The human stories behind Bristol scientists who are playing an important role in global efforts to overcome COVID-19 have been captured in a billboard campaign by a Bristol-based photographer.
The vaccine poster project is the brainchild of photographer - Tom Skipp - who wanted to portray through images some of the key people behind coronavirus research being carried out at the University of Bristol.
Tom was concerned by what he felt was a distrust of science and an anecdotal feeling that minority populations might be dissuaded to take a vaccine given a historic prejudice by institutions. Tom also felt that the perception of the general public was that scientists aren’t like them and that they are usually only seen at lecterns next to government figures disseminating statistics that suggest the public could have their civil liberties cut.
The aim of Tom’s campaign is to connect science with the community and posters will be unveiled at five locations around Bristol today [27 April]. The posters will be on view to members of the public until Sunday 9 May 2021.
In the project, Tom wanted to understand the very human stories and motivations of some of the key scientists working in Bristol and relate those to the people of Bristol on a street level.
Read the full UoB press release.
Further information
The poster locations and scientists photographed are:
- 92-98 Kingsland Road, Bristol BS2 0QZ – Drs Ore Francis, Research Associate and Rajeka Lazarus, a consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology at UHBW;
- 28 Stapleton Road, Bristol BS5 0QX - Dek Woolfson, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute;
- 34 Ashley Road, Bristol BS6 5NS - Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics at Bristol, Director of the Bristol Vaccine Centre at Bristol Medical School and lead of Bristol UNCOVER;
- 265 Church Road, Bristol BS5 9HU - Dr David Mathews, Reader in Virology;
- Trinity Road, Bristol BS2 0FJ - Dr Christy Waterfall, Senior Research Associate.
Tom Skipp would like to thank all the participants in this project, the University of Bristol, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), Jack Arts and Kathleen Sedgley.
COVID-19 research outputs
A full list of University of Bristol research outputs relating to the COVID-19 pandemic is available online.
