March 2025: Dr Aidan O'Donnell and Dr Petra Schneider from the Reece Lab in the Institute of Ecology and Evolution have been awarded the 2025 Tam Dalyell prize for their work in bringing the world of mosquitos to schools, museums and the wider public. Prestigious award for science communications The annual Tam Dalyell Prize rewards an individual or group for work with a focus on science communication. With previous winners including Prof Steve Brusatte (School of Geosciences), Dr James Cook (Edinburgh College of Art), and Sarah Keer-Keer (School of Biological Sciences), the prize recognises an individual or group's work in fields including hosting school visits, talks and other public events or through publishing and broadcasting. Reece Lab on Tour Aidan and Petra with their mosquitos. Aiming to bring hands-on science to areas with less access to interaction with scientists, Dr Aidan O'Donnell and Dr Petra Schneider have helped to develop and test a series of interactive activities that reflect the lab’s research interests in malaria parasites, mosquitos and body clocks. The activities span five modules, each focused on a key question about this research.The Reece Lab On Tour program was designed to encourage teachers and their pupils to be excited about science and to show them what it's like to work in science. The programme focuses on rural schools that might not have easy access to universities.The activities were designed around the weird and wonderful world of mosquitoes, highlighting that through their abilities to vector disease the mosquito is the world's most dangerous animal. Pupils learn about the mosquito life cycle using USB microscopes, how to tell male and female mosquitoes apart (because only the female bites and transmits diseases) and apply their knowledge about coordinates to do a lab activity using pipettes and 96 well plates. I'm always excited to talk about our science, but the enjoyment that teachers and pupils alike show when getting the opportunity to do hands-on experiments is the best! Dr Petra Schneider Senior postdoctoral fellow, The Reece Lab, Institute of Ecology and Evolution Curriculum of excellence The activities are integrated with the Scottish 'Curriculum for Excellence' and cover subjects ranging from science to literacy, maths and arts. With the activities being being rolled out across all of Scotland, Aidan and Petra have transitioned to a teacher-led program supported by training sessions to boost teachers' confidence in teaching STEM subjects and resource boxes which contain everything teachers need to do the activities in their class. We are so proud to receive the Tam Dalyell prize in recognition of our public engagement work. Visiting schools has been so much fun and the instant feedback you get from students has been a great motivator to continue on with a career in science. Our job is actually pretty cool (and a bit mad) Dr Aidan O'Donnell Research assistant, The Reece Lab, Institute of Ecology and Evolution Prize lecture As part of the prize, recipients give a lecture to a public audience during the Edinburgh Science Festival about the activities they have undertaken.This years lecture, delivered by Aidan and Petra, will be held in the Playfair Library on Sunday April 6 at 6 pm, register using the link below. Register for the Tam Dalyell prize lecture Related links Aidan O'DonnellPetra SchneiderThe Reece LabInstitute of Ecology and EvolutionSchool of Biological SciencesTam Dalyell prize Publication date 05 Mar, 2025
