{"id":1551,"date":"2026-05-25T09:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/per\/?p=1551"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:29:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T15:29:20","slug":"somerscience-2026-the-importance-of-stem-in-somerset-and-the-south-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/per\/2026\/05\/25\/somerscience-2026-the-importance-of-stem-in-somerset-and-the-south-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Somerscience 2026: The Importance of STEM in Somerset and the South West"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent\u00a0Somerscience\u00a0Festival, hosted at Bath and West Showground over the May bank holiday,\u00a0invited\u00a0researchers and industry experts\u00a0to celebrate the value of STEM in the\u00a0South West, with this year\u2019s event featuring teams from the University of Exeter\u2019s Department of Biosciences\u00a0and Living Systems Institute.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking their research to new audiences, two teams from the University of Exeter\u2019s Department of Biosciences had the opportunity last month to participate in Somerscience: an annual celebration of local science taking place at the Bath and West Showground. More than 4000 visitors attended the event, showcasing the impact of STEM research and careers across the region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zebrafish Human Health Team, with PhD students Teigan Veale, Michael Love and Tumi Moswete, highlighted the value of their work in environmental and medical research. Engaging with all ages, the students spoke to parents, students and children about how they use the zebrafish larvae – attendees could even design their own colourful zebrafish! The team were supported by Matthew and Holly Winter, Jon and Rebekah Ball, Laraib Zaidi, Dan Noth and the Student Recruitment Events Team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere at the festival, phage research was similarly represented, with Becky Conners, Remy Chait, Christian Fitch, Jia Yu Ho, Sree Gopinathan and Megan Fletcher running the stall: \u201cSmall, but deadly: what can phages do for us?\u201d Visitors could make their own phage models and infect a giant bacterial cell, sign up to be Citizen Scientists with the Citizen Phage Library, and look at 3D-printed atomic models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somerscience Festival is organised by the Somerscience Trust, a charitable group dedicated to fostering engagement with STEM across the county. Their May festival provides a fantastic opportunity each year for local researchers to get involved with their mission, showcasing the world-class research taking place across the South West. You can find out more about the festival on their website<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent Somerscience Festival, hosted at Bath and West Showground over the May bank holiday, invited researchers and industry experts to celebrate the value of STEM in the South West, with this year\u2019s event featuring teams from the University of Exeter\u2019s Department of Biosciences and Living Systems Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSomerscience 2026: The Importance of STEM in Somerset and the South West - Public Engagement with Research (PER) at the University of Exeter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/per\/2026\/05\/25\/somerscience-2026-the-importance-of-stem-in-somerset-and-the-south-west\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Somerscience 2026: The Importance of STEM in Somerset and the South West - 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