The Urdd Eisteddfod

The Medicines Discovery Institute will be inspiring the next generation of medicines discovery scientists through the welsh language at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Cardiff Bay.

For the first time in a decade, the Urdd National Eisteddfod will be held in Wales’ capital city. This year, Cardiff University’s Medicines Discovery Institute is joining the festival to share how the Institute’s scientists find new therapies.

Thousands of children and young people will visit the Maes in Cardiff Bay between May 27 and June 1, for one of Europe’s largest touring youth festivals.

On May 29 and May 30, the scientists from the Medicines Discovery Institute will be based in the Cardiff University tent in the Oval Basin, giving children and young people the chance to get hands on with medicines discovery.

The activities will explore how new medicines can be found in nature or manufactured synthetically, as well as putting children to the test to make new molecular targets in a challenging and educational puzzle.

Professor Simon Ward, Director of the Medicines Discovery Institute, said: “We need to continually strive to push the boundaries of biomedical science to maintain a healthy population in our modern world.

“In order to find new medicines to meet our unprecedented global health challenges and continue to find therapeutic solutions for those who currently face limited options, we need an enthusiastic and dedicated next generation of scientists.

“By showing children and young people what goes into medicines discovery, we hope to inspire them to realise their potential as a researcher, who may go on to discover something life changing for patients in the future.”