Does being human influence science and technology?

This article addresses two major questions about women and science. Firstly, the commentary looks at the ways science and technology are discussed and represented all around us in society. Secondly, I ask whether this matters. The defining issue is therefore whether or not being human affects the type of science and technology that is conducted and valued within our society. By addressing these questions in science communication, we can add much to the debate about gender diversity and affirmative action being portrayed in our media and culture

Spotlighting shared goals for science education and communication

van den Sanden and Vries curate reflections and insights about the shared goals, practices and processes which bring together academics and practitioners in science education and communication. The book spotlights areas of productive overlap but is just the beginning for meaningful collaboration

Making STEM for everyone: Resources for supporting people from under-represented groups to engage with Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering

A resource compilationThis document provides a compilation of resources for supporting people from under-represented groups to study STEM subjects, enter STEM careers and see that STEM subjects can be ‘for them’.The list is arranged in a series of sections designed to make the wide range of resources in this area easier to navigate:BackgroundGeneral information on under-represented groups in STEM and what influences participation in STEMScience capitalUnderstanding the term 'science capital' and its applicationDiversity in science, positive role models and case studiesExamples of people from under-represented groups in STEM, and resources to support the concept of 'STEM for all'What could a STEM career look like?Examples of roles using STEMEngineering in a different lightEngineering might not be what you think it is...Inclusion in the classroomInclusive STEM teaching supportBreaking the mouldChallenges to stereotypes in popular cultureEncouraging people into STEMResources to support interests in STE

Women Like Me Executive Summary 2019

Only 11% of engineers in the UK are women. For democratic, utilitarian and equity reasons this is not enough. Both recruitment and retention are important – more girls need to connect with engineering as a creative, socially conscious, collaborative discipline, and more women need to be supported to make a difference in the workplace. The ‘Curiosity Connections – Women Like Me’ project aimed to change this through tiered mentoring and role modelling. Previous Ingenious research by Laura Fogg-Rogers indicates how important peer group and leadership support is for women, providing vicarious experience and changing social norms. This means that women need peer support to thrive in the workplace, and that girls need to see women succeeding in STEM careers in order to feel that engineering is for them. This project therefore paired 21 mid-career (senior) women engineers with 21 junior women engineers (less than five years’ experience) in order to provide career and public engagement mentoring. The outreach activities resulted in over 10,240 children being engaged in public engagement with women engineers. the junior engineers reported that they feel significantly more equipped to take part in public engagement, with 54% of junior engineers feeling fairly well equipped before the project, but this increased to 68% after the project, with 38% indicating they were very well equipped. Similarly, the mean score on the Engineering Outreach Self-Efficacy Scale significantly improved from 6.80 to 8.41 (out of 10). This indicates that the engineers are now much more confident to undertake education outreach, and are then more likely to continue public engagement following the project. We therefore conclude that mentoring is highly important to ensure a supportive workplace, which means that women are more likely to be retained in the engineering industry

UK Science Festival Network Pilot Evaluation 2017

This report describes the UK Science Festival Network Pilot Evaluation 2017, exploring the feasibility of ongoing evaluations for science festivals. The pilot evaluation included three festivals from across the UK; Nottingham Festival of Science and Curiosity, Northern Ireland Science Festival and Bath Taps into Science

Learning from engagement: Exploring cultures of science communication at live science events

This thesis is submitted to meet the requirements of a Doctorate of Philosophy within the field of Psychology. Through a series of nine publications, this body of work aimed to develop a deeper psychological understanding of cultures of science communication at live science events in order to better support audiences and practitioners. Live science events encompass an enormous diversity of activity ranging from science festivals to education outreach in schools. While the scale and audiences may vary, they are all live, in-person programmes aiming to engage the public with science in a social context. Science communication practitioners (including scientists and engineers) and audiences report that live science events provide powerful experiences to engage with science, but empirical measurements of these impacts are sparse.As such, these publications and the associated commentary have sought to advance future research and practice in science communication on this topic. The DPhil had three objectives: to analyse audience perceptions of and needs for engagement formats and learning at live science events; to explore science communication cultures in STEM research environments and live science events; and to evaluate and influence the motivations and perceived self-efficacy of STEM researchers/students taking part in engagement and outreach. Through leading these projects and publishing the results, the candidate has met the requirements of the UWE Doctoral Descriptors. The insights from these projects have proven applicable to both researchers and practitioners in the science communication and science education industries, and will help to drive forward best practice in the field

Validating a scale to measure engineers’ perceived self-efficacy for engineering education outreach

Education outreach in schools has been identified as a critical route to influence children's perceptions and capabilities for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics careers. Evidence suggests that providing non-teaching professionals like engineers with training programmes and structured experience can boost perceived self-efficacy to perform education outreach, which in turn means better quality and more frequent public engagement. A validated measure of the construct of perceived self-efficacy for engineering education outreach will be useful for effective science communication participation, research, and practise. This article presents the methods used to develop the Engineering Outreach Self-efficacy Scale (EOSS), along with initial reliability and validation results to support the scale's use. The 10-item scale was found to have good internal consistency and reliability (Cronbach's alpha α = .92) with a sample of 160 engineers. The scale had convergent validity with general self-efficacy. Engineers with more experience of education outreach had higher self-efficacy for engineering education outreach. There were no significant differences between male and female engineers. Initial test-retest results showed engineers receiving training in education outreach significantly improved their EOSS scores, indicating capability to detect change over time. It is hoped this scale will prove useful for further evaluation of engineering education outreach and public engagement with science activities

Event public engagement guide

This guide is aimed at researchers organising activities at public events. The researchers might be scientists, engineers, academics, or communications staff, but their common aim will be to engage the public with research.We recognise that every open day, event or festival is different, and each will have varying audiences, staffing, resources, and expectations. However, across these public engagement practices there are commonalities in how we can access and engage with different audiences. It is with this goal in mind that the guide aims to act as a starting point for researchers hoping to plan new activities or reach different audiences.The accompanying video can be found on this webpage: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/research/sciencecommunicationunit/coursesandtraining/practitionerguides.asp

Organisational culture and its role in developing a sustainable science communication platform

© 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. There is an ongoing tension for scientists when deciding to engage with the public about their research as many scientists view direct participation as peripheral to their role. Pressures of time, lack of support by management and a lack of communicative skills are identified by scientists as reasons for not committing to communicative initiatives. We aimed to explore and explain the organizational culture of a research community that activity communicates with the public and has an international research culture. The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) was identified as a model and was analyzed using the concept of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Twelve participants (scientists (8), clinicians (1), community liaison people (2)) and an identified director of the organization were interviewed. Direct quotes from interview were used to provide examples of the characteristics of CAS for example a variety of agents interacting, adapting the learning within the organization, non-linear dynamic behavior that is a result of aggregates of groups with actions emerging from self-organizing behavior and the development of an emergent culture. This analysis showed that complexity theory was a suitable framework for analyzing the sustainable communicative organization within CBR

“Robots Vs Animals”: Establishing a Culture of Public Engagement and Female Role Modeling in Engineering Higher Education

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. A widespread culture supporting public engagement activities in higher education is desirable but difficult to establish. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this science communication project aimed to enhance culture change in engineering by developing communication skillsets of early-career engineers, particularly supporting female engineers as role models. Engineers received training in storytelling to present at live events, enhanced by peer group social persuasion and vicarious modeling. A science communication coordinator and senior management endorsement removed barriers to participation. Evaluation showed engineers’ self-efficacy levels significantly increased. Qualitative data highlighted a developing culture of engagement but purposive selection of women proved controversial