AFBI School Science Demonstration Day

The Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI) is holding a schools open-day on its research farm at AFBI Hillsborough on Tuesday 18 October 2016. This event is designed for GCSE and A level students studying agricultural or biological sciences. To date 139 students are currently registered.

AFBI Hillsborough is a specialist farm platform used for conducting precision research into livestock production.  The 300 hectares of land is used to conduct studies on the 300+ dairy cattle, 200+ dairy youngstock, 100 suckler cows and 400+ finishing beef animals, 300+ ewes and lambs and a 150 sow ‘birth to bacon’ unit.  The studies utilise the latest electronics to monitor individual animal intakes as well as infra-red thermography, tri-axial accelerometers and heart rate monitors etc. to measure animal movement, grazing and ruminating activity, body temperature changes and other welfare/stress responses. Metabolic chambers and digestibility crates are used to measure all the gaseous, fluid, solids and heat losses of individual animals during environmental impact studies and an anaerobic digester extracts biogas from the animal slurries to create electricity and the hot water supply for the farm.

The overall aim is to improve the efficiency of farm practices, optimise food quality and reduce the environmental impacts of livestock production so that local farm businesses are as profitable and sustainable as possible while ensuring the animals have a life worth living.

The visiting students will learn about the science directly from the scientist who are conceiving and conducting the research. They will be able to question them about any aspect of the work, as well as what it is like to be a research scientist. The information will be of value to their studies and we hope the visit will inspire and motivate them to take a greater interest in science as a future career.

The event will be organised as a sequence of small group tours to visit the research facilities and see science in action. So schools will be given a time slot for their visit.  As it will only be possible to accommodate around 150 students throughout the day we are asking schools to limit the visit to those students within a year group who will benefit most based on their studies or future career aspirations. We can also tailor the visit to accommodate students that have a disability if we are alerted in advance.

Students should not bring wellington boots as sterile protective wear will be provided including over shoes. Students should bring a packed lunch or a snack break and use the canteen and courtyard facilities.

If your school wishes to attend please inform AFBI of the student numbers by email to info@afbini.gov.uk. We will not be able to accept applications after Friday 30th September but as we will assign places on a first come basis an early reply is advised.

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