Open Days for school & public at the Institute of Food Research

IFR Open Day

Saturday 29 September 2012

10:00 - 16:00

This is a unique opportunity to wander around the Institute of Food Research, talk to scientists about their work, follow trails, take part in competitions and find out about what goes on inside one of the world's centres of scientific excellence right on your doorstep.

Schools Open Day

Friday 28 September

09:30 - 15:30

Open to Yrs 10-13, this is an exciting opportunity to wander round one of the UKs leading research centres, the Institute of Food Research, and find out about careers in science and what goes on inside it. There will be open labs, demonstrations, talks and activities around the buildings including flow cytometry, nuclear magnetic resonance or NMR for short, microscopy, chemical imaging and a chance to go inside a Biorefinery– an opportunity to see in action equipment you can often only read about or see photos of.
There will be activities on biofilms, translating proteins into music, taking part in a fat content taste panel, doing something a bit Risky, go inside the Step Back in Time Lab, take part in a sciart activity and the BBSRC Bioenergy display. Taste & Flavour, Do you Know Your Fats, Iron Extraction from Special K and keeping up the Olympic theme in case its long forgotten, Food for Sport, games and hands on fun not to mention walking through an inflatable colon!
You must register to attend and places are limited to 30 per year group per school, unless we have unfilled spaces. The only session you have to book in for are the set of short talks which last an hour in total which will be from 09:30, 10:45, 12:00, 13:15 and 14:30.  Talks will be on Food & Appetite, Food Safety, data mining, super Broccoli, Carbohydrate-protein interactions and food allergies. You are then free to do whatever you choose, although if certain areas get congested we may ask you to move on!
There will also be the chance to talk to other scientists from across the Norwich Research Park including the Genome Analysis Centre and John Innes Centre.
A dedicated careers area will be attended by the Food and Drink Federation, Chilled Foods Association, Leeds University, Institute of Food Science and Technology and London South Bank University, not to mention our own young up and coming researchers to talk informally to anyone wanting to know what it’s like to work in science, from physics to chemistry, biology to microbiology, molecular genetics, biochemistry and maths.
There is parking available on site and if dry you are welcome to have lunch and refreshments in the grounds. However, we have limited space inside to sit and eat so would prefer it if you could plan not to do so. Exceptions may be made for those travelling some distance.
To book your place please contact dawn.barrett@nbi.ac.uk by Friday 21st September.