UCL GOS ICH and GOSH researchers engage with our neighbours on data, research and the environment

Ofran Almossawi, NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow from the Population, Policy and Practice Department at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH) led a team that used this opportunity to create micro-gardens to inspire attendees to incorporate green spaces into urban areas to improve health and wellbeing.

Dr Lucy Natarajan (UCL Bartlett School of Planning) and Professor Helen Roberts (UCL GOS ICH) were co-applicants for the Bloomsbury Festival, together with Ben Newell (Worcester Terrariums) helped to run the interactive demonstrations and workshops. Members of the national group useMYdata Paul Saunders and Chris Carrigan supported the team at the festival, while Paul is also a member of the project advisory group for Ofran’s research project.

Using micro-gardens to engage with school children to explain how data is used to study their health. The micro gardens helped to capture their attention. The team presented projects that they could link to the Breathe theme:

• Green spaces and mortality with Dr Sam Hajna, UCL GOS ICH
• The link between air pollution and childhood with Dr Pia Hardelid, UCL GOS ICH)
• Monitoring children in intensive care from Ofran Almossawi
• Drug dosing and fungal lung infections with Fan Cheng

Among colleagues from across UCL and GOSH, Ofran was joined by members of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Young People’s Advisory Group for Research. Over 350 school children attended a session with the team over 3 days, while families visited throughout the Festival, numbers exceeded 500 visitors.

Ofran and Fan previously ran an event at UCL GOS ICH in the summer, on research using routine data, the success of that event contributed to the Bloomsbury festival.

Both the seminar in August and the three days at the festival were a smash success with members of the public signing up to take part in research activities, in particular the YoDA project (Young Data Advisors) which aims to create a national group to represent the voice of young people in relation to projects that use routine data.

Links

• Ofran Almossawi ’s academic profile
• Professor Helen Roberts' academic profile
• Dr Lucy Natarajan's academic profile
• Population, Policy and Practive Research and Teaching Department, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
• UCL Bartlett School of Planning
• Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Images

• Credit: Ofran Almossawi (researcher's own)