Outreach & Education Committee

The Outreach Activities of the Society are overseen by a group of members drawn from the various Science Sections as well as the wider microscopy and education community. Our Outreach programme helps anyone with an interest in microscopy, from school children to those who work in microscopy every day.

About

The remit of the Outreach & Education Committee is to promote the use of microscopes in schools, and to raise public awareness and appreciation of microscopes and science through public exhibitions, workshops and talks.
The activities of the committee include:

Our Microscope Activity Kit Scheme – launched in 2011 to combat the lack of time currently given to science in the primary curriculum and to promote the use of microscopes in schools. Our kits are sent out to Primary Schools around the UK, complete with microscopes and ready-to-go activities for both teachers and pupils.

Summer Studentships - For those just starting out in microscopy, six Summer Studentships are offered each year to undergraduates wishing to complete a project with a large microscopy component in their summer holidays, meaning invaluable experience can be added to their CV before they've even left university!

RMS Diploma - the RMS offers a Diploma qualification to help you advance to the next stage of your career. Our Qualifications Committee meets twice a year to discuss current diploma candidates progress reports.

Public Engagement and Outreach Bursary Fund - It is recognised that many RMS Members are engaged in outreach activities where some external funding would help with those little extras, such as consumables, refreshments etc. Council has set aside a special bursary fund for this specific purpose.

Public Outreach Events – the RMS has hosted and been involved in many public outreach events over the last decade. 

The RMS is committed to being a welcoming, inclusive Society and encourages diversity across all activities and in the membership of our committees and groups.

If you are interested in joining any of the committees in the future, please visit our Join a Committee page.

Committee 

Kerry Thompson

Kerry Thompson

Chair of Outreach & Education Committee, Honorary Secretary for Education, University of Galway

Alex Ball

Alex Ball

Deputy Chair of Outreach & Education Section, Electron Microscopy Section Representative, Natural History Museum

Susan Anderson

Susan Anderson

Previous RMS Vice President, University of Nottingham

Saskia Bakker

Saskia Bakker

School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick

Anna Baldycheva

Anna Baldycheva

Engineering, Physical & Material Sciences Section Chair, University of Exeter

Zoe Barr

Zoe Barr

Heinrich-Heine University, Germany

Jacquelyn Bond

Jacquelyn Bond

Life Sciences Section Representative, University of Leeds

Richard Bowman

Richard Bowman

University of Glasgow

Susan Brooks

Susan Brooks

RMS-Wiley Book Series Editor, Oxford Brookes University

Helen Corry

Helen Corry

University of Oxford

Stephen Cross

Stephen Cross

Wolfson Bioimaging Facility, University of Bristol

Yanping Guo

Yanping Guo

University College London

Nicole Hondow

Nicole Hondow

University of Leeds

Rob Kesseler

Rob Kesseler

University of the Arts London

Marie Kokolski

Marie Kokolski

Chair of the RMS Qualifications Committee, University of Nottingham

Dale Moulding

Dale Moulding

Data Analysis in Imaging Section Representative, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Niga Nawroly

Niga Nawroly

Flow Cytometry Section Representative, ACEA Biosciences

James Perkins

James Perkins

Secondary School Representative, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham

Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott

University of Leeds

Alex Sossick

Alex Sossick

Chair of Professional Development and Training FIG , Natural History Museum, London

Hannah Walpole

Hannah Walpole

JEOL (UK) Ltd

Qualifications Committee

Marie Kokolski

Marie Kokolski

Chair of the RMS Qualifications Committee, University of Nottingham

Kerry Thompson

Kerry Thompson

Chair of Outreach & Education Committee, Honorary Secretary for Education, University of Galway

Susan Anderson

Susan Anderson

Previous RMS Vice President, University of Nottingham

Rik Brydson

Rik Brydson

RMS Vice President , University of Leeds

Susan Brooks

Susan Brooks

RMS-Wiley Book Series Editor, Oxford Brookes University

Andrew Scott

Andrew Scott

University of Leeds

Alex Sossick

Alex Sossick

Chair of Professional Development and Training FIG , Natural History Museum, London

AGM

The 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Outreach & Education Committee of the Royal Microscopical Society will place at 6pm on Tuesday 1 July 2025 during mmc2025 incorporating EMAG 2025

All the Society’s AGMs are free to attend for both members and non-members.