Superbugs – A Pop-Up Science Shop
'Superbugs – A Pop-Up Science Shop' was a Wellcome Trust ISSF3 funded project that took place in summer 2019. It intended to increase public awareness of the microbial world in, on and around us, and the threat of antibiotic resistance, through an innovative delivery model.
In the summer holidays in 2019, we converted a vacant retail unit in the heart of Wales’s busiest shopping centre, St David's Dewi Sant (SD2) in Cardiff, into an interactive and professionally designed microbiology ‘laboratory’.
SD2 is visited by approx. 38 million people per year, which is a bit more than 100,000 per day. The Welsh clearly love to shop! By accessing this natural footfall, we managed to take ‘Science to the City’, with access for people from all walks of life.
Over the course of 14 days, a total of 6,566 visitors engaged with our scientists and immersive microscopy workshops, fun-fayre games demonstrating the evolution of antibiotic resistance, and the chance to swab themselves and ‘grow their own microbes’.
A sticker challenge created 1,626 ‘Antibiotic Resistance Champions’ who spread the message across 200 primary and secondary schools throughout Wales, and beyond.
In 2018, we already ran an ‘Out of Hours’ event at Techniquest, the local science museum in Cardiff, which laid the foundation for the pop-up science shop at SD2.
More information is available on the Superbugs page on the Cardiff University website, or visit our Photo Albums from the events at St David’s shopping centre in 2019 and at Techniquest in 2018.
