Oriel Science has marked ten years of bringing university research to Swansea city centre, with a party at its Castle Street venue on Monday night.
The Oriel Science charity says more than 180,000 people have come through its doors over the decade, for its interactive exhibitions, workshops, school visits and community events.
The celebrations carry on this month, it says, with extra opening days over half-term, four popular workshops from its past making a return and special Science Corner activities.
From a DeLorean on Princess Way to Castle Street
Oriel Science started in 2016 as a Swansea University public engagement project.
Its pop-up on Princess Way drew almost 16,000 visitors over 100 opening days in 2016 and 2017. Exhibits included a mock-up of the Large Hadron Collider and a Back to the Future-style DeLorean.
It opened its Castle Street venue in May 2021.
Now a charity, it works with researchers and partners to introduce people of all ages to science, technology, engineering, arts, maths and medicine.
Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales at the Oriel Science anniversary
Speakers on the night included Professor Badyal, Chief Scientific Adviser for Wales, and Professor Siwan Davies, Swansea University’s pro-vice-chancellor for research.
Arianna Bates, one of Oriel Science’s visitor experience facilitators, also spoke and read a message from Swansea West MP Torsten Bell.
Trustees Professor Chris Allton and Dr Sarah Robers also spoke.
“Science should belong to everyone”: first employee Tanya Foxall
Tanya Foxall, Oriel Science’s first employee and now a board member, said she was there “at the very beginning as its first employee, when it was still an ambitious idea built on passion, creativity and the belief that science should belong to everyone”.
She said: “To see how far it has come over the past ten years is incredibly moving.”
She said it had “opened the door to world-class research” and inspired people of all ages “to see science differently and to believe that they can be part of it”.
She added: “I feel enormously proud to have played a small part in its story, and even prouder to continue supporting it as a board member.”
The anniversary comes days before the Swansea Science Festival, which is also ten this year, at the National Waterfront Museum on Friday and Saturday.
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