Open City Lab

• Visitors to We The Curious can actively participate in current scientific research at varying stages of the research process 

• The 140m2 Open City Lab can host workshops of up to 30 people and has been designed to encourage conversation and involvement in the research taking place 

• The space brings together three key pledges of We The Curious - open city research, diverse participation and cultivating curiosity

The aim of Open City Lab is to enable public audiences to influence science research, and visitors to We The Curious can actively participate in current scientific research at varying stages of the research process: question asking, ethical considerations, experiment design and more. 

Visitors can meet and participate in research with visiting academics from universities of Bristol, West of England, Bath and beyond, as well as industry and community researchers, who work alongside staff from We The Curious on a range of activities across all fields of scientific research. 

The construction of Open City Lab was generously funded by The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 – a grant-making educational trust which provides funding for individuals, companies and organisations, particularly in scientific and technological disciplines. Their support also funded a two-year collaboration between We The Curious, the Institute of Research in Schools (IRIS), which supports secondary school students to create and showcase their research projects as scientists in the Lab with support from university researchers, helping to diversify research voices in science. 

The 140m2 Open City Lab can host workshops of up to 30 people and has been designed to encourage conversation. People flow through its flexible open front, drawn in by the living wall and images from cutting-edge research and become involved in the research taking place. 

Open City Lab is the physical manifestation of one of the guiding charitable aims of We The Curious, around ‘open city research’ which aims to create a place where everyone can take part in the scientific process as it happens. The space brings together two of the other key pledges of ‘diverse participation and cultivating curiosity’. The opening of the space in 2021 marked the realisation of three years of open city research pilots in the venue which connected researchers, audiences and We The Curious together.

Helen Della Nave, Head of Open City Research for We The Curious said: 

“We set out on a journey to challenge the way that science centres present the scientific process to visitors, with the aim of giving visitors agency in science research. Open City Lab is the manifestation of where we have got to so far in that journey; visitors will have a voice in this space which they haven’t experienced before. Open City Lab has evolved from three years of input from visitors and collaboration with our research partners, and brings together our commitments to the people of Bristol, our ‘open city research’ and ‘diverse participation’ pledge, to ‘create a culture of curiosity’. 

This is our opportunity to celebrate the value of our public visitors’ contributions to science research; it’s not just about capturing data but about creating valuable experience for visitors and researchers that recognise people’s input, opinion and diverse experiences – and showing that it can have a direct influence on research.” 

Key partnerships included work with Psychology and Physics Departments at the University of Bath, Children of the 90’s, Department of Population Health Sciences, Jean Golding Institute and Digital Health Research group at University of Bristol, Bristol Robotics Lab and Secrecy, Power and Ignorance research network. 

The opening of the space marked a shift in the way that science centres have worked previously, with models of public participation moving away from a one-way download of information from researcher to visitor, and into a more collaborative process where all visitors, of all ages and experience, can question researchers and play an active part in their research projects, all with their opinions valued. Open City Lab also raises awareness of young people to the opportunities presented by science and engineering. 

Project What If 

Open City Lab forms part of Project What If, inspired by 10,000 questions collected from every postcode in the city. Project What If is the first major science centre exhibition in the UK inspired entirely by the curiosity of a city’s residents. 

The project aims to reimagine the science centre experience with the core of the exhibition built around seven questions, selected from the thousands of questions submitted by visitors and Bristol residents over a three year period. It is multidisciplinary, which means ideas are explained in different and often surprising ways, embracing art as well as science, while celebrating and cultivating curiosity. 

Alongside the support from The Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851 for Open City Lab, Project What If was supported by a £3m grant awarded by the Inspiring Science Fund – a partnership between UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Wellcome – a fund created to enable science centres across the UK to develop new STEM-based exhibitions and learning centres, alongside inclusive and creative community programmes, building a sustainable programme for the future. The support for the charity and new exhibition has been hugely successful in addition to this, with over £900,000 donated by other generous funders. 

We The Curious is an educational charity and interactive science centre in Bristol which brings together science, art, technology, culture and innovation to create positive change for its community and environment and “create a culture of curiosity”. This year We The Curious is celebrating 25 years in Bristol. 

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 provides fellowships and grants for top level science and industrial research and industrial design students. Some 36 awards are made each year which, together with a number of special grants, of which the support to Open City Lab is a good example, exceed £4m in value. 

Originally set up to stage the Great Exhibition, the Royal Commission was kept in being to invest the Exhibition's substantial profit. It first acquired the site in South Kensington on which the three great museums, the Royal Albert Hall, Imperial College and the Royal Colleges of Art and Music now stand, and it continues to own and manage the freehold of much of this estate. When the development of the estate was largely complete, in 1891, the Commission then began an education and research awards programme which it continues to grow to this day 

www.royalcommission1851.org.uk