Our dynamic earth, oceans and cosmos explored in interactive events

The award-winning Blue Planet II series and developments in space science since the first moon landing, were explored in interactive public talks at Dynamic Earth - Scotland’s five-star earth sciences visitor attraction - in Edinburgh in October 2019.

The talks were accompanied by a two-day public interactive science showcase. 

‘Science behind the Blue Planet’ was an interactive talk and panel debate with the Open University academic team who worked on the award-winning BBC/OU co-produced TV series Blue Planet II. 

Professor Mark Brandon, Dr Phillip Sexton, Dr Miranda Dyson and Dr Pallavi Anand used video footage from the series to cover the science of our oceans, the experience of the series production process, and how science and discovery were the driving forces behind Blue Planet II.

The event was chaired by Vanessa Collingridge, a Board Member of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the OU, is most well known for her work on meteorites. She has an asteroid named after her and has spoken extensively about voyages in Space and Time. 

Prof Grady's highly engaging public talk '1969 and All That' explored developments in space science in the 50 years since the first human walked on the Moon and since the OU was born.

The talks were co-hosted by The Open University in Scotland and Dynamic Earth for ages 14+ and took place during Scotland's October school holidays.

They were accompanied by a drop-in, free-of-charge OU Science Showcase exhibition, with interactive activities for all, such as citizen science activities exploring nature with iSpot and Treezilla.