Research rocks the Godiva festival

Research rocks the Godiva festival

University of Warwick researcher Dr Lory Barile is passionate about reaching new audiences with her work on understanding the barriers to improving the energy efficiency of our homes, so when the chance came up to promote her Retrofit Rocks project at Coventry’s Godiva Festival she didn’t hesitate.

Dr Barile and her team took a stall in the Your Coventry tent alongside community groups from across Coventry to meet festivalgoers and speak with them about her work.

She explains: “We decided to attend Godiva as we wanted to promote the Retrofit Rocks project to the public, particularly to schools in Coventry.

“The Godiva festival attracts enormous audiences – typically around 70,000 people – so we thought it was a great opportunity both to promote the project, which is ongoing, and to raise awareness of housing retrofitting schemes.

“Some Coventry residents may be eligible for financial support to improve the energy efficiency of their homes so also we wanted to let people know about this and help the Council to increase uptake of the schemes.”

As part of the Retrofit Rocks project Dr Barile and her team have worked with pupils, parents and staff at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Radford, Coventry. The pupils carried out scientific experiments measuring the insulation properties of various materials and worked with local artists to design their own 3D models of well-insulated homes.

The project team will draw up a toolkit and a policy briefing to share the lessons which emerged during the workshops about why people don’t take advantage of retrofitting and other insulation schemes.

Despite competing for attention with headline acts including Eurovision star Sam Ryder, Richard Ashcroft and Beverly Knight, Dr Barile found that festival-goers were interested in the project and happy to hear more.

She said: “It was a great experience We spoke with at least 600 people, handed out our flyers with information on how to get in touch with us, and promoted our survey.

“People living in our communities are the recipients of policies made by policymakers, so it is crucial to understand the problems they face if we are to design policies that can truly be effective.

“It was really rewarding to see people engaging with the project and sharing their experiences with housing retrofitting. It was especially inspiring to see the children at St Augustine’s school asking for more workshops and activities to help save the planet. I loved every second of this project and I am sure my team did as well.”

• The survey is still open and Dr Barile is keen to hear from Coventry residents – access it at this link.