13 April 2022
Curious children who like to investigate can go and do research in Utrecht this summer, together with scientists from Utrecht University. During Summerschool Junior they will work on the theme 'air quality', to which Roel Vermeulen and his team will contribute.
Children from the upper grades of elementary school will do research at Utrecht University for four days. Under the guidance of students and scientists, they will be introduced to science and get to work with robots, songs, porpoise strandings and air quality.
Summerschool Junior is a unique opportunity for children to get acquainted with science at the beginning of the summer break. When the regular students are on vacation, Utrecht Science Park is occupied by elementary school students who are excited to do a week of research. The children get to work at various faculties of Utrecht University, including Veterinary Medicine, Social Sciences, Science and Geosciences. Here they seek answers to questions such as: Many porpoises wash up dead on the Dutch coast. How is that possible? And what is their cause of death? What will life in the city look like in 100 years? Where does our energy come from, and our food? How clean is the air you cycle through? Or the air in the playground or your school? The Summerschool is intended for children who are in group 5, 6, 7 or 8 of elementary school this school year.
The environment we live in has a dominant impact on our health. It explains an estimated seventy percent of the chronic disease burden. Where we live, what we eat, how much we exercise, the air we breathe and whom we associate with; all of these environmental factors play a role. The combination of these factors over the life course is called the exposome. There is general (scientific) consensus that understanding more about the exposome will help explain the current burden of disease and that it provides entry points for prevention and ...
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