The Society for General Microbiology has awarded PhD student Helen Brown an award for her outreach activities, taking microbiology into schools. The SGM’s Outreach Prize, sponsored by Yakult, is awarded annually to microbiologists who have engaged in high quality outreach activities. The 2013 prize was awarded jointly to Helen and James Redfern of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Helen has been working closely with Admirals Academy, a large junior school, in Thetford for the last two years through the Teacher Scientist Network (TSN), which supports partnerships between teachers and scientists, bringing researchers into classrooms.

Helen and children from Old Catton Junior School ‘Blast-a-biofilm’

The activities that Helen brought about have included arranging a Science Day, during National Science and Engineering Week, and running a range of activities on microbiology and food safety. Helen has been blogging about her activities to share her experiences and activities. Most recently, she and other researchers from the Gut Health and Food Safety programme visited Old Catton School CoE Junior School in Norwich.

Helen will be presented with her award at the SGM’s Autumn Conference in September, where she is also invited to give a presentation.