Katie Begg is a Postdoctoral Training Fellow in Jessica Down’s lab, the Epigenetics and Genome Stability Group. This is what she shared about her experience of doing public engagement.
"I’ve always loved talking about science and end up having fascinating conversations with my non-scientist friends and family. We’re really lucky to be involved in this world — very few people get to see cells down a microscope or work with advanced technologies on a daily basis! Public engagement is a nice way to remind myself of that, but it’s also important to share what we do and why we do it, to build trust in science and knowledge of ourselves and our world. It gives us a chance to frame our research in the context of society and see the big picture, instead of just getting lost in the details of yet another western blot assay.
Over the years I’ve done a bunch of different things, like volunteering for Soapbox Science, sharing my research at various events, taking part in the Three Minute Thesis competition and running two podcasts. Most recently, I’ve been the co-ordinator for the ICR’s Pint of Science. The end of our first festival last year was a real stand-out moment — we were all exhausted, but so proud to have made it happen and built the event from nothing! It was a real team effort, and we got some super positive feedback. I’d set it up because I believed we had some amazing research to share, and speaking to the people who came to those events, I really felt like we’d achieved our aim.
Through Pint of Science, I’ve met people from all across the ICR — not just from different areas of research but also different parts of the organisation. I also met lots of people who came to the events and were supportive of the ICR for personal reasons, or who’d worked with us in the past. It made me feel really proud to be part of it all.
My advice for anyone thinking about getting involved? Always keep your eye open for opportunities and just go for it! Even if it seems like it might be a distraction, you’ll get so much more out of it than you think.
After this year’s success, we’re starting to plan our 2026 Pint of Science events. If you’re interested in sharing your research in a relaxed, friendly setting or helping to shape next year’s festival, we’d love to hear from you. You can express interest in a speaker slot or in joining the organising team — we’ll be bringing together a small group of volunteers at each site to make it happen."
Image caption: our Pint of Science organising team (left to right); Giulia Lerda, Hanna Braun, Gaby Richter, Diana David, Katie Begg, Alejandro Allo Anido and Emilia Chen.
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