Overview of outputs

Exploring the challenges and opportunities of public engagement with fundamental biology (September 2022)

In this brief Perspective, we provide an overview of our public engagement approach, exploring its challenges and opportunities, and outline our longer-term plans. We hope that by sharing our experiences we will encourage and enable others to organise similarly experimental public engagement, even if their research is very fundamental or potentially controversial.

Frequently Asked Questions (January 2023)

A list of questions about HDBI research generated by our Insights group (panel of public stakeholders) and answered by our researchers.

Made the Same Way (February - March 2023)

A unique podcast series featuring HDBI researchers discussing life, science and more with young female emcees. At the end of every episode, each pair creates an original piece of music which reflects their conversation.

Precious Cells (2023)

An interactive online artwork by Anna Dumitriu, informed by conversations with the HDBI Insights Group, scientists and a policy expert from Progress Educational Trust (PET). It captures the context, history and research priorities of human developmental biology, with particular mention of the legacy of Dame Anne McLaren. This project was led by the Gurdon Institute.

Public dialogue on early human embryo research (2023)

Co-funded by the Wellcome-funded HDBI and UKRI Sciencewise to better understand public hopes and concerns around the regulation of research involving human embryos.  This project was managed by a team representing HDBI and the Babraham Institute, with support from UKRI Sciencewise, and was advised by an oversight group co-chaired by Prof. Bobbie Farsides and Prof. Robin Lovell-Badge. The dialogue was delivered by Hopkins Van Mil and evaluated by Ursus Consulting.

Common Language (2023)
An artist’s book featuring artistic reflections on some of the words used when discussing the use of human fetal and embryonic tissue as well as some examples of how this type of research is reflected in modern and historical media. This project was led by Newcastle University (Artist: Marianne Wilde; Social scientists: Ken Taylor & Simon Woods).

Data guide: “Data: Inception to Publication & Beyond“ a resource for all questions related to data sharing, collaboration, management and publication.

Open, Collaborative, and Reproducible Scientific Workflows (September 2023)

• protocols.io (Emma Ganley) - A secure platform for developing and sharing reproducible methods (Slides; Tutorials; Webinars)

• Renku (Rok Roškar) - An open-source knowledge infrastructure for collaborative and reproducible data science (Slides; Tutorials, Documentation, & Forum; Source code)

• OMERO (Petr Walczysko) - From the microscope to publication, OMERO handles all your images in a secure central repository (Slides, Demo Environment; Tutorials, Documentation, & Forum; Source code)

• Human Cell Atlas (HCA) Data Coordination Platform (Wei Kheng Teh) - a cloud-based platform where scientists from around the world can share, organise and interrogate single-cell data. (Slides; HCA metadata structure)

• Bringing it all together and learning with cookies (Richard J. Acton) - Reasons for working in an open and reproducible fashion and a demo using multiple tools from the previous sessions (Slides; CCCOOCI Project)