| Bringing photonics research to more diverse audiences
The Hub’s Photonics Outreach Programme had an extraordinary year in 2020, as the global pandemic hit. Our schools and public engagement figures dropped from an annual average of 5,000 to 2,300 as a result of COVID-19. Despite the challenges forced upon us by the pandemic, we were able to widen participation and embark on a journey of ‘outreach virtualisation’. We were delighted to broaden our research engagement activities by training staff and students to work more effectively with autistic people and to reach audiences with very little access to the internet during lockdown.
“You’re so much more autism friendly this year!” Visitor comment at the Photon Shop at Light Up Poole! Digital Arts Festival 2020
Light tunnel inside a wave machine made with LED finger lights Courtesy of Dr Paul Gow
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We were fortunate to be able to deliver our Photon Shop activity to people in an area of deprivation before the lockdown hit, and we also began a virtualisation programme to ensure that we can continue to work
successfully online with the public in the future. We began the process of virtualising our Light Express Roadshow as a video resource to support teaching of optics and photonics in schools and teachers’ workshops. We also designed and piloted two virtual teachers’ photonics workshops using new teaching materials. Hundreds of Southampton pupils, who had little or no access to the internet during lockdown, also received packs containing a Hub outreach activity.
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