DWHC at Utrecht Science Week and Weekend of Science
The DWHC was present at Utrecht Science Week and the national Weekend of Science to talk about our research on diseases in wild animals in the Netherlands. These were two very different activities: a stakeholders’ dinner on infectious diseases for directors and policymakers, and activities for children during the Weekend of Science.
Stakeholders’ Dinner
On Monday, September 30, the annual stakeholders’ dinner took place during Utrecht Science Week, this year with the theme of infectious diseases. The dinner, organized as a walking dinner, brought researchers, policymakers, and representatives from healthcare and science together.
During the presentation, Judith van den Brand (DWHC) and Xander de Haan (Virology department) spoke about their research into animal influenza viruses, with a focus on avian influenza — a disease that occurs in both birds and mammals in the Netherlands. We showed how we, together with clinical and fundamental research groups, contribute to the early detection of disease outbreaks.
Weekend of science
Where the stakeholders’ dinner mainly appealed to professionals, during the Weekend of Science we had young visitors.
We invited children and their parents to our ‘Cabinet with creepy stuff.’ It featured various parasites and ticks in alcohol, as well as an interesting find from the past month (see photo of a well-preserved roe fawn in a strange position). The young visitors could examine the animals with a magnifying glass and learned how diseases in wild animals can spread.
It was a day full of enthusiasm and a range of questions: “Why is this hedgehog white?” and “But how can a fox get avian influenza, because it’s not a bird, right?”. We brought taxidermy animals and described interesting cases we have found in those species. The hedgehog with the pop-off syndrome was a favorite, both to look at and to feel.
