EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

—  The Centre for Life is an exception to most science centres as it has a sustainability model built in to its structure, but due to its reliance on capital intensive property ownership this is not a model that is easily transferable to other existing centres. It does provide an excellent template for future new developments however.

—  While Life's business model is capable of sustaining the centre's operation, it is not a model that allows for renewal, innovation or expansion, for which additional funds still need to be sought.

—  The availability of a regular external revenue stream would enable the Centre for Life to once again offer LifeLab and other education activities free to all schools, enabling even schools from the most deprived areas of our community to participate fully again.,

—  It would also free up income generated by the Centre for Life's business activities for use to develop and renew the centre's content allowing the organisation to plan this in an effective strategic manner rather than one driven by the vicissitudes of fundraising.

—  It would enable Life's business model to function without the need for speculative fundraising to ensure the renewal of the basic content that is needed to retain visitor interest. Fundraising effort could then be concentrated on activities that expand what the centre does and that are innovative and able to make positive contributions to education and the science centre field.

1.  INTRODUCTION

  1.1  The Centre for Life is the public engagement component of an innovative science village that is based on three synergistic, mutually supportive elements, scientific research, commercialisation and public engagement. The overall operation and impact of this synergy is complex, encompassing successes in stem cell research, bioethics and human genetics and means that the situation of the hands-on science centre element of the mix is unlike that of any other centre in the UK. For the purpose of this submission the element that specifically relates to the science centre operation has been extracted and highlighted as this is the area of interest for this enquiry. To give a full picture of this in context with the philosophy, operation and impacts of the complete science village would result in a document that incorporated matters considerably beyond the scope of this enquiry.

  1.2  The Centre for Life is the only dedicated hands-on science centre in the north east of England. Set up as a Millennium Project, it is a registered charity and has been open for 7 years in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the public face of an innovative "science village" that has transformed a derelict area of the city centre and contributed significantly to the city's regeneration. Life uses a business model designed from the start to underpin the operation of the science centre with ancillary businesses to ensure its long-term survival.

  1.3  Life's objectives are twofold: firstly, to inspire curiosity in science, to raise standards in science education and to engage everyone in the community in contemporary science issues and, secondly, to provide support and state of the art facilities on site for world class scientific research in medicine.

  1.4  To this end, on Life's 10 hectare site there is the interactive science centre itself, with a dedicated suite of laboratories for school use, two NHS clinics, including a reproductive medicine unit, commercial space leased to biotech businesses and the University of Newcastle's Institute of Human Genetics, which shares a building with the interactive centre. In addition the site also houses a major conference suite, bars and nightclubs, and a multi storey car park.

  1.5  Income from property leasing, car parking and the conference centre provides operational funding for the hands-on science centre, although it still needs to raise funds externally for innovation and renewal to keep the exhibitions current and attractive to visitors.

  1.6  Around 500 people are employed on site. They include researchers, clinicians, educationalists, ethicists, and business people.

  1.7  The presence of practicing scientists on site allows staff at the hands-on science centre to work in unprecedented closeness with researchers Among the organisations working on the site is the North East Stem Cell Institute (NESCI), one of the world's leading stem cell research centres, where the first cloned human embryo was produced. NESCI has worked closely with the science centre to contribute to exhibitions and to run public events on stem cells. Other internationally acclaimed teams on site are involved in cutting edge research on cancer and muscular dystrophy.

  1.8  The science centre itself comprises a 3,500m2 permanent exhibition supported by a 600m2 temporary exhibition space. It has an 80 seat theatre for lectures and live demonstrations, a 65 seat digital dome theatre and a 48 seat "motion ride" cinema. The education service has a suite of four teaching laboratories containing state of the art equipment and facilities for practical science activities. The science centre serves around 200,000 people each year, including around 26,000 educational users and also co-ordinates the annual Newcastle Science Festival, which is the second largest in the UK, reaching over 50,000 people a year.

  1.9  Life plays an important role in the science communication and education life of the north east. It is a key partner in the Newcastle Science City initiative, is represented on the board of the region's Science Learning Centre and is bidding with Newcastle and Durham Universities to become a Higher Education Funding Council for England Beacon of Public Engagement.

2.  PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

2.1  General Public Users

  Life reaches a wide range of public users across the north east, drawing its public from some of the most deprived areas in the UK.

