Life Lab Grant Award
Pupils from Southampton secondary schools will be able to discover how their diets and lifestyles lay the foundations for a healthier life … thanks to a grant from the University of Southampton’s Student Centeredness Fund. The award of £30,000 over three years will enable all Year 9 students (13-14 year olds) to take part in an activity day at LifeLab, in the new state of the art facilities based at Southampton General Hospital.
One of the sessions in the activity day, gives the teenagers the opportunity to meet PhD students and early career researchers to find out more about their work. Training in science communication is provided for the scientists before they take part.
LifeLab is funded by the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre in nutrition and the University's Education School and Faculty of Medicine. Dr Kath Woods -Townsend, LifeLab Programme Manager comments: "I am delighted we have secured this investment to allow many more young people from the city of Southampton to take part in this innovative education programme, it's great the University recognises that LifeLab provides an engaging, memorable and inspirational experience which motivates them to explore and discover more about science."
Senior Lecturer in Education, Dr Marcus Grace adds: "It's vitally important that children are given the chance to learn about how the lifestyle they lead now can impact on their health in later life, and the health of their future children. The LifeLab project gets them thinking about health and lifestyle issues and gives them the information they need to make choices now and in the future."
Images of students from Mountbatten School:
