UWE Science Communication Postgraduate Papers

ForewordThis second volume in the Postgraduate Papers series has been produced as part of the celebrations of ten years of Science Communication postgraduate programmes in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol.Every year, some fifteen to twenty students undertake a Master’s level project as part of their MSc studies. These papers represent just a small selection of the projects carried out between 2009 and 2013 but they persuasively demonstrate the wide range of subjects tackled by our students and the innovative research they conduct.Bonnie Buckley, Jennifer Garrett and Melanie Davies looked at aspects of science communication in science centres and museums. Bonnie examined the motivations that lead people to be volunteers in science centres; Jennifer investigated how science centres can play a role in communicating environmental sustainability and Melanie explored how science centres can use a range of activities to sustain and develop creativity. The Internet offers new modes and new routes for dialogue and science communication. Felicity Liggins, Mathieu Ranger and Robin Longdin undertook projects in this dynamic medium. Felicity explored attitudes to blogging in the UK Met Office, while Mathieu looked at the particular challenges faced by science bloggers and Robin investigated whether online interaction with scientists could positively affect school students’ attitudes to science.Amy Seakins, Maya Herbolzheimer and Sarah Venugopal’s projects were all based in the lively and diverse world of festivals. Spanning the worlds of traditional and online communication, Amy considered how citizen science projects could make the most effective use of the media; Maya investigated the effectiveness of a Festival of Nature in engaging a wide range of attendees with nature conservation, while Sarah examined the relationship between arts and science at a science event embedded in an arts festival.The final two papers, by Michal Jane Filtness and Alexander Brown defy grouping but clearly illustrate the variety of audiences our students address. Michal investigated researchers’ views of the Pathways to Impact tool created by the UK Research Councils to increase the public impact of research, while Alexander evaluated the impact on school students’ attitudes to science among young people who had undertaken work experience placements at a UK research council. We want to congratulate those graduates whose research is included in this volume and thank them for the time and care they have taken in creating their contributions. Thanks should also go to the graduates’ academic supervisors, who are the co-authors on these papers; in particular Dr Karen Bultitude and Dr Helen Featherstone, who are now based at other institutions. We would also like to thank the many organisations whose support made these projects possible.We are honoured to share in our graduates’ success and delighted to have this opportunity to open up their work to a wider audience. We wish all our graduates every success in their careers as science communicators

What have we learnt from EUPORIAS climate service prototypes?

The international effort toward climate services, epitomised by the development of the Global Framework for Climate Services and, more recently the launch of Copernicus Climate Change Service has renewed interest in the users and the role they can play in shaping the services they will eventually use. Here we critically analyse the results of the five climate service prototypes that were developed as part of the EU funded project EUPORIAS. Starting from the experience acquired in each of the projects we attempt to distil a few key lessons which, we believe, will be relevant to the wider community of climate service developers.The authors wish to acknowledge all of those who contributed indirectly to the development of the EUPORIAS prototypes, through scientific discussion, review, data provision, stakeholder engagement and facilitation: for SPRINT, Adam Scaife, Anca Brookshaw, Alberto Arribas, Emily Wallace, Jeff Knight, Margaret Gordon, Kate Brown, Brent Walker, Mathew Richardson, Jodie Wild, and the DfT-led stakeholder group; for RESILIENCE, Melanie Davis for conceiving the prototype and for her vision on Climate Services. In the LMTool, Clinton Devon Estates, the National Farmers Union, and all the farmers involved in the development of the tool. The UK Government Department for Transport is acknowledged for providing financial support, in parallel to that received from EUPORIAS, for the SPRINT prototype. The visualisation, project UKKO, within RESILIENCE prototype was done by Moritz Stefaner. EUPORIAS was funded by the European Commission through the 7th Framework Programme for Research, grant agreement 308291.Peer Reviewe

What have we learnt from EUPORIAS climate service prototypes?

The international effort toward climate services, epitomised by the development of the Global Framework for Climate Services and, more recently the launch of Copernicus Climate Change Service has renewed interest in the users and the role they can play in shaping the services they will eventually use. Here we critically analyse the results of the five climate service prototypes that were developed as part of the EU funded project EUPORIAS. Starting from the experience acquired in each of the projects we attempt to distil a few key lessons which, we believe, will be relevant to the wider community of climate service developers.The authors wish to acknowledge all of those who contributed indirectly to the development of the EUPORIAS prototypes, through scientific discussion, review, data provision, stakeholder engagement and facilitation: for SPRINT, Adam Scaife, Anca Brookshaw, Alberto Arribas, Emily Wallace, Jeff Knight, Margaret Gordon, Kate Brown, Brent Walker, Mathew Richardson, Jodie Wild, and the DfT-led stakeholder group; for RESILIENCE, Melanie Davis for conceiving the prototype and for her vision on Climate Services. In the LMTool, Clinton Devon Estates, the National Farmers Union, and all the farmers involved in the development of the tool. The UK Government Department for Transport is acknowledged for providing financial support, in parallel to that received from EUPORIAS, for the SPRINT prototype. The visualisation, project UKKO, within RESILIENCE prototype was done by Moritz Stefaner. EUPORIAS was funded by the European Commission through the 7th Framework Programme for Research, grant agreement 308291.Peer Reviewe