Innovative firm makes science fun

An innovative Shropshire biological specimens supplier has met with a leading industry health and safety body to ensure future fun in science lessons for pupils across the UK and Ireland.

Darwin Biological, which provides specimens and specialist supplies to secondary schools, invited representatives from CLEAPSS - an organisation which provides support in science and technology for schools, to their base in Shawbury near Shrewsbury.

Ai-Linh, biology advisor at CLEAPSS, visited the family-run firm in a bid to ensure they continue to be responsive to modern educational needs.

Meg Bilson, founder and managing director of Darwin Biological, said: "We spent a few hours together conducting experiments that we recommend to school science technicians and even though it was originally only a session for our lab staff, all our staff ended up getting involved because it was so much fun. 

“It was great to learn new techniques and for everyone in our team to have experience with the practicals too, as we will now be better equipped to answer questions and provide advice to those we supply in the future. 

“Ai-Linh discussed science education and the issues schools have when they ring the industry body helpline, which takes thousands of calls each year. We believe the values of Darwin Biological align very closely with those of CLEAPSS as both work towards teaching technicians and staff how to carry out exciting experiments safely rather than avoid them, in a bid to make education engaging for students and bring biology lessons to life.

“We got a real insight into the trends in classrooms and how innovative we can be as a company. It was a real coup to have Ai-Linh at our base as she usually holds workshops for science technicians and teachers.”

During the session the staff completed practicals with fungi and algae balls. They also experimented with a new product called slime mould, which is featured in a booklet of expert-led practicals Darwin Biological sent out to 4,500 secondary schools across England, Scotland and Wales.

Meg said the feedback to the booklet has been extremely positive, with many technicians at educational institutions describing it as helping to make their job ‘interesting and easier’. 

CLEAPSS was set up in 1963 and offers help from nursery education through to A-level studies or equivalent, with 98% of all secondary schools in the UK and Northern Ireland signed up to the organisation.

Darwin Biological was founded in 2019 in a spare room at the home of Meg and her husband Bil. It is committed to ethical sourcing, with British suppliers who value animal welfare and whose ethics align with those of the company.

The company works closely with experts and gets supplies from ethical sources, such as mother cultures for bacteria from the UK Health Security Agency and algae from the world-leading Culture Collection in Scotland.