Science in the Stadium pilot programme.

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This proposal has two chief aims:a. Inspiring, informing and involving a Liverpool Football crowd at the Everton stadium (Goodison Park) with STFC research into the Roadmap Challenge "Is life unique to our planet". b. Developing an effective method of engaging crowds of people attending an event like a football match with the big questions in STFC science. Specifically, we aim to engage the crowd attending a football match at Goodison Park, the Everton home ground, with the questions "Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?" and "Could life on Earth come from outer space?" The activity will link to the research programmes of Dr Helen Fraser into the formation of complex molecules on the surface of ices in dust clouds and of Dr Ulrich Kolb into exoplanets, and will be informed by Dr Karen Olsson-Francis' (OU) work into the survival of micro-organisms in space, and Professor Charles Cockell's (Edinburgh) work into the bio-signatures of life in extreme environments.Everton boasts being the first in many football innovations - one of its web sites is called School of Science. It is enthusiastic about the possibility of being the first in the League to engage its crowd with leading edge STFC science. We expect the crowd to be about 38,000 people, this includes many families with children and OAP's. The crowd is mainly Liverpool based with over 25,000 of their season ticket holders living within easy traveling distance (30 miles) of the ground. The Everton fans have the lowest average income in the Premier League with 71% earning under £30,000 per year. It also has the highest fraction of season ticket holders from the two lowest social classifications. We are informed that they are a complete cross-section of the Liverpool population community in age and profession.Overall Impact: We expect a significant impact on the people of Liverpool. We wish to excite Liverpool with what we are doing, and the science issues, beforehand using the press and local radio stations to publicise the event. We aim to engage a significant section of the crowd in following the key questions embraced by STFC researchers including obtaining their own relevant images using Robotic Telescopes at the University of Bradford, Liverpool John Moore's University and Open University. There will be a forum to share thoughts and reflections on the issues, and the robotic telescopes will be available for schools to continue their interest in astronomy. The evaluation will also be aimed at developing the case to put to other football clubs to follow Everton and run similar events. The design of the programme will involve experts from the Everton football club in how to interact with their crowds, experts in the Liverpool scene and how best to interact with the Liverpool public along with research scientists engaged in STFC-funded research. The programme is web based, accessible on smart phones, and will provide detailed feedback on the numbers and the level of involvement of each of the participants. The experts who help to design the programme will be further consulted in the evaluation to see how it can be further improved.