Creating and delivering engagement for a national, cross-institutional, multi-disciplinary research programme: Lessons for practitioners

In this paper we reflect on our experience as members of a well-funded, well-integrated engagement programme within a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary climate-change research initiative: the Deep South National Science Challenge. After describing the goals, structure, and activities of the programme, we analyse the obstacles we faced, which we classify into two types: 1) definitional and process challenges, including both conflicting assumptions about the meaning of engagement and incompatible timelines of science and engagement; and 2) challenges of political and institutional context. From this we derive lessons for similarly placed practitioners. These include: - High-quality engagement requires a great deal of ‘invisible’ preparatory and maintenance work, including, but not limited to, education of colleagues and managers with little or no knowledge about engagement; - When those with little engagement expertise nonetheless have power over engagement-practitioner activities, education is vital but may not be sufficient to protect the integrity of the engagement effort; - Early work to establish explicit guidelines and processes for how engagement is overseen may (or may not) be protective; - The political and institutional context of the engagement programme will likely precipitate a power structure that shapes the challenges faced and the likelihood of overcoming them

Citizens, Scientists, and Enablers: A Tripartite Model for Citizen Science Projects

In this paper, we focus on different roles in citizen science projects, and their respective relationships. We propose a tripartite model that recognises not only citizens and scientists, but also an important third role, which we call the ‘enabler’. In doing so, we acknowledge that additional expertise and skillsets are often present in citizen science projects, but are frequently overlooked in associated literature. We interrogate this model by applying it to three case studies and explore how the success and sustainability of a citizen science project requires all roles to be acknowledged and interacting appropriately. In this era of ‘wicked problems’, the nature of science and science communication has become more complex. In order to address critical emerging issues, a greater number of stakeholders are engaging in multi-party partnerships and research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. Within this context, explicitly acknowledging the role and motivations of everyone involved can provide a framework for enhanced project transparency, delivery, evaluation and impact. By adapting our understanding of citizen science to better recognise the complexity of the organisational systems within which they operate, we propose an opportunity to strengthen the collaborative delivery of both valuable scientific research and public engagement

Invertebrates in Science Communication: Confronting Scientists’ Practices and the Public’s Expectations

Good science communication should give the public the tools to make informed decisions and take action, which can be particularly important for nature conservation. The crisis in invertebrate conservation might be rooted in public prejudices against invertebrate animals, which are perceived as the unpopular 97% of Earth’s animal biodiversity. As such, how we approach science communication regarding those animals might yet play a critical role in their conservation. Given how specialized a topic invertebrate biology is, a large part of its communication fall to scientists. Here, we surveyed both scientists and members of the public about the former’s approaches and assumptions and the latter’s interest and expectations regarding invertebrate science communication, confronting the results of each survey. Our findings show that scientists and the public are only tangentially aligned; there is plenty of ground scientists and communicators need to pay attention to and explore better in order to achieve more meaningful and balanced science communication. Among other findings, topics and approaches that could be used to greater effect include (depending on age groups of the audience) history, folklore, pop culture, and pathology. Our results have unveiled some issues in science communication of invertebrates and are thus a good first approach to start defining the way forward

By staff and for staff: building, sustaining and empowering a community of practice in teaching and learning for all university staff

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