Outreach and Global Engagement Activities
Our lab is active in the field of Outreach and International Engagement. We love sharing our knowledge about Microfluidic design and prototyping to various audiences. Our activities are designed to maximise the participants experience and inspire young people to engage with Science, Technology and Engineering subjects. If you would like to partner for an event, please get in touch. Here is a list of projects we have been involved in:
2019 – iSEP-SEQ Event, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Funded by a Royal Academy of Engineering “Frontiers of Development” grant, MKK Lab organised a workshop at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria to discuss the combination Microfluidic and Nanopore Sequencing tools to diagnose sepsis causes. We were joined by colleagues from Sierra Leone, Botswana, Malawi, and Uganda. We have since then received further pilot funding from HWU Global Research Fund Development office, and continue to develop the project.
2019 – Microfluidic Prototyping workshop, Lima, Peru
Funded by the Newton Fund, and part of the Towards a Digital Hospital event, we travelled to Lima Peru in June 2019 to deliver a workshop on microfluidic prototyping to staff and student of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, in their brand new Digital Manufacturing lab. It was a joy! We are planning to go back for a full week of lecture in August 2020.
2019 – Year of Health Family Fun Day, Oriam, Heriot-Watt University
As part of the Edinburgh Science Festival and Heriot-Watt’s Year of Health, we took part in helping to create a day out packed with workshops and interactive events, including some microfluidics!
2017 – Universities Family Visit day at the DIPM, University of Edinburgh
This was a 2017 event towards widening participation in universities, in particular, engaging refugee and minorities families who may not have access to university environment. The general goal of the event was to encourage young people into universities, in particular Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities, and to demonstrate the inclusiveness of international scientific research. The programme includes presentations, games, information/play desks and lab tours for older children. This was a co-hosted event by Multi-Cultural Family Base MCFB), the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh Napier University and funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy.
2015 – Small Plumbing! Empowering the next generation of microfluidic engineers
Using a grant from the Ingenious! Scheme of the Royal Academy of Engineering, we have developed a school workshop which ran at Liberton High School (Edinburgh) and Inverkeithing High School (Fife) in 2015.
2014 – “Microflow and Microworld” workshop at Bang Goes the Borders!
Together with , Helen Bridle (IB3, EPS, HWU) and Thomas Aspray (EGIS, HWU) designed and delivered a microfluidic workshop at Bang Goes the Borders, the successful Science Festival run at St Mary’s school in Melrose in 2014.
Interested in demonstrations?
Please contact us if you would like to get a Microfluidic workshop delivered at your institution