For the fourth year running Liverpool hosted Pint of Science, this annual festival brings engaging science and latest research findings to pubs and bars across the world. However, with the current COVID-19 restrictions the festival was moved online! Dr Laura Dean, Lecturer at LSTM, and the University of Liverpool’s Dr Dan Hawcutt, Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology spoke to 40 viewers during ‘Medicine, children, and skin disease: a moral journey.’
In her talk entitled ‘The stigma and burden of skin diseases,’ Laura discussed the stigma, social exclusion and poverty caused by severe stigmatising skin diseases in Liberia and how her team has used participatory methods, such as photovoice, to work with faith healers and community members to break down barriers in accessing treatment and support. Of Laura’s talk, one anonymous participant said: “Thank you, really interesting hearing the stories of those affected and working with communities to find solutions.” Whilst Dan Hawcutt, in his talk ‘Helping or harming? What are medicines doing to children’ addressed the work that has been done at the University of Liverpool and Alder Hey Children's Hospital with children, parents, pharmaceutical companies and drug regulators to understand how the young respond to medications.
LSTM’s Public Engagement Manager, Dr Elli Wright, said: “What an amazing festival to be a part of! Pint of Science is an excellent opportunity to engage with non-scientific audiences. We are looking forward taking part in the festival, again, next year and hopefully we will be back in a pub for 2022 once the COVID-19 restrictions have eased further!”