Climbing for science at The Royal Institution
Working as a safety expert involves working in amazing places around the world. Normally in a big tree or forest guiding clients for science or TV, this time however, the job was a little different!
Dr Robin Hayward with their tree climbing science show at the RI
The parakeets squawked from a cloudless sky as I headed across London, bound for that hallowed home for science The Royal Institution. Located in Mayfair and with an imposing grand facade, the Royal Institution, or RI as it is known, is famed for its association with many historic figures, one of the most famous being Michael Faraday, whose experiments at the Royal Institution led to the electric motor, generator and transformer.
“For over 200 years the RI has innovated and played with how science is shared with the public, presenting it in thrilling and invigorating ways.”
Steeped in history, scientific discovery and experimental demonstrations, this was certainly the first time tree climbing was to be demonstrated at the RI so it was with a sense of excitement that I stepped in from the street to the cool interior to meet my client.
The Royal Institution grand facade
Scientists is everywhere at the RI, even in the loo!
As a tree safety expert and rope access technician, my role here was to provide technical assistance and safety oversight for a unique show and demonstration set in the RI’s famous lecture theatre. The show was the brainchild of science communicator and forest ecologist Dr Robin Hayward of the University of Leeds. Robin completed their PhD researching forest restoration after logging in the Malaysian rain forest and has researched degradation of canopy ecosystems in Indonesia where they scaled trees over fifty metres tall. Now Robin works to create new woodlands in the North of England and shares tree experiences widely through social media, schools and science fairs as they aim to make the inspiring world of trees accessible to all.
To impart a sense of adventure and to convey how do scientists climb some of the tallest trees in the world and what do they study once they're up there, Robin was planning to climb for real, up into the ‘canopy’ of the RI, where they would present part of the show from 8m up, on a level with the people in the balcony. To do this we would need to install ropes and specialist rope access safety equipment.
Rope Access Technician at the RI
Rope access techniques are used in a wide range of maintenance, installation and inspection roles like monitoring Schedule 1 species on the great spire of Glasgow University as well as for climbing big trees for tv and filming. Rigging ropes for this show first necessitated installing a tag-line string over the steel beams. To do this involved lifting of the grand roof lantern over the theatre. Added in 1928 to provide natural light and ventilation, this painted copper dome is perched over big steel beams in the centre of the chamber and its lifting is a very technical process carried out expertly by the RI’s super helpful staff.
“Tim’s professionalism made a complex task smooth sailing every step of the way.”
Pull-throughs were pre-rigged to the beams using my favourite Lyon anchor strops so I could ascend the lines 10m to the ceiling to rig two lines ready for Robin’s performance. After running over a few safety aspects, Robin donned harness, helmet and a whole lot of other kit to ascend the ropes up and down the lines a few times to warm-up.
Climbing safety supervision
View down from the ceiling!
Robin performing a changeover on the ropes under my watchful eye during the tech run-through
The renowned lecture theatre with its plush, raked seating is a place where you can almost feel the buzz of more than 200 years of science. Even before you enter you can get a sense of it in the paintings of historic events that line the walls just out side. Today was Science Saturday, very much in that tradition with the table full of props and experiments. With lots of tech to go over, the day flew by and soon it was time for the shows.
The lights went down and the show began. Robin walked on to huge applause and indeed, Robin’s show was a big hit with a full house of kids and families. Called Climbing the Rainforest, it was a show that took you on a journey to the rain forest canopy and involved live demonstrations of the specialist equipment that makes canopy exploration possible. Very much connecting people with the world of science, Robin invited volunteers onto the stage as they took the audience through the clever engineering that gets scientists up off the forest floor and into the tops of the trees. Sharing stories from their own canopy research, Robin demonstrated some of the amazing adaptations that the natural world has developed to create vibrant ecosystems so far from the ground.
Starting from ground level…
…they climbed up into the canopy
to talk about adaptations in the rainforest
and a visible link to our evolutionary past.
They talked trees and science, demonstrated a huge catapult, described flying lizards and plants that can drink straight from the air. And what’s more, for something truly unique, they did a lot of this whilst hanging mid-air, dangling on the ropes 8m up in the centre of the theatre chamber!
“I knew I was in safe hands. Even with the pressure of climbing in front of hundreds of people, and trying to entertain and inform, I could be confident that Tim was fully focussed on my safety.”
Being on hand throughout the show meant I too was fully kitted up, just in case, so I was very obvious and Robin further very generously acknowledged my facilitation of the event. As part of Undaunted, a partnership between the Royal Institution and Imperial College London, this event was very much in keeping with their fabulous vision at the RI that science is for everyone, carrying on the 200 year old tradition of communicating science at the RI, presenting it in thrilling and invigorating ways along with world-leading scientists from Hannah Fry to Carlo Rovelli and Dame Sue Black to Dr. Chris van Tulleken’s Christmas lectures.
So with a huge thanks to the whole team of staff who looked after us so well and made the long day run so smoothly. Musing on the train home one a day of memories, of working at the RI, of climbs up ‘into’ the Malaysian jungle, onto an epiphyte-laden limb, and letting my doppelgänger take a well-earned cuppa, I promised myself that next time I visit London I’ll come for a proper look around the Faraday museum at the home for science.
My doppelgänger in the Indonesian rainforest canopy
Inspecting an epiphyte-laden limb
Refreshment break…
