WWIEM at the Balmoral Show 2025

From May 14^{th –} 17^th three teams of our research scientists proudly stepped out of the lab and into the community at the Balmoral show to share our research with the public.

With hands-on demonstrations, interactive displays, and plenty of curiosity, we connected with visitors of all ages to share the exciting science behind our work.

Our goal was to spark conversation, inspire interest, and show how research at the WWIEM is making a real-world impact. The response was great —thank you to everyone who stopped by to learn and ask questions!

 

Virology

The Virology stand was organised by a cross-centre team from Biological sciences and WWIEM. The group had a very engaging table with activities including

• “Build a virus”,
• “Be a virologist” - a fun pipetting game
• “Be a virus” – an interactive boardgame.

This stand was hugely popular with children and adults alike!

Biological sciences:

• Connor Bamford, Katie Donovan, Jiaying Gu, Aaron Canton

WWIEM:

• Ultan Power, Matthew James, Hannah Turkington, Milly Peate, Swathi Sukumar, Saeed Zadeh

 

Ophthalmology

The Ophthalmology stand featured interactive games including “who’s eye is it anyway?” where the objective was to match each eye to the correct animal. The game was a great conversation starter, alongside our interactive microscope featuring retinal sections from various animals.

WWIEM:

• Eleni Beli, Judith Lechner, Karis Little, Shannon McDonnell, Peter Barabas

 

Infection and Immunity

This colourful and exciting stand was a collaboration between WWIEM, QUB School of Pharmacy and AIVRT hub (All-Island Vaccine Research and Training Alliance). The busy and engaging stand had activities including:

• Match the bacterial culture plate to the household object
• Dress up as a scientist and "inoculate" broth with a "colony" of bacteria

WWIEM:

• Rachael Bell, Rebekah Miskimmin, Fiona Hills, Beckie Ingram

School of Pharmacy:

• Vicky Kett, Ewa Aksenczuk, Caitlin Miskelly