
#HookedOnMusic quiz
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Join the quizmaster for a live version of the #HookedOnMusic game: pop versus rock. Who will be the best at
identifying the hook? There are prizes to be won!
Democratic Dance Music
Every 20 minutes from 19.15 until 21.35
Join BBC Click presenter and music hacker L J Rich and her team in a mass dance experiment to explore the feelgood floor factor. This body-shaking study uses live-generated dance music – we want you to tell us when you
want the drop, and where in the song to put it! You’ll move through three sets of music and use your mobile to
vote when you want the music to change. Your response will help to determine the ultimate dance anthem.
Sensory Speed Dating, Launchpad City
19.30–20.00, 20.15–20.45, 21.00–21.30
Forget love at first sight – what about love at first sniff? Feel and sound out your match as we explore the invisible
hormonal magnets that draw us together. Who knows, you might even get lucky...
Each session is for 15 men and 15 women and all participants will need a friend to accompany them as a guide.
Tickets are free, but please book at the main ticket desk on the ground floor.
Zombie S.A.Y.S.
All night
Watch out for Zombie Prevention Officers who will be roaming the Museum and putting visitors to the test to
weed out those showing signs of affliction. Zombie S.A.Y.S. is by Rob Harris (Ludonaut).
Pro-Zombie Action Group
All night
Zombies are people too! Pro-zombie activists will be recruiting visitors to stand up for zombie rights with banners,
speeches and impromptu demonstrations. Pro-Zombie Action Group is by Stoke Newington International Airport.
Criteria for selection
The selection of successful applications will be made jointly by the Royal Society and the Science Museum.
Initially, all applications will be assessed by staff at the Royal Society and the Science Museum, taking into
account the following:
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Interest of the science for the public
Relevance of activity to event
Creativity in presenting content
Overall mix of science
Once applications have been selected they will be submitted for approval by the Chair of the Summer Science
Exhibition Committee and the Chair of the Public Engagement Committee, who will check for balance of activities
proposed and how they represent the Royal Society.
Developing approved activities
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Once your activity has been approved you will receive financial support from the Royal Society and the Science
Museum to develop and enhance your activity, ensuring that the content is exciting, accessible and suited to the
target audience.
You will also receive training as part of your selection, which will allow you to develop new ideas for your activity,
improve your communication skills and meet the other Research Fellows involved.
The costs of your activity will be covered by the Royal Society and the Science Museum.
Timeline
Date
Milestone
29 October 2014
19 December 2014
Launch of the call for applications
April to June 2015
Deadline for call for applications
Activities approved and successful applicants
contacted
Research Fellows to build their activities with help
from RS and SM
End of April 2015
Communication skills training by Science Museum
15 February 2015
24 June 2015
Royal Society Lates at the Science Museum
Please direct all enquires to publicengagement@royalsociety.org.
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