Children and families enjoy the ESRC Festival of Social Science

13 November 2023

In an inspiring programme of activities hosted by the Social Sciences Division in October and November 2023, hundreds of people engaged with social scientists and their research as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

The Festival, which is the UK's largest annual celebration of the social sciences, provides an excellent opportunity for researchers of all levels of experience to develop their skills in public engagement. Sharing their research with family audiences were University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University researchers from the fields of anthropology, education, sociology, geography, archaeology and built environment. Supported by the University of Oxford's ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, the exciting programme of interactive events showcased the amazing breadth and diversity of social science research and how it can help us understand and influence the world around us. Activities, many of which were around the theme of wellbeing, included everything from discovering unusual smells from the past and creating mini 'zines', to learning nursery rhymes in new languages, and having a go at writing while wearing scuba gear! 

In a continuation of the creative collaboration between Social Science Division and the Pitt Rivers Museum's research and engagement teams, many of the activities took place in the Museum spaces where, over two days in October half term, there were over 1,400 interactions between visitors and our researchers! Two other events took place in community venues in Oxford (Oxford City Farm and Flo's The Place in the Park), enabling our researchers to connect with families in new ways.

Dr Ashley Coutu, Deputy Head of Research at the Pitt Rivers Museum was delighted with the activities that took place in its galleries: ''The festival has been a real highlight of the Pitt Rivers events calendar. It brings researchers with new ideas into our museum galleries to engage the public. The excitement, laughter, and energy that the festival creates in the museum really changes the atmosphere into a dynamic space of creativity and learning. The festival has also been a great way for us to experiment with new ways of engaging visitors with the museum collections. We have really enjoyed delivering the festival with our colleagues at Social Sciences and Oxford Brookes, and are able to deliver a larger, more impactful visitor engagement experience together.''

See our full programme:

• Smelling the Past: A hit with grown-ups and children alike, discovering historical smells from ancient footwear to a magic onion! 
• A Wonderful Wellderly World: A fascinating opportunity to explore how wellbeing can be enhanced as we age, with lots of opportunity to talk to our wonderful 'wellderly' volunteers. 
• Drawing Wellbeing Zines: We had lots of creative visitors busily drawing away in front of the museum cabinets to create their own mini magazines.
• A Musical Tour of the World through Dramatized Songs: A joyful activity discovering words in the English language that have been borrowed from other languages, while learning nursery rhymes in Norwegian and French!
• Museum of Climate Hope: An activity inviting visitors to go on an expedition around the museum to find objects that tell hopeful stories about the relationship between people and the natural world
• A playful dive into learning through apps and games: A tech-tastic opportunity to draw, and learn new vocabulary, through apps and games!
• Galapagos in Your Garden: A tour to the beautiful Galapagos and back again, learning about the incredible animals that live there, and how they are similar to those living in green spaces near us in the UK
• Mapping seagrass and the human seascape in Orkney: An adventure of the sea and the land, learning about how people look after seagrass ecology with mapping and research.
• Tomb Stories: thinking about life and death through objects: Visitors stepped into the world of ancestral tombs in China and beyond in this hands-on activity to learn about cultural beliefs, objects, and rituals. Stories of Hope: life in care and beyond: Children could visit this cosy nook to make beautiful crafts to represent their idea of a happy home while hearing hopeful stories of young people raised in Romanian orphanages.
• Community gardening for wellbeing and wildlife: A hands-on day at City Farm, where visitors sampled homemade pumpkin soup and created an amazing collective allotment artwork!
• Exploring your family heritage: portraits of diverse cultural backgrounds:  A relaxed activity at Flo's Café for families to explore their cultural heritage through maps, self-portraits and family trees.

University of Oxford Archaeology DPhil Student Melody Li had a brilliant time putting her public engagement skills to use in the Pitt Rivers Museum: ''It was amazing to see many children and families engaging with smell in the museum and learning about the history of objects. I want to share stories about the past in a fun, relatable way and this was exactly the type of museum experience I have been hoping for. The Festival of Social Science team were so supportive every step of the way, and I'm very thankful to have participated!''

Hamish Chalmers from University of Oxford's Department of Education agreed: "It was wonderful to be able to share our research and enthusiasm for applied linguistics with people young and old. The Pitt Rivers was abuzz with inquisitive minds learning about all sorts of fascinating aspect of social sciences research. The organisation was excellent, and we are looking forward to next year already."

Dr Jason Danely from the Healthy Ageing & Care Research Network at Oxford Brookes University found the Festival a fantastic opportunity for making connections: "By focusing on public engagement on a broad topic [wellbeing], the Festival was the perfect chance for us to make connections with each other, with the museum, and with the community. Seeing the older volunteers talk about well-being with children and families at the creative corner really expanded our imagination about how we can spark conversations that matter."

About the ESRC Festival of Social Science

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)'s Festival of Social Science, now in its 21st year, is the largest celebration of social sciences research in the UK and this year included some 350 events nationwide.

Get involved in public engagement with research

If you're interested in public engagement with research, get in touch with our impact team at impact@socsci.ox.ac.uk

Further resources

• Take a look at funding for engagement activities from the University of Oxford's ESRC Impact Acceleration Account
• Head to the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) for more engagement resources and information.