Saturday 16 May 2026
This year’s Be Curious was busier than ever for the TeraCom team, with over 525 people getting hands-on with our interactive outreach activities.
Be Curious is the University of Leeds’s annual family open day. Led by postdoctoral researcher Thomas Gill, the TeraCom team ran a series of activities designed to explore what it is like to be a laser scientist:
- Dress up as a laser scientist
- Stick the object on the electromagnetic spectrum
- Laser maze game
- Laser comms demo
- Live spectroscopy system
I enjoy public engagement because it gives me a chance to share science with people who may not normally come across it in everyday life. During Be Curious, I ran the laser maze activity, and seeing the excitement and curiosity from children and families was really rewarding.
The best part was hearing the questions people asked; some of them genuinely made me stop and think as well. I also enjoyed the challenge of explaining concepts like terahertz science differently depending on the age group, from very young children to teenagers and adults.
(Sumona)
