UC Community Open Day

Awesome experiments, robot displays, microscopic gold panning and the biggest bouncy castle in the South Island will be just some of the features of the University of Canterbury’s Community Open Day on Saturday 1 October from 10am to 3pm.

The University is opening its doors on Saturday 1 October for this fun, family-friendly event to give the people of Christchurch an opportunity to find out what goes on in the laboratories and other facilities at the Ilam campus, and enjoy live comedy and music.

The programme for the Community Open Day has something for everyone. There will be opportunities to get “hands-on” with activities such as extracting iron from breakfast cereal and making fake blood, free classes and climbing wall sessions at the University Recreation Centre, and using hi-tech equipment to see inside your own eardrum.

Other activities include interactive demonstrations on measuring photosynthesis in trees and discussing the importance of trees; the earthquake shake table; mechanical go-karts; unmanned vehicles; Maori bread making and flax weaving.

There will also be lectures on topics such as toxicology, with one of the University’s leading experts talking about chemicals found in everyday products such as baked beans, toothpaste, moisturisers and painkillers.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr says there are about 50 events and activities on the programme for the day, with free car parking available on campus.

“We want to throw our doors open and say to the people of Christchurch ‘come on in and see what we’re up to’. It’s going to be a great chance to find out about some of the amazing things our people do here.

“There will be poetry readings and children's book readings, a Rutherford medals display, and foreign language films too.”

Dr Carr says it will be the first time the University has held this kind of family-friendly community event, which will give people an opportunity to learn about the University and enjoy the green, open campus.

“The Fine Arts Gallery will be open and there’ll be food stalls. People might even want to bring a picnic and really make a day of it.”

The programme for Community Open Day can be found at www.canterbury.ac.nz.