We’re excited to be part of Pint of Science Festival 2025! FWD will be at the Glitch in Waterloo on the 20th of May (Tuesday) alongside two other amazing speakers. Under the banner of Paths to Progress: Walking as a tool to reconnect us to our natural world, we will be sharing how walking can help us reconnect with nature, boost conservation efforts, and spark communities to take positive climate action and fight for ecological justice.
Sign up for your free tickets here.
A few images from the Queer MicroSoc Social show, presenting our fabulous micro drag artists Branden Curtis (cholera) and Laura Wyatt O’Keeffe (E. coli).
The interdisciplinary Flow.Walk.Drag. research team, led by Dr. Natalie Beveridge, made a significant impact at the Microbiology Society Annual Conference held in Liverpool this month (31 March – 3 April).
Groundbreaking Research Poster Presentation
On April 1st, the team presented their innovative research poster titled “Drag Performance as a Methodology for Exploring Human-Microbe Relations: A Case Study of Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli.”
The project challenges traditional science communication methods by employing drag performance art to explore the complex relationships between humans and microbes. Rather than using unidirectional knowledge transfer, this approach creates space for deeper engagement with microbial worlds and their influence on human history and public health.
Dr. Beveridge explains: “Drag is a scientific method that reconsiders relationality. It puts human and non-human bodies and the transmission of information all under the microscope, allowing us to engage with difficult topics in a creative way.”Dr. Alifuoco adds: “Our work with Flow.Walk.Drag. demonstrates how performance methodologies can disrupt traditional hierarchies in scientific knowledge production, enabling horizontal information transmission and non-human perspectives.”
Two poem by one of our Liverpool participants, Ebtisam Elghblawi, who was inspired by our conversations to write verse .
Merseyside winds(more…)
In the old Mersey
Where tides blow so high menacing
Breaking space and time
Disrupting the content of life
When wells and tapes scream out loud
In the silent water flow
Impounded souls
A crafted cry, to burn the house
A tale of explosive purging
Where souls were stitched
In Liverpool docks
Cholera crept and knitted unseen
Born a filthy stream
A storytelling of mended wounds
Grave robbing - emboldened corpse dissecting
A deadly sip in the dark shadow casting
Our second workshop started with some string figures, winding twine back to remember how we ended up at the Winter Garden on a Saturday afternoon. Continuing with the theme of remembrance, the group shared stories of personal objects that held a strong connection with water.
