Present: Crystal, Gillian, Sara, Olof, Carla, Lara
1, Events. Next up is a scout camp for leaders (Sep 15th) where we will have a stand with activities in the Activity Zone. The idea is to engage with about 300 scout leaders in attendance and show them easy activities they can take back and do with their own groups.
On Sep 22nd Gillian, Carla and Iz will take our UH activity 2.0 to Bang Goes the Borders.
Claire will brief us all about MoSSFest (happening Sep 30th) in the next meeting. We have a joint slot with the CVR but are struggling for volunteers from that side, so we discussed either giving up MoSSFest and focus on the Midlothian Science Festival happening in October or attending but without a stand activity and more drift around the venue in character and talk to people about our Unsung Heroines.
We have also been offered to come along to Maths Week sometime between 10-14 Sep at St Marnock’s Primary School. I’ve had no volunteers come forward, but if anyone is interested they’d be keen to have us even if we couldn’t bring a mathematics related activity.
Last but not least, the offer of attending Curiosity Live in November at the GSC still stands. Our insider Carla can liaise with Sam if there is interest. The premise is basically a Meet the Expert takeover of the whole Science Centre.
Ideas and/or volunteers welcome for all of the above!
Additional events are always available through the STEM newsletter.
2, Funding. We have spent our BCS grant money and are currently looking into getting a £500 funding extension. I have also included some links to possible sources of PE funding below if anyone has a new activity they’d like to set up. ScienceGrrl head office have also said that we have a pot of money available if needed.
https://microbiologysociety.org/grants/grants-prizes/education-and-outreach-grants.html
https://epsrc.ukri.org/funding/applicationprocess/routes/pe/holmeshinesfund/
https://www.rsb.org.uk/get-involved/grants/regional-grant-scheme
http://www.bshs.org.uk/grants/special-projects-grants
https://webcollect.org.uk/bshs/subscription
https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/uk-science-festivals-network
https://www.sciencecentres.org.uk/
3, New Chapter Lead. Me and Carla will be co-leads as of October! Carla is so passionate and enthusiastic about ScienceGrrl and outreach and we’re lucky to have her. If anyone with a bit of space could chip in and take on some stuff as me and Olof clear out the flat that would also be greatly appreciated.
4, New STEM ambassadors. Carla and Gillian have become our latest STEM ambassadors! Good job girls!
5, UH activity extension. Carla and Iz have been working hard on an activity extension highlighting Unsung Heroine Barbara McClintock. We will be doing some taste and smelling tests and try to relate the results back to genetics. Carla will finalise the resources and we will post everything on the blog and go through it at the next meeting – I recommend attending this highly exciting event!
The next meeting will be on Wednesday Sep 19th at 6pm.