With in-person laboratory tours impossible at present, virtual tours to engage with the public are showing their value.
An article in The Scientist gives tips on how to make an effective lab tour and spoke to experts from Understanding Animal Research (UAR), and the University of Edinburgh, UK, and the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.
Since 2016 advocacy organisation UAR, has been making animal facility virtual tours with a 360º “street view” into four animal research facilities in the UK.
Wendy Jarrett, EARA board member, and head of UAR explained that virtual tours can reach more people, and are more accessible for people with mobility difficulties.
“They can focus on things they find interesting and skip areas that do not interest them so much. In many ways, a virtual lab tour can be more advantageous than a physical one,” she said.