Oriel Science

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Oriel Science's aim is: Showcasing Science in the Community.Oriel Science is a public-facing exhibition and outreach space showcasing the University's STEM research. Our vision is to host rolling, thematic, science-based exhibitions aimed at our two target audiences: school students and the wider public. Alongside the gallery, Oriel Science will house a workshop offering a schools programme in parallel with each exhibition. We create accessible, informative and interactive exhibitions focused on the work and collaborations of the University's STEM community. We take visitors on a visceral journey through a scientific theme, ignite their curiosity to explore that theme, and leave a lasting legacy in their imagination. We will encourage younger visitors to choose STEM subjects at school leading to STEM degrees in University and we further develop the scientific literacy of older visitors.Oriel Science launched on 10th September 2016 at the end of the British Science Festival which was hosted by Swansea University. Our venue was in a rent-free, empty commercial unit in the pedestrianised shopping mall in the Swansea city centre.We were open to the public every weekend and during school holidays until June 2017. Our school holiday programme had organised special events and workshops focussing on the STEM research designed for school-aged students. In all we welcomed 16,000 public visitors and have had significant media coverage. Our feedback is overwhelmingly positive, over 90% say that they have learnt more about science as a result of their visit and a similar percentage would recommend us to a friend.Alongside our public openings, we ran organised school visits where 900 students from 16 schools attended workshops targeted to their age-groups.Due to our city centre location, Oriel Science attracted a new audience to STFC science: 40% of our visitors have not set foot on a Swansea University campus. Crucially, a postcode analysis of our public visitors showed that our visitor demographic matched that of Swansea as a whole in terms of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. This proved that we built a science exhibition centre which was welcoming to all, including the "hard-to-reach" sections of the community.Our exhibitions will have linked, bilingual explanation board in Welsh and English, directly connecting us to audiences in Wales in the visitors' mother tongue.Our first, pop-up exhibition is based on the theme of "Time" and features 16 exhibits including the STFC LHC Roadshow, a range of particle physics detectors (a cloud chamber, Geiger counter, MX-10 detector and muon observatory). We have an audio visual animation of time dilation near black holes, an immersive experience showing a time lapse video of the southern stars with a sound track taken from the Voyager spacecraft. A 30 metre "time wall" has an animation of the history of the Universe from the Big Bang. The public is welcomed to the venue by a "Back to the Future" DeLorean and a Tardis "time machine" enticingly situated to be visible from the outside.We are now planning our second themed exhibition, "Image", to be launched when we open our permanent gallery space. This application seeks funding for a significant STFC footprint in this venture. In particular we are applying for funding for astronomically-themed exhibit utilising images from the Faulkes Telescope, mock-ups of earth observation satellites from ESA, costs for student ambassadors, and salary for our Curator. Our "Image" exhibition represents a fantastic opportunity to engage visitors with STFC Science so that their understanding and appreciation of this science and technology is developed