At the beginning of September, postdoctoral researcher Lucy Doyle and Research Engagement Manager Lauren Hockenhull travelled up to Orkney to take part in their annual Science Festival. Across the 4 days of delivery, they visited 4 primary schools, delivered the workshop at the Family Day in Kirkwall, and engaged with around 90 pupils from Reception to P3!Taking activities to Orkney gave the opportunity to engage with young people who have much less access to scientists and university science than those on the mainland. The workshop, Once Upon a Lab, created by Lucy around the book Maeve’s First Science Experiment! That she wrote and illustrated with Kelly Zou, involved a reading of the book and then a chance for the children to have a go at the experiment in the story themselves!It was one of few workshops in the programme designed for early years and hoped to inspire the youngest Orcadians that science is for them! The schools visited were all on the main island of Orkney, spread out across Kirkwall, Stromness and some smaller villages. It was a long but rewarding week, and there was some down time to explore the island! If you are interested in developing a workshop or drop in activity to take to any of the science festivals or other engagement opportunities around the UK, please get in touch with the comms & engagement team! irr-comms@ed.ac.uk This article was published on Wednesday 30 September 2026
