“The Secret Life of Tomatoes”

Funded by my BBSRC Fellowship and  the British Science Association (BSA), we hosted a research engagement activity during the Sheffield Food Festival on Sunday 28th May 2017.

The activity was organised by the Sheffield branch of the British Science Association, in collaboration with other institutions, such as the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK, The British Society for Plant pathology, The British Tomato Growers Association and The University of Sheffield.

The event was an outreach activity for the whole family: we had crafting, colouring, playdough, etc for the youngest, microscopes and a quiz for the older children and other activities targeted to parents, such as a tomato taster corner. We had many freebies such as fluffy bugs, stickers (saying “plant Doctor”) and tomato plants that were given away when completing the tomato quiz. The answers for the 10-question quiz where spread around the Sheffield Winter Gardens. This allow the public to engage in the different activities that we had lined up. We gave away almost 200 tomato plants!

The event was free and open to everyone and it also coincided with the British Tomato Week.

Pictures of the event can be found here  and a blog post with how it went, written by one of the members of the working group can be found here.

We will be organising outreach events in the near future so stay tuned for updates!