International Science Festival director Jerome Cousins and crime scene investigator Angela Clark on a special Taieri Gorge train trip to celebrate the science festival yesterday. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY Two high-flying luminaries from Taiwan’s scientific community will take back plenty of ideas from their visit to Dunedin. National Science and Technology Council for Taiwan section chief Chih-Chun Wei and development officer Chan Chao-Fen have been in Dunedin for the past few days taking in the various events at the New Zealand International Science Festival. The pair concluded their visit with a ride on the Taieri Gorge Science Train yesterday. They were impressed with the variety of events over the past week, and also with young people’s reactions to them. ‘‘I think the science activities aim to cultivate our children’s scientific literacy, to spark their imagination or their curiosity,’’ Mr Chao-Fen said. ‘‘We can see their smiles on their faces, and that’s the happiest thing.’’ The pair enjoyed the fact the festival in Dunedin moved beyond traditional experiments and into areas such as solving mock crime scenes. ‘‘I will bring some of these ideas to Taiwan,’’ Mr Wei said. ‘‘When we were on the science train, we saw a lot of families, and they were sharing the knowledge, which I think is very important.’’ Dunedin had a wide variety of science communicators during the festival; Mr Wei said he would like the collaborations to extend to the people. ‘‘We’ve got a good opportunity to work together.’’ The pair even enjoyed the fact the festival was held in winter, which they felt was a ‘‘good time to share science’’. New Zealand International Science Festival director Jerome Cousins said it was extremely gratifying to receive such endorsements from abroad. ‘‘It’s been such a surprise and an honour for them to come down, especially with the National Science and Technology Council, and then to be looking around the world at where they can take inspiration from and to see our festival down in Dunedin and going, ‘yep, let’s go check that out’. ‘‘I think that’s really cool for us.’’ There were more than 60 events over the course of the week in Dunedin, and nearly 3000 people bought tickets, while the ‘‘hub’’ at Wall Street Mall had more than 4800 visitors. Mr Cousins said he would be keen to bring back the dignitaries in a presenting role at future science festivals. ‘‘I think we have to remember that our festival has a strong international flavour, and we’re keen to build on that.’’
