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An opinion piece by Ciaran O’Shaughnessy.
As I approach two years working alongside the laboratory sector, one thing has become clear to me: there’s something special about the UK lab community that doesn’t get talked about enough.
On paper, laboratories can feel serious and demanding. They operate in highly technical, regulated environments where precision is essential and pressure is often part of the job. But behind that surface is a community that genuinely shows up for each other. People share advice, recommend solutions, introduce colleagues, and make time for conversations that are supportive rather than transactional. It’s collaborative in a way you don’t always expect from an industry so closely associated with control and accuracy.
That sense of connection matters. Science doesn’t progress in isolation, and many of the challenges labs face today are too complex for any one organisation to solve alone. This is especially the case when we look at the political climate at home and overseas. Whether it’s sustainability expectations, skills shortages, new technologies, financial pressure, or evolving quality requirements, progress depends on people learning from each other and building trust over time.
This is where industry events continue to play a vital role. Not simply as places to discover new products or attend conference sessions, but as moments where the community reconnects and recalibrates. You see innovation in action, but you also gain perspective on what’s changing and how people are responding in their own environments.
If you’ve ever left a lab event feeling unexpectedly energised, it probably wasn’t just the technology on display – it was the people behind it. That sense of connection may be the most valuable asset this industry has. So let’s keep making space for these conversations.
For more information, please contact:
Ciaran O’Shaughnessy
Marketing Assistant
Lab Innovations – Easyfairs
ciaran.oshaughnessy@easyfairs.com
+44 (0)20 3196 4252
