Our I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! event has been awarded a grant of £209,000 by the Wellcome Trust, so that we can roll it out nationally over the next two years. Hallelujah!

Yay! Time to celebrate

Long bit of waffle about how this came to pass

Long time readers will remember that we ran a pilot of the event in June 2008, funded by Wellcome. We then ran a second event in March 2009, funded by us, with assistance from Bristol University. These events went really well. As you can see from the evaluation reports, they got students really engaged with science, changed students views of science and scientists and were memorable and exciting learning opportunities.

Since then we have been chasing the funding to roll the event out bigger and better and give the same great learning experience to thousands more students. It’s been a frustrating experience – so many people have said ‘It’s a great idea, but we don’t have any money to give you’.

In February we applied for a Wellcome Trust Society Award. We got though the first round. We submitted a more in-depth application. We got the reviewers comments, which were mainly brilliant, “This is one of the most imaginative ideas that I have come across in 30 years of working in this field” particularly sticks in my mind, natch. We responded to the comments. And then, last Wednesday we had to go and present to the committee, at Wellcome’s Headquarters in London.

It must be said, I did not enjoy the experience. Imagine, three years of work, on something you completely believe in, all riding on one 20 minute presentation. I kept having this dread that there would be something we’d forgotten – like in one of those dreams where you are sitting an exam but it all goes wrong in some crazy dream-like way. “Oh no, we were supposed to bring a kangaroo butler! Where can we get a kangaroo and a dinner jacket in the next five minutes?”

My heart was in my mouth from the moment I woke up. I know that I know the event, the feedback and our plans inside out. But sometimes you feel like you know far too much about something to explain it or to answer questions with any sort of clarity.

I tried desperately, in my over-earnest way, to get across just how wonderful the event is, and answer some pretty harsh questions clearly and persuasively. Shane did a great job of explaining his bit (even if he was going extremely fast by the end). But the committee looked unconvinced.

We walked out of there, straight into the nearest pub, convinced that we hadn’t persuaded them. After getting the train home to Bristol I frogmarched my flatmates to another pub and made them listen to me moaning all evening about how we’d blown it. And then on Thursday we got the best phone call ever. The committee had been very impressed by the idea and were giving us the money!

Apparently the committee deliberately put on serious faces so they don’t give anyone false hope. I have to say I have now just about forgiven them for this. In light of the £209,000.

Just how much do I love our participants?

Loads! The students, teachers and scientists who’ve taken part have all been such fun to work with, done so much with the event, and helped us so much with their input, support and advice over the last two years. But now I love them even more.

We especially wanted to get across to the committee just how much people get out of taking part. So we emailed the scientists and teachers asking if they could record something to show to the committee.

Loads of them did. Even though for many it was 18 months since they’d taken part, their enthusiasm shone through. I’m sure that was very persuasive with the committee. Cheers everyone! I will look into the possibility of putting up some of the clips. If the students from Heanor Gate Science College don’t make you laugh then you haven’t got a heart.

What we’ll do with the money

You can read lots more about the money stuff and what this means for the company here. (For some strange reason my boss sets more store by this side of things, whereas I just care about getting kids thinking. I realise this is one of my many flaws as a private sector employee.) But basically,  over the next two years we can run the event with:-

50 zones altogether, which means

• 250 scientists
• 1,000 classes
• 20,000 students

All (students, scientists and teachers) breaking down barriers, learning new skills and changing the way they think about each other. I can’t wait!

And best of all, we take on a full-time admin assistant and I need never address another envelope. Is that shallow of me?

*Photo credit Tony Hisgett