Leith Labs
Leiths Labs was the world’s first long-term scientist-in-residence programme in a shopping centre, Ocean Terminal, in Leith from 2016-2020.
The initiative involved free science and art activities, informal discussions over tea and biscuits at the Living Memory Association with local scientists and creatives, and a hacked Lab Unit in the middle of Ocean Terminal for hands-on experiments and roaming Scientists Busking with science tricks and art performances once a month.
In between events, the unit served as a Leith Community Science Postbox including postcards for visitors to post their questions about science. We received over 400 questions which we worked through and teamed Leith-ers with scientists to answer the questions themselves.
You can read about our learning from the first year of the project including project highlights, some of the questions asked via the postcards and insights from researchers involved.
Leith Labs was kindly funded by the Physiological Society and the EU Researchers Night, with in-kind support from Ocean Terminal, Science Ceilidh, Fun Palaces and Eureka Edinburgh. Photos: Chris Scott, Jaime Amaro-Blanco and others.