  The groups who used the services at Life in the year 2006-07 can be broken down as follows:

  Life offers users the following:

  A permanent interactive exhibition featuring:

—  Human Life—A gallery letting users explore how humans evolved, how we cope with extreme environments today and how science might shape our future.

—  Waste Management—Giving users the chance to explore the consequences of our throw-away society and how they might improve the environment by recycling and sensible disposal.

—  Life Arcade—Our remaining original gallery, this explores human physical and mental abilities. Funding is currently being sought to allow its replacement with a gallery that encourages scientific curiosity and thinking.

  These exhibitions use physical and computer-based interactives supported by specially trained interpretive Explainer staff (all graduate scientists). The exhibitions have been created by a specialist in-house team using extensive input from world-leading experts in the relevant research fields.

  A temporary exhibition gallery hosting regular temporary exhibitions on a wide range of themes.

  A science theatre within the exhibition is used daily to present interactive science demonstrations. An Explainer leads a show based on practical demonstrations, many requiring audience participation.

  A "digital dome theatre" allows us to show computer generated immersive films or host a planetarium show for an audience of 65 people.

  At regular intervals we host special events weekends on science related themes eg "Animals"" weekend where conservationists, animal charities, local special interest groups etc come to Life.

  There are also one-off special events hosted at Life for specific audiences; eg "Life in 2020", a panel debate chaired by Radio 4's Quentin Cooper. This will discuss how human life may be affected by the innovations and discoveries of contemporary science today.

  An annual lecture series that bring leading scientists and science communicators such as Richard Dawkins, James Watson, Colin Blakemore, Matt Ridley and Bill Bryson to Newcastle.

  Life's permanent exhibitions were originally developed with funding from the Millennium Commission as part of the original development of the centre. After being used by upwards of 2 million visitors over a seve year period these have been largely replaced by the current exhibitions using funding made available through the Millennium/Wolfson/Wellcome ReDiscover scheme, and some sponsorship from the waste disposal company SITA. Life does not have the resources to fund such redevelopments by self-generated means and relies on opportunistic external fundraising for renewal.

2.2  Educational users

  Science centres are not schools. Their galleries and public programmes are not intended to inculcate detailed formal scientific knowledge into users, rather their role is to give them an opportunity to explore science for themselves, have their curiosity inspired by it and to create a thirst for knowledge that can be satisfied in more formal settings, be it from school, books or even TV. It is important for today's highly technological world that all members of society have some familiarity with science and feel capable of addressing it at some level and see it as part of our culture. Life's public programmes have been developed with these objectives in mind, but the centre also plays a role in contributing to formal education with the services it provides to education groups.

  Life supports formal education by offering support and enhancement to the provision offered in schools and colleges. Teachers bring their classes to Life to make use of equipment and expertise to which they would not have access in school. This is particularly important in the North-east where the urban boroughs include many of the poorest wards in the country.

Etherley Lane Primary, Co Durham

"An opportunity to use facilities and equipment we don't have in school."

  Formal learning at Life has some unusual characteristics for a science centre:

—  It utilises a suite of teaching laboratories modelled on the pioneering Dolan DNA Learning Center at Coldspring Harbor Laboratory, New York.

—  The laboratories are used to deliver a programme of structured, hands-on workshops.

—  Workshops are much more in-depth than the activities that can be offered in an exhibition, and can range from 45 minutes to 5 hours (akin to a university-level science practical).

—  Activities are led by a team of Science Explainers, typically graduate scientists, trained and supervised by experienced science teachers.

—  Capacity for this resource is limited, but in the last year a total of 20,530 students participated in a formal taught workshop at Life.

  The Lifelab workshops are designed to be exemplar lessons to teachers and fun for students whilst delivering key points from the national curriculum. Teachers appreciate the care with which the workshops are crafted and value the deep learning which they inculcate.

Alston Primary School

  "Our year sixes have just done much better than expected in their KS2 SATs. Their form teacher was complimenting me on how well they had coped with the sound question which none of us had expected.

  `You must have taught them really well in year Five' she said. I didn't like to tell her that the only sound they had done was your `Sound of Science' workshop. They obviously remembered the key points for over eighteen months to do so well in the tests."

