b'Supporing and Inspiring Scientists We have conducted a wide range of activities across the UK, which have included; biofilm dances, art exhibitions, biofilms in a train station, biofilm workshops at IKEA, and have held public engagement stands at events such as Science in the Park, Festival of Science and Curiosity, Royal Society Summer Exhibition and New Scientist Live. Events like these offer a valuable opportunity for NBIC researchers and PhD students to develop a public engagement activity related to their research, and gain experience from engaging with public audiences.In 2024, we road-tested a number of new activities:FESTIVAL OF SCIENCE AND CURIOSITY SOUTHAMPTON SCIENCE & ENGINEERING On 10 February 2024 the NBIC team participated atFESTIVALthe Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity. TheOn 18 March 2024, the NBIC team took part in the activities included making models of different bacteriaSouthampton Science and Engineering Festival from Play-Doh using the inspiration of microscope(SOTSEF) at the University of Southampton. The event images and the Giant Microbe cuddly toys. The otherwas attended by over 5000 people, all enjoying over activity was a simulation of germ transfer using140 activities across Southamptons campuses. On an iridescent powder that can only be seen underthe NBIC stand participants built their own micro-the UV light. The Good and Bad Bugs activity wasorganisms, either following instructions for the initially designed as part of the Royal Society Summermodels we have designed or just designing their Exhibition 2019 stand Super Biomaterials to fight Superown micro-organisms themselves, using pictures of Bugs. A Microbiology Society Outreach grant enabledmicro-organisms we provided, and their imagination. the activity to be improved with a bespoke software toOnce built, their micro-organisms were stuck on our drive it, meaning the facilitating volunteers have morebiofilm wall, to help us build a giant LEGO biofilm time to talk to the public participants. made of many species of micro-organisms living together, exactly like what we would have in real life. SCIENCE IN THE PARK The models we have designed have very various level The University of Nottinghams Science in the Park tookof building complexity, and therefore we had people place on 9 March 2024. Attendee feedback confirmedof all ages, from 5 to 73 years old, building LEGO and they would recommend others to take part in thediscovering the wonderful world of biofilms at the activities and agreed or strongly agreed that thesesame time.increased their understanding about how germs areWe also offered to cultivate peoples own bacteria, by spread between people via hands and surfaces. swabbing their hands and objects they have onto a Thanks to the team that expanded beyond NBIC foragar place, which we incubated for a week just after 45making these events a success. In particular, Tim Selfthe event. This resulted in beautiful plates filled with and Robert Markus from the School of Life Sciencesbacteria of all colours, which the visitors can discover Imaging (SLIM) at the University of Nottingham foron our NBIC Instagram page. We recorded each plates showing their fantastic microscopic beasts on theirnumber, so people can actually find out which germs stand at Science in the Park. they had on them that day and how it resulted after a week of incubation on the plate. We are sure that a few surprises were discovered.EDINBURGH SCIENCE FESTIVALIn April 2024, our team of staff and students from across the UK very successfully engaged the public of the National Museum of Scotland, the most visited attraction in Scotland, with our biofilms research. This event was part of the Edinburgh Science Festival and attracted hundreds of people. Visitors could have a go at building their own micro-organisms out of LEGO to add to our gigantic LEGO biofilm display, but also try our new biofilm virtual reality experience, using a state-of-the art Meta Quest 3 VR headset to build beautiful virtual biofilms, inspired from our research, and using real research simulation software. The visitors and our team of volunteers both really enjoyed the event and had a lot of fun discussing biofilms research while doing fun activities.45'