The Welsh like to shop, and so it may come as no surprise that Cardiff boasts one of the UK’s largest and busiest shopping centres, with a natural footfall of around 100,000 people per day. For scientists, this is the perfect habitat to encounter unsuspecting members of the public in the wild and engage a diverse cross-section of our fellow citizens about the microbial world in, on and around us. Having tried this in 2019, where we took science to the city using a pop-up shop approach in a microbiological and immunological context, a possible redelivery was then shelved due to the pandemic (remember that one?), which kept us busy and distracted personally and professionally and made any in-person public engagement impossible for a long time. So, in the end it took us six long years to have the time and the motivation for another large-scale event – and the funds!
Setting up shop
Our new ‘Superbugs Pop-Up Science Shop’ ran from 7 July to 3 August 2025. We took over a large vacant retail space on the upper level of the St David’s Dewi Sant Shopping Centre – a former fashion designer outlet in the heart of everything. With the help of an enthusiastic core group of helpers, support by the St David’s team and Morgans Consult as professional designers, we turned that empty shop into a buzzing, hands-on microbiology experience and exhibition space where visitors could explore everything from infection, health and hygiene to antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’. Funding came from our host institutions Cardiff University (Systems Immunity Research Institute, On-Campus Internship) and Swansea University (MSc in Clinical Microbiology programme), the GW4 consortium and a community grant from Landsec, the owners of the St David’s Centre. Students from Cardiff Metropolitan University’s BSc and MSc Biomedical Science courses helped to staff the shop on a day-to-day basis gaining valuable outreach experience. It took us a month to set up everything on site, from developing and designing content to sourcing props and materials, and rummaging through the mysterious back rooms of former shops where we found abandoned pieces of furniture and other rather useful items. A– a massive shout-out to our neighbour John Lewis who lent us the stuff we couldn’t find elsewhere, from high-quality tables and plinths to mannequins, and even a stage for live presentations!
On weekdays during the last two weeks of the summer term, we welcomed pre-booked primary and secondary school groups; at weekends and during the start of the school holidays, our doors were open for any curious shoppers. This was a team endeavour: 56 volunteers – from senior academic and professional service staff to postgrad, undergrad and even A-level students – pitched in to bring the event to life. All that effort paid off nicely: by the end, we had welcomed 4,955 visitors, including 11 school trips from across South Wales –, including Cardiff, Caerphilly, Llanharry, Newbridge and Merthyr Tydfil: a particularly attractive way to engage pupils and their teachers alike.
Getting hands on
Once inside, things got busy fast. At the ‘Grow Your Own Microbes’ station, visitors took swabs from their tongues, ears, noses, armpits, belly buttons and mobile phone screens and plated them on agar – or they simply kissed the plates to grow the germs they carry on their lips. The Superbugs team incubated a stunning 1,254 petri dishes and posted the yucky results on our website within a few days. This activity was nicely complemented by our ‘IBMS VR Space Lab’ where visitors could suit up for an out-of-this-world science experience in virtual reality, simulating work in a microbiology laboratory, by trying to grow and identify bacteria. From a urine sample. In space!
Right next to it, a handwashing challenge used UV light and fluorescent lotion to show how well (or not so well) visitors scrubbed off ‘germs’ – the glowing bits on their hands, even when they thought they had cleaned them well, were eye-opening for many. For an even closer look at microbes, a microscope station let people peer into the tiny world around us and showed them different types of micro-organisms.
There was plenty more going on to keep everyone entertained and learning, by offering a range of funfair-style games like a tin can alley, a ring toss and even a large ball pit – all with a hidden twist. Younger visitors could simply mess around and safely ignore the science, older ones had the chance to learn how we used these physical activities to demonstrate how antibiotics work, how antimicrobial resistance spreads, and how our body detects and fights harmful germs.
Prizes!
Each activity earned visitors a sticker, and collecting six of them made them an ‘Antibiotic Resistance Champion’ (and earned them a small prize) – a small but empowering nod to the cause of our event. All in all, we created >900 champions, corresponding to >5,400 individual activities in the shop!
