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Pop Up Science is a practical guide from Imperial College London about transforming empty shops into creative spaces for science engagement. It was written to disseminate learning from their two pilot pop up science shop projects, The Heart and Lung Repair Shop and The Heart and Lung Convenience Store. The guide also includes seven other case studies of pop up science shops from the UK, Europe and the US.

It is hoped that the Pop Up Science guide will be a useful resource if you are planning your own pop up science shop, or if you would just like to know more about this approach to science engagement.

You can download the guide here.

Since empty shops became a feature of our high streets, artists, entrepreneurs, chefs, community groups and commercial retail companies have been temporarily taking over these vacant spaces in a myriad of different ways, bringing life and creativity to forgotten corners of our towns and cities.
- Pop-up Shops: a practical guide

The guide covers the potential of pop-up science shops for science engagement, a step-by-step look at creative planning, collaboration, making it happen, building a buzz, making it matter as well as an annotated resources page that covers things like budgets, permissions and dealing with landlords.

It also includes a discussion about Science Shops, which differ from pop-up shops in that they're more about facilitating community involvement and participator research models.

 

 

 

 

The image reads: 10 reasons to do a pop up science shop. 1. Reach audiences in places where they already spend time. 2. Build relationships with a community. 3. Collaborate with local people to create a project. 4. Experiment with new engagement formats. 5. Test an idea for a temporary time. 6. Do something different/unusual/unexpected/surprising. 7. Start a conversation. 8. Address a current issue in an agile way. 9. Tackle a challenging topic. 10. Be brave, bold and take risks.