Dr Caitlin Butala and PhD student Roo Cave engaged curious and inquisitive minds at their Invisible Invaders exhibit for this year’s Going Global themed Edinburgh Science Festival. Two children participating in the Invisible Invaders exhibit at the Edinburgh Science Festival, April 2026 The theme of this years’ Edinburgh Science Festival was Going Global. Now in its 35th year, the festival sought to celebrate Scotland’s contribution to scientific advances through research, innovation and its extraordinary people. Specifically, it wanted to focus on research and innovation created through international partnerships that address shared challenges, directly aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Dr Caitlin Butala explained: ‘For nearly ten years we have partnered with Zhejiang University to develop research-led teaching in biomedical science. We pursue a joint approach. Our remit is to create the next generation of innovators and leaders in biomedical science. The theme for this years’ festival pretty much described the approach of the ZJE Institute. Particularly as much of our work is aligned to SDG 3, which seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.Working with PhD student Roo Cave, Dr Butala, presented an exhibit called Invisible Invaders. Roo’s PhD is in Trypanosomiasis ( sleeping sickness) transmitted by tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa.Dr Butala continues: ‘We used microscopes to show visitors the invisible invaders responsible for major global diseases. Seeing these organisms first hand made the science more immediate and easier to understand.’Under the microscope, visitors could see Anopheles mosquitoes, best known for spreading malaria. There are around 240–250 million cases of malaria each year and around 600,000 deaths. The team also had slides of Schistosoma, a flatworm that is picked up in dirty water causing Schistosomiasis - also called bilharzia. This neglected tropical disease is less well known than malaria, but still affecting over 200 million people globally, with long-term impacts on health, education, and livelihoods. Diseases likemalariaand schistosomiasis are central to SDG 3 because they are preventable and treatable, they disproportionately affect poorer communities, and they cause wide social and economic impacts. A photo of the tippy tap handwashing station A photo of Roo setting up the tippy tap station Engaging with such a curious and inquisitive audience offered a valuable opportunity to see our research from a different perspective. It was encouraging to see how quickly young visitors developed their own ideas about what they were observing, and how they expressed that understanding through drawings and creative responses during the activity. Dr Caitlin Butala Policy and Transnational Education Research Programme Manager, ZJE Institute Publication date 04 May, 2026
