David Bradbury – Steering Committee Honorary Award 2019

2019’s Steering Committee Honorary Award went to our Lab Manager and long-time PE enthusiast and facilitator, David Bradbury.

David planted the first seeds of public engagement at our centre years ago and continues to support our activity now. There’s a strong feeling here that he is the go-to man for anything and everything and he works tirelessly to help us deliver our public engagement programme.

David has worked at the centre for 14 years, and began our first public engagement output in the form of school visits around 10 years ago. School visits still play a part in our centre’s public engagement programme; we welcome around three school groups a year who take part in a session very similar to the ones David designed eight years ago. Students from participating schools are toured around the lab and scanners by David himself and the Imaging Support team, as well as having a short Q&A session with researchers.

David explains that getting these groups in is always refreshing, “you get so used to the environment here you forget it’s special and then it’s always surprising when the kids are so amazed by the equipment and scanners”. David’s prominence in his PE efforts link more generally to his commitment to make research relatable – he notes that some research communication isn’t always the most relevant, “People outside of our field would look at that and think, ‘What’s the point of that?’”. The inset days, and David’s continual support of public engagement are a way for him to help make our research continually relevant to school groups.

In addition to this, the Imaging Support team play a crucial role in our yearly In2Science internship, in which our lab hosts 6 students from disadvantaged backgrounds. David and Imaging Support team; Clive, Megan and Dan introduce the students to the equipment and carry out safety training so that they can observe scanning sessions throughout their internship.

With the Imaging support team preparing to welcome a new member over the next 6 months, David is keen to continue their work and enthusiasm in welcoming groups to the lab in interactive and engaging ways. Even outside of scanning tours and engagement, David explains that whatever public engagement activity is taking place, he and his teams will “support it wherever we can”.

Thank you to David for all his support and his continual ideas of how to make our centre more engaged and accessible.

Awarded March 2019