Rachelle (Science Explainer)

  "We had Dunston Riverside Primary in today for the media launch of the Science Festival. The teacher came over to me and said that I had taught her Year 6 class last year and that she thought we would like to know that they did really well in their science SATs (top 10%) and she said that the visits to Life had really helped with this. She also said that they have remembered all that I told them about snot!"

  Schools can choose from over 50 curriculum-linked workshops aimed at different age groups from pre-school to post-16. These are directly linked to particular Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Schemes of Work, which mirror the way teachers plan their work. Until 2006 Life received funding to offer these workshops for free to any school group. This funding came from the Genetics Knowledge Park initiative of the Department of Health and the DTI, which has now come to an end. Specific workshops, for example on materials and recycling, have been sponsored commercially and these remain free to schools However, the majority of the programme now has to be paid for by schools.

  The result of this has been that fewer visits are being made to the Centre by schools from the more deprived areas of our region, and more by well funded independent schools.

  In addition, education groups can book time in the exhibition and use specially designed, National Curriculum-linked trails to explore them from an educational perspective.

Teacher responses

A satisfaction survey was conducted in spring term 2007, with a sample of teachers who have brought school groups to the teaching laboratories. Of 527 responses, 308 (58%) were "highly satisfied" and 215 (41%) were "satisfied" with the experience. None were dissatisfied.

2.3  Outreach

  Outreach is any activity which engages with students off-site. This typically takes the form of a demonstration-based roadshow with a large number of participants.

  Current outreach activity has three strands:

—  The Recycling Roadshow, which promotes the ideals of reducing, reusing and recycling to older KS2 and lower KS3 audiences.

—  Northern Outreach is a roadshow taking science shows out to schools in deprived communities.

—  The Gene Machine—aimed at older students this uses a short drama to highlight potential genetics issues. The presenters then come out of character to facilitate a discussion about the genetic issue raised.

  In addition we deliver Outreach CPD to school teachers on topics relevant to science education and to the General Public at large events such as the 2005 tall Ships Race.

2.4  Dialogue

  Life has been a developmental partner in a number of projects to engage young people in debates surrounding contemporary science. In some cases the outcomes have been directed into government public consultation exercises. Dialogue events are becoming a more regular feature at Life, with around 50 students participating in an all-day session each month.

  Life dialogue activities include:

—  "Doing Dialogue" and "Debates with a Difference" which created tools that can be applied where difficult ethical issues arise.

—  The pan-European project "DeCiDe" (Deliberative Citizens Debates in European science centres and museums). Where groups discuss issues and agree a number of consensus "policy statements" that are uploaded to a central website that collates national and European views.

2.5  Newcastle Science Festival

  Since 2002, Life has coordinated the Newcastle Science Festival. In 2007 the festival attracted 50,007 visitors. Over 100 events took place at fifteen venues across NewcastleGateshead, including schools events for over 5000 children. All lectures and debates were free to attend, and charging attractions including Life offered reduced entry price. Around 20% of visitors to the festival had never participated in a science event before, and many more only visit very occasionally. Participants were predominantly drawn from the North East, but national and international visitors attended in increasing numbers. Funding for the festival was provided for its first five years by ONE North East, the Regional Development Agency, but this has now come to an end and funding for future festivals is subject to negotiation.

3.  PERFORMANCE

3.1  Visitor numbers—science centre

  The science centre receives around 200,000 visitors each year, including 26,000 educational visitors. The pattern of visits initially followed the standard industry pattern of a peak at opening followed by a gradual decay (see Caulton, T "Hands-On Exhibitions: managing interactive museums and science centres", Routledge 1998). However, the expansion of activities at the Centre including a more comprehensive education programme, temporary exhibitions, special events and the redevelopment has seen a rebuilding of visitor numbers past the first year total.

3.2  Conference and Banqueting customers

  In 2006-07 the Life Conference and Banqueting business hosted over 550 events, serving over 30,000 delegates, generating a profit of £155,000 for the Centre.

3.3  Outdoor Commercial Events

  The Centre for Life incorporates a public square which has become a popular space for public events. The Centre itself operates an outdoor ice rink which serves around 60,000 customers each winter. This summer will see the first trial of outdoor summer events including an open air cinema in June. At other times during the year the space is rented out to commercial customers for a diverse range of activities from product launches and trade displays to World Cup TV coverage and live cabaret. These third party activities bring a different customer-base to the site and help to place Life at the heart of cultural activity in Newcastle.

