Jodrell Bank astronomy research inspires millions of people from a wide range of backgrounds to be more engaged with science

Narrative

Using public interest in Jodrell Bank’s world-leading research, researchers at The University of Manchester (UoM) developed a broad and innovative programme of activities with a focus on educating, inspiring and reaching previously underserved audiences. Activities are primarily run from the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre (JBDC), a purpose-built facility run as a social enterprise. Since August 2013, the Centre has attracted 1,017,015 visitors (including 141,292 school pupils) to engage with UoM’s cutting-edge research, in areas ranging from pulsars to cosmology. This has had measurable impacts on education (94% of visiting teachers agreed their pupils were inspired about STEM), tourism (exceeding estimates of GBP21,000,000 economic impact in the REF period) and wider culture (the award-winning annual Bluedot festival attracted new audiences to celebrate science, music and art). The significance of Jodrell Bank’s research output and engagement resulted in its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2019.

Impact date	1 Aug 2013 → 31 Jul 2020
Category of impact	Economic, Attitudes and behaviours, Awareness and understanding
Impact level	Adoption