A few weeks ago, in the same week I had applied for the NOISEmakers programme, I had also come across a bursary scheme from UCL to attend the Cheltenham Science Festival. Having lived in Malta, events like this have mainly been on a quite limited scale, with nothing as big as this festival appears to be. I was immediately interested, and particularly with this being in the midst of my time working in the laboratory (not that exciting when you spend more time waiting for the equipment to equilibrate rather than actually doing work), I decided to participate. Also, I thought it would be good practice to observe how other scientists interact with the public and put their message across without deleting the scientific accuracy of their work.
The application procedure involved me writing around 200 words about public engagement in science. I thought that I could quite easily do that and so off I went. This is the entry I came up with:
The concept of public engagement is slowly but surely being introduced into the vocabulary of scientists. However, an understanding of what it really means is often lacking. Public engagement is not just about ‘telling’ people about your research. As the word ‘engagement’ indicates, it also requires the involvement of the public; the public are expected to have the opportunity to interact with the research, discuss it and at least attain an understanding of it at its very basic level.
The question may arise on whether this is important. Shouldn’t telling the public that ‘my research says so’ be enough? This might have been considered so a few years ago, where the word of the professional or the academic was held very much as fact. However, in the technological world we are living in now, where answers may be found at the click of a button, the blind belief in what others say has been eroded. The public often comes to interact with scientists with preconceived ideas which may not be correct.
It is thus the duty of the scientist to be able to interact with their audience in a coherent way to them while maintaining the accuracy of what is being said. Engaging with the public is the only way to forward science and scientific knowledge in today’s world. This is the reason I agreed to participate in a workshop for schoolchildren recently, and maintain a research blog for communicating my work to a wider audience, amongst others.
It seemed like they liked what I wrote! I got nominated by the graduate tutor as the nominee of my department, and further more I was chosen by the graduate school as one of ten students to receive a bursary to attend this festival! The bursary involves 150GBP for spending on tickets for events at the festival, and a further 400GBP for travel, accommodation and subsistence for the days of the festival.
Having looked at the programme I already am very excited about attending this festival, listening to the talks and debates and participating in the interactive experience. I am also looking forward to attending a real science festival. I will definitely let you know how it went!
Filed under: Events and Activities, Travel, NOISEmakers, public engagement in science, science festival, The Times Cheltenham Science festival, UCL bursary
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