Professionals, Scientists and Engagement Flashcards
SCIENCE FOR ALL
Report and action plan from the Science for All Expert Group
A representation of some of the many purposes and motivations for public engagement, developed during the production of this report
The importance of PUS
Motivations and purposes
- To win support for science
- To increase the social acceptability of science
- Gain public support for the funding of science
- To counter the influence of religion
- Increase public trust in science
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To make the world a better place
- Meet global challenges
- Deliver a sustainable future
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To develop skills and inspire learning
- To enable the public to have access to information on science
- To increase confidence in questioning and curiosity
- To generate a sense of fun – scientists share their passion
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To enhance my career
- Meet the requirements of funders
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To create a more efficient, dynamic and sustainable economy
- To support business and manufacturing
- To enable recruitment to science-based jobs
- To increase the quality and impact of my work
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To enhance social cohesion and democratic participation
- To sustain democracy
- To empower all level of society
SCIENCE FOR ALL
Report and action plan from the Science for All Expert Group
Government’s strategy for scientists to engage more with the public
A wider understanding of why, when and how the public engages with the sciences
Supportive networks and mechanisms for increasing effective engagement
A professional culture that values, recognises and supports public engagement with
the sciences
SCIENCE FOR ALL
Report and action plan from the Science for All Expert Group
A wider understanding of why, when and how the public engages with the sciences
A wider understanding of why, when and how the public engages with the sciences
- develop better systems for defining and measuring quality, impact and reach of engagement
- Develop the potential for engagement through social media
- Improve understanding of how the public perceives the place of the sciences in culture
- include a set of questions exploring the extent to which the sciences are regarded as part of the culture in the next wave of the DCMS ‘Taking Part’ Survey
SCIENCE FOR ALL
Report and action plan from the Science for All Expert Group
Supportive networks and mechanisms for increasing effective engagement
Second, although there are many organisations and individuals working in this area, and much parallel activity in different sectors, we discovered that there was a significant lack of joined-up working and sharing between those who are involved. We identified a further challenge therefore to develop:
- Promote active support for the science in broadcasting
- work with the BBC College of Journalism to develop science training for journalists
- Provide accessible information on the sciences (including lay research summaries) via a single web portal
- review and pull together information on public engagement websites/portals and explore ways of improving the links between them
- Achieve better coordination between the many organisations involved in public engagement
- explore how to encourage and support better local and regional networking for public engagement
SCIENCE FOR ALL
Report and action plan from the Science for All Expert Group
A professional culture that values, recognises and supports public engagement with the sciences
Third, although there is now compelling evidence of the vital role public engagement plays in sustaining a healthy culture for science, there are still significant barriers to individuals who wish to embrace engagement because of institutional cultures which marginalise or undervalue engagement. Our third challenge therefore is to work towards:
- Embed public engagement within institutional structures and processes
- encourage funders/government/policy makers to embed public engagement in their own activities
- ensure greater commitment from government and other stakeholders to act on the results of public engagement activities and be transparent about the way in which issues raised are being addressed
- Ensure all researchers and practitioners have access to training for public engagement
- explore the establishment of qualification for evaluation of public engagement (e.g. a Diploma)
- Ensure funders of the sciences have mechanisms in place to support and recognise public engagement
- all funders to include public engagement as an eligible cost (including staff time) within grants
- all government R&D contracts and grants to the private sector to require delivery of an appropriate plan for public engagement
The mobilization of scientists for public engagement
The mobilization of scientists for public engagement
(Bauer and Jensen, 2011)
The phrase “public understanding of science” carries a double meaning; the public’s understanding of science on one hand, and the mobilization of scientists and other resources to engage the public with science on the other.
In 2006, a consortium of Research Councils UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society of London sponsored a research project that tried to establish the intensity with which UK bench scientists are engaged in activities outside their immediate scientific community.
The responses in descending order of frequency of “once or more” were as follows:
- participated in open days (54 per cent)
- public lecturing (40 per cent)
- active in policymaking (33 per cent),
- engaging primary and secondary school teachers (30 per cent),
- popular writing such as books (25 per cent),
- engaging with newspapers (23 per cent),
- NGO activity (23 per cent),
- taking part in a debate (20 per cent),
- working on science museum exhibitions (13 per cent),
- judging competitions (13 per cent),
- taking part in radio programmes (12 per cent).
Three institutional factors determine the PE activities:
- senior researchers are three to four times more likely to engage with the public than their juniors;
- and those who do mainly research are 55 per cent less likely to engage the public than those who do research and also teach.
The mobilization of scientists for public engagement
Hypothesis and data (kinda for and against)
(Bauer and Jensen, 2011)
There is a trade-off between doing research and doing PE; scientists that do the one, do less of the other.
Bentley and Kyvik (this issue) presents a 13 country comparative study which shows that, while popular publishing is an elite activity correlated with rank, it is also related to productivity in peer-reviewed scientific publishing. The positive correlation between PE and academic publishing is confirmed by the study on several thousand CNRS scientists (Jensen, this issue). There seems to be no trade-off between PE and scientific publishing across all these countries.
PE activities have generally increased in the world of science.
There are very few if any longitudinal data on PE intensity anywhere. The exception is France, where the CNRS annual reporting procedures allow us to establish a time series of PE activities. Jensen (this issue) will report on how things have and have not changed in France over the last 20 or more years.
