This year at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (GERF), our researchers from the MRC Centre for Environment and Health and the NIHR HPRUs in Environmental Exposures and Health and in Chemical and Radiation Threats and Hazards engaged with GERF visitors in interactive ways to raise awareness about environmental pollutants, showcase their new research and the techniques they use to make new discoveries.

We had the WellHome Study Team raising awareness about indoor air pollution while the SCAMP Team encouraged visitors, old and young, to check their screen time and feed into live data collection during the festival. We also had an interactive exhibit to demonstrate how we evaluate biological age and how these assessments can be used for health research. Our colleagues from the MRC Toxicology Unit’s use a pipetting demonstration to explain to visitors the process that toxicologists use to make new discoveries in the lab. Some of our MRC researchers also partnered with illustrator & printmaker Lucille Clerc on a public artwork highlighting the impact of air pollution on the lungs and exploring actions that could be taken to reduce exposures.