Border crossings in science communication and engagement

Posted on Sunday, 1 May 2016 by Richard Holliman

Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University. Credit: Jane Perrone.

I’ve just returned from the Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. It was, in almost every sense of the term, a most extraordinary event, organised with courage, solidarity and warm hospitality in the face of a devastating refugee crisis and political unrest.

The spirit of the conference was captured beautifully by the PCST President Brian Trench at the start of the event. “Let’s talk, let’s laugh, let’s listen”, and we did.

If you haven’t seen Brian’s opening address, you can find the text here (Opening Address).

The 15th International PCST Conference, University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand

And if you think this is for you, start saving your [insert name of currency here] and come along to the 15th International PCST Conference in April 2018.

The PCST community will meet again at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand; #hugahobbit

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Appropriating Social Media: Public engagement with science and technology online

Posted on Thursday, 28 April 2016 by Trevor Collins

Trevor Collins, Ken Skeldon, Rick Holliman, Heather Doran and Ann Grand.

Today at the Public Communication of Science and Technology conference we’ll be running a workshop on the use of social media channels to support engaged research. We’ll discuss the challenges and benefits of using social media as part of an engagement strategy, and consider the roles digitally engaged researchers adopt and the motives that drive their activities. Richard Holliman (standing in for Jamie Dorey), Ann Grand, Heather Doran and Ken Skeldon are bringing a set of example scenarios to discuss, along with related case studies that demonstrate how these challenges have been played out in practice. We’re hoping that this session will provide an opportunity to hear about the diverse experiences across the PCST community in order to consider effective practices in a range of contexts.

Resources

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Supporting researchers in public engagement

Posted on Tuesday, 26 April 2016 by Richard Holliman

Professor Richard Holliman, The Open University. Credit: Jane Perrone.

On Monday morning I set off at an obscenely early hour for the PCST Conference in Istanbul, Turkey. As ever, this was an opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and share learning in science communication and engagement.

But why leave home in the middle of the night? My early start was down to an invitation to run a workshop for postgraduate and early career researchers.

Due to unforeseen travel disruptions I didn’t make it on time. I’m therefore writing this post for anyone who missed the session.

The post includes an overview of the workshop I’d planned with links to a set of resources that can be used as a self-reflection activity to assess and evidence your skills and competencies in public engagement.

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Back to the future II: Mad for mud!

Posted on Thursday, 26 February 2015 by Encarni Motoya

Dr Encarni Montoya, The Open University

I am an ecologist (environmental biologist) interested in studying the vegetation dynamics of tropical forests. Given the magnitude of the tropics, I have focused my research efforts on different forests from Venezuela and more recently, Ecuador.

A single tropical tree can live more than 1000 years, so for studying the dynamics of the tropical forests in the time scale or range in which they live, I have to look for evidence of how these forests have interacted with the environment from the past until the present day. To do this I use the fossil record in what it is called palaeo-ecological approach. In other words, I’m interested in the ecology of the past.

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‘Science in the making’: the BBC’s first engagement with engagement?

Posted on Friday, 12 September 2014 by Allan Jones

Allan Jones, The Open University

In spring 1931, the BBC transmitted six weekly radio programmes, under the title Science in the Making, as part of its adult education provision.

Each week a different scientist outlined his area of research, and in five cases invited listeners to report their observations of phenomena described in the programme.

Topics included the factors affecting the start of breeding season of birds, the advance of the grey squirrel in Britain, the perception of sound, and the pervasiveness of certain types of dream.

Science in the Making was thus an early venture into ‘citizen science’ and one broadcast led to an academic-journal article. This presentation gives the story of Science in the Making, and looks at a second series the following year that concentrated on social science.

Allan Jones is a Lecturer in the Department of Computing and Communications, part of the Faculty of Mathematics, Computing & Technology in the Open University.

International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference

Posted on Friday, 5 September 2014 by Gareth Davies

Gareth Davies

Thanks to financial support from the NCCPE’s Public Engagement Ambassador (PEA) programme and the Santander Universities scheme, I was able to attend the 13th Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) conference, held earlier this year in Brazil.

The NCCPE has published my post about the conference here on their website.

A strategic approach for evaluating public engagement with research

Posted on Thursday, 24 July 2014 by Gareth Davies

Gareth Davies, The Open University

Before I joined the OU, my background was in risk-based decision-making. I looked forward to finding innovative ways of gathering evidence of the impact of public engagement with research (PER). However, it seemed like whenever PER was mentioned evaluation would either become the pink elephant in the room or be quickly forgotten, and the conversation would focus on public engagement as opposed to public engagement with research.

In my experience, this doesn’t arise from ill intent but rather from a lack of understanding about the affordances of different PER activities and the methods and techniques used to evaluate the impact of PER.

This seminar was an opportunity to test a theoretical framework that I believe has the capacity to address this issue.
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Developing a publics-centred approach to conducting and evaluating engaged research

Posted on Monday, 23 June 2014 by Hilde Stephansen

Nick Mahony and Hilde Stephansen, The Open University

A case study of the Participation Now project

If you are reading this blog, you’ll no doubt be aware that public engagement is high on the agenda within higher education and many other domains. You’ll also probably be aware that researchers face increasing pressures – from their institutions, funders and colleagues – to engage publics and produce evidence of the ‘impact’ and ‘relevance’ of their research. However, little systematic attention has so far been paid to what precisely is meant by the ‘public’ in public engagement.

What happens if we put the ‘public’ at the centre of our efforts to conceptualise, conduct and evaluate publicly engaged research? This question formed the starting point for a presentation that we gave at the Open University on 9th June as part of the Engaging Research seminar series.

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Engaging research and communication: OU practices and tools

Posted on Monday, 19 May 2014 by Trevor Collins

Trevor Collins, Knowledge Media Institute, OU.

Last week (12th May), Ann Grand and I gave a seminar at the OU on Digital Engagement. I started by giving a brief introduction to public engagement, referring to the NCCPE’s EDGE tool for self-assessment, and a description of the purpose of the OU’s Public Engagement with Research Catalyst project.

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Technology and data driven collaboration – archaeological practice in the 21st Century

Posted on Thursday, 17 April 2014 by Anthony Beck

Seminar given on March 10th, 2014 by Anthony Beck, OrcID: Honorary fellow – University of Leeds, School of Computing

The text is CC0 (+BY). The illustrations are CC-BY.

Improving impact through Open Science

The Detection of Archaeological residues using Remote Sensing Techniques (DART) project has the overall aim of developing analytical methods for identifying heritage features and quantifying gradual changes and dynamics in sensor responses. To examine the complex problem of heritage detection DART has attracted a consortium consisting of 25 key heritage and industry organisations and academic consultants and researchers from the areas of computer vision, geophysics, remote sensing, knowledge engineering and soil science.
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Engaging Research

An Open Research University: Embedding public engagement within the research culture of the OU

Category Archives: Presentations

Border crossings in science communication and engagement

Appropriating Social Media: Public engagement with science and technology online

Supporting researchers in public engagement

Back to the future II: Mad for mud!

‘Science in the making’: the BBC’s first engagement with engagement?

International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference

A strategic approach for evaluating public engagement with research

Developing a publics-centred approach to conducting and evaluating engaged research

Engaging research and communication: OU practices and tools

Technology and data driven collaboration – archaeological practice in the 21st Century

Improving impact through Open Science