DJS staff volunteer for Science Oxford
March 15, 2022
David Knight, a Senior Scientist for DJS Antibodies, is volunteering for our Science Oxford Arti-Techs club.
DJS Antibodies is a dynamic new biotech company, working out of the Trust’s new R&D labs at the Wood Centre for Innovation. The company is pioneering the development of novel therapeutics to treat the world’s most critical inflammatory diseases, a class of disease that accounts for more than 50% of deaths worldwide.
As Senior Scientist, David is working on new discovery projects for the company but at 3:30 every Tuesday he takes off his lab coat and joins eleven young people at the Arti-Techs Club run out of the Science Oxford Centre that adjoins the Wood Centre for Innovation. As he says, “it’s a complete contrast to my day job which is definitely busy and can be like flying plane whilst building the plane!”
Run by Sarah Townson, Science Oxford’s Technology Projects Officer, Arti-Techs is an after-school club run every Tuesday to enable 11-14s to learn new art and tech skills, make friends and have fun! Young people get to code, craft and create on a wide range of exciting projects, including creative coding on micro:bits and doing video animations on a green screen.
The project is funded by Oxford City Council’s Youth Ambition Grant and is aimed at young people in the local area and/or with additional needs.
David was inspired to go into science by his biology and chemistry teachers at school and went on to study biochemistry at Bath University before working for UCB Celltech and Immunocore. But as he says “it’s clubs like Arti-Techs that give young people the opportunity to do things they could never do at home or school that can inspire them about science and tech.”
DJS Antibodies have a forward-thinking volunteering policy that allows staff to volunteer for a charity that is close to their heart for four days a year – paid, of course. This has given David the opportunity to volunteer for a couple of hours every Tuesday for Science Oxford over an eight-week period. He is really enjoying the role and seeing the young people he is working with flourish, learn new skills and grow in confidence.
Thank you David and DJS!
Are you interested in working with Science Oxford?
If your company works in any area of STEM and you would like to share your science and technology with families or inspire young people, then our Live Lab at the Science Oxford Centre or our STEM Careers Programme both rely on partnerships.
If you have an interest in working with children then volunteers are very valuable for Science Oxford’s Saturday, after-school and holiday science, computing and nature clubs. If you have an interest in ecology and being outside, we have our own conservation volunteer group for our woodland surrounding our Wood Centre for Innovation and Science Oxford Centre.
To register your interest in volunteering or getting involved with Science Oxford’s education and public engagement programmes, please e-mail [email protected]
