As part of the UoA’s Explorathon Discovery Day https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/22568/, the Aberdeen Centre for Evaluation (ACE) public engagement group welcomed visitors to the free family-friendly event to discover more about about clinical trials.
After the success of the Tall Ships Races Aberdeen 2025, the ACE crew took the ‘Lime or Brine’ trial back on the road (all the way to Elphinstone Hall!), inviting the public, aka recruits, to experience randomisation first hand by asking them to draw a ball from an opaque bag. The recruits had an equal chance of picking a green ball, which represented the lime treatment (a fruit sweet), or a blue ball, which represented Brine (a mint sweet). As well as lots of fun, the recruits learned that citrus fruits, like limes and oranges, were the most effective in treating scurvy due to their vitamin C content as discovered by Lind. At the end of the day, the ACE crew had recruited and randomised over 300 members of the public!
The ACE staff always enjoy engaging with public and sharing their enthusiasm about the science of clinical trials, and Explorathon also provided staff, from different disciplines, with a great opportunity to work and have fun together.