4.  FUNDING/BUSINESS MODEL

  Life is a charitable trust whose business model is designed so that a range of trading activities provides basic support for the core charitable objectives of science communication and scientific research.

  As well as housing the science centre, research facilities and conferencing suites, Life also manages a significant property portfolio which includes bars, a nightclub and a multi-storey car park.

  While this model puts Life in the unique position for a science centre as being operationally self-financing, it is essentially break-even, and while the centre retains some financial reserve, this is required to service the needs of operating a high tech property portfolio and does not provide any opportunities for funding exhibition renewal.

  This business model provides Life with operational stability as long as complete stasis in the exhibition is assumed. However, from experience and research into audience behaviour it is evident that such stasis results in a declining visitor number within two to three years, and as visitor income provides an important element in the income stream, to maintain this level of income, regular injections of funding to refresh the exhibitions and other parts of the offer are required.

5.  IMPACT

  The Impact of the Centre for Life can be expressed in a number of ways:

5.1  The Physical Impact

—  The Centre for Life has played a significant role in the regeneration of Newcastle City Centre. It has transformed a derelict area adjacent to the railway station and replaced it with a landmark building that provides significant facilities for its users.

—  The science centre itself is now the regions second largest visitor attraction, drawing over 200,000 people a year.

—  The site provides popular bars and award-winning nightclubs.

—  Its square regularly hosts high profile commercial and family events.

—  It has brought significant research facilities into the city centre where they are seen in an everyday context rather than as isolated facilities in research parks and university campuses.

—  It has provided land for an additional development of flats and hotels.

—  It has built a major car park for city centre use.

5.2  The Social Impact

  Newcastle and its region are among the most deprived areas of the UK, and so our audience contains a higher proportion of people from lower socio-economic groups with low levels of achievement in science and technology, particularly through initiatives like Northern Outreach, which is taking Life experiences out to schools that are unable to engage with STEM initiatives for reasons of economic or social deprivation or due to their isolated location. It is clear that Life is reaching new audiences and audiences from groups not traditionally interested in science, as demonstrated by our February 2007 half-term visitor survey:

—  46% of respondents were repeat visitors, 54% of participants had never visited the Centre for Life before.

—  Overall respondent's attitudes have been positive 57% saying they were very satisfied with their visit and 40% being satisfied.

—  The majority of visitors reside within the Tyne and Wear area which accounts for 60% and 27% being from the region travelling up to one hour.

—  There were more female visitors aged between 16-60 years (50%) than male (27%) however there were more male aged between 6-10 years (36%) than female (26%).

5.3  The Economic Impact

  The Centre for Life has had significant economic impact in a number of spheres:

—  It has created employment for 500 people on its site.

—  It has added several major strands to the region's cultural and leisure offering.

—  It draws users from across the UK bringing economic benefits to the city as a result.

—  It provides an opportunity for biotech entrepreneurs to create their start-up companies in the north east and develop them here, with the concomitant economic benefits to the region.

—  It has acted as a stimulus for further economic regeneration on surrounding sites.

—  It is investing in the future economic strength of the region by developing scientific and technologically literate people for the future.

—  It is helping create the image of the north east as a vibrant go-ahead region to which it is attractive to relocate and invest in.

—  It has formed a significant plank in the City's Discovery Quarter strategy.

—  It is providing a model for other investments in science such as Newcastle Science City, which is using the science/business mix as a template for its own developments in another run down area of the city.

5.4  The Scientific Impact

  The creation of the Centre for Life as a whole, incorporating all the elements of the science village has had a considerable impact on science locally. These impacts include:

—  Providing a forum for the Universities of Durham and Newcastle and the NHS Fertility Service to collaborate on stem cell research in the North East Stem Cell Institute, which has gained a reputation for world-leading breakthroughs in the field.

—  Allowed the Universities of Durham and Newcastle to collaborate with the Centre for Life to create PEALS, a leading bioethics body.

—  Allowed the Institute of Human Genetics to grow three-fold and develop to a five star rated research institution.

—  To move public engagement with science to the heart of the agenda of regional universities.

June 2007