We also offered visitors the opportunity to go on a treasure hunt where they had to find a range of ‘nasty germs’ that had ‘escaped’ and were ‘hiding’ across the shop. Treasures consisted of cartoon character versions of important pathogens, and hunters had to collect their scientific names and associated facts about the organisms and the diseases they cause. >750 visitors completed the hunt in pursuit of a well-deserved prize.
Historical horror show
A highlight for those who love it a bit more gruesome was our ‘Horror Show’, for which we converted a row of changing rooms into an immersive exhibition presenting devastating diseases from the past like the Black Death, cholera and smallpox, and ongoing challenges like measles and malaria. Displays featured mannequins dressed up as a medieval plague doctor, ‘Typhoid Mary’, and an NHS worker in full COVID gear, a pharmacy with boxes of antibiotics, a cage with live mosquitoes, pictures of parasitic worms and medicinal maggots, fake blood, urine and infected wounds, an inflatable globe, cuddly giant microbes, and a plastic rat. It was in equal parts a chilling and enlightening experience underscoring how far science and modern medicine have come in diagnosing, fighting and preventing diseases – best illustrated by the triumphant eradication of smallpox through vaccination.
Bilingual English and Welsh info boards and posters around the shop explained the science behind everything – why microbes matter, how our body detects and fights them, and what they have to do with everything from hygiene to healthcare.
Scientists on stage!
It didn’t stop there. On a live stage, real scientists shared insights about ongoing research, and visitors had the opportunity to chat with them face-to-face. A ‘Friendly Germs’ section celebrated microbes that do good things – like helping us make the food we enjoy, including beer and pepperoni pizza! The ‘Wall of Fame’ showcased art and writing from schools in Wales and Tanzania, in a creative bridge spanning continents and societies. Visitors could also get hands-on in our Arts & Crafts Corner to create their own microbe-inspired master pieces; unwind in the reading corner and browse a selection of recommended books about the microbial world; and take home free public-facing literature such as the BSI childhood vaccine guide, leaflets about studying biomedical science degrees at our three universities, and information about public science events in South Wales.
Importantly, we embedded a range of evaluation strategies in the delivery of the event, from benchmarking questions at the entrance and exit of the shop to formal questionnaires for visitors, helpers and school visits, and the collection of anecdotal feedback. The analysis of all data and the overall impact of the event is undoubtedly going to keep us busy for a few months, and forms the core of two MSc dissertations at Swansea University – and in best Gilderoy Lockhart spirit (“for full details, see my published works”) will hopefully result in a range of outputs. Watch this space!
Success for innovative outreach
On a broader note, the pop-up approach is part of a bigger effort to bring science into communities using innovative forms of outreach, which was recently honoured by winning the Institute of Biomedical Science’s Public Engagement Award 2025. (we’re so chuffed we simply had to mention this achievement here!). This approach includes the Superbugs.online site – a rich, multilingual educational resource in English, Welsh, Irish and Gaelic filled with animations, quizzes, illustrated stories, interactive timelines, games, protocols for home experiments, and more. This content was designed for and with teachers and learners, in close alignment with the curriculum for Wales, and covers everything from basic biology to antibiotic resistance and vaccines.
Overall, the success of our event in Cardiff showed that there is a huge appetite for learning more about science and health, and that providing content in a playful environment engages younger and older visitors alike. The appeal of it is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Some visitors even came back multiple times, such as pupils who enjoyed their school trip so much that they returned with their families and friends! We were particularly pleased (and astounded) about how much time many people were happily spending in our shop – doing our sticker challenge and treasure hunt, marvelling at all exhibits, wandering through horrors past and present, and going creative in the arts & crafts corner could easily take sometimes 1-2 hours, or longer.
In a nutshell, the Superbugs Pop-Up Science Shop was much more than your average museum visit or school trip – it was a scientific playground full of surprises and inspiration, trying to hit that sweet spot of being fun, informative, a little shocking and totally memorable at the same time. Most visitors walked out having learnt a few things about the tiny and fascinating, but invisible, creatures that shape our world, and all that while feeling like they’d had a pretty good day out with friends and family!
For those who were not able to visit us in person, for those who did visit us and want to re-live their experience, and for those who might have aspirations to run a similar event: the content of our pop-up shop is now fully online at www.superbugs.online/pop-up-2025, warts and all.
Stay tuned. Keep washing your hands. We may be back soon, at a shopping centre near you.