Science journalism by a journalist for journalists

This book is a beginners’ guide to science journalism, explaining the 21st century journalistic process, from generating story ideas to creating multimedia content when the story’s written, taking in research and writing structures along the way. While many of the chapters are introductory, the book also covers topics also likely to be of interest to more experienced writers, such as storytelling techniques and investigative journalism. Readers are introduced to important debates in the field, including the role that science journalism plays; whether it is a form of ‘infotainment’, or whether its primary role is to hold scientists and the science industry to account. Taken as a whole, what the book does particularly well is tointroduce prospective science writers to the judgements they need to make as reflective practitioners

Reflection on reforms: developing criminal accountability for industrial deaths

Providing Context: The criminal law has numerous aims, often cited in introductory textbooks to include promoting justice, providing norms to reduce unacceptable social behaviour, achieving deterrence or preventing crime, promoting rehabilitation for the law breaker, providing retribution against the law breaker, expressing moral concern at social harms (denunciation) and enabling appropriate levels of accountability. The criminal justice system is seen as a system providing meaning, achieving goals, and having a purpose rooted within the very foundations of all social and legal systems and ways of life. This paper deals with the application of the criminal law to death as a result of industrial activity (industrial deaths are taken here to refer to traumatic and sudden workplace deaths and deaths in public disasters). It discusses organisational accountability for industrial deaths through examining reform processes in three countries: Australia, Canada and England and Wales

Exploring the interaction between online practices and offline domestic food practices in family homes: Implications for food waste reduction campaigns

Food waste is a significant problem in the food system, contributing to the environmental impact of food production and distribution as well as food inequality. In the UK and other high-income countries, a high proportion of the food waste in the food system takes in people’s homes. Food waste levels have remained high despite numerous campaigns aimed at reducing it. Existing research shows that the levels of food waste are particularly high in households with children. It also shows that the causes of food waste are different in different household types. Yet food waste campaigns are generally targeted broadly at all households. This research explores how middle-class parents in the UK navigate their domestic food practices using social media. By doing so, it seeks to provide insights into how food waste reduction campaigns can be more effective in future, including by targeting them more effectively at different households. The research took place in two phases. Phase one involved an analysis of posts on the popular online parenting forum Mumsnet Talk. Phase two involved interviews with parents who use social media in relation to food. The study has used a Social Practice Theory lens to explore the mechanisms linking domestic food practices in family homes and social media use.Seven processes of linkage that connect online and offline practices have been identified in this research. It has also identified factors which shape the flow of information within these processes. While existing research has characterised how parents change and adapt their food provisioning practices and the role emotion plays in practice change, this research through the processes of linkage that have been identified, provides insights into the role social media plays in this navigation, negotiation and change.This research makes theoretical contributions, including to understandings of the way media discourse shapes day-to-day practices. Existing practice theory-informed conceptualisations of media discourse describe it as a resource that is drawn upon to inform practices, this research characterises a recursive relationship between social media discourse and offline practices in which they are co-constructive. It means that what happens on social media can only be understood within the context of the offline practices which take place around it. Informed by the processes of linkage, practical insights are provided that should aid future targeted food waste reduction campaigns, both those that might use social media and those that take place elsewhere. These insights include the different ways know-how is curated on social media and why this is so effective at bringing about adaptation and change to the ways domestic food practices are performed

Topological Optimization of the Evaluation of Finite Element Matrices

We present a topological framework for finding low-flop algorithms for evaluating element stiffness matrices associated with multilinear forms for finite element methods posed over straight-sided affine domains. This framework relies on phrasing the computation on each element as the contraction of each collection of reference element tensors with an element-specific geometric tensor. We then present a new concept of complexity-reducing relations that serve as distance relations between these reference element tensors. This notion sets up a graph-theoretic context in which we may find an optimized algorithm by computing a minimum spanning tree. We present experimental results for some common multilinear forms showing significant reductions in operation count and also discuss some efficient algorithms for building the graph we use for the optimization

Report on the Working Practices, Motivations and Challenges of those Engaged in Science Communication

The working practices of those engaged in the communication of science to non-expert audiences has important implications for the relationship between science and society. The research presented here explores these working practices and the motivations that underpin them across a wide range of science communicators in Europe. As such, it provides an insight into the nature of contemporary science communication and those who are involved with it

Investigating the Links Between Science Communication Actors and Between Actors and their Audiences

The audiences reached by those engaged in science communication and the nature of the connections with those audiences is of central importance to the science-society relationship. It determines who is reading, listening and watching information about science but also characterises those interactions. Do the interactions involve a one-directional ‘broadcast’ of information from communicator to audience, or is the relationship more of a two-way approach that fosters a more integrated relationship between science and society?To answer such questions, an online questionnaire was distributed in seven European countries: Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and the UK. This explored the audiences these communicators sought to reach and the nature of their connections with them. Further insights into audience connections were provided by ‘Rethinkerspace’ workshops held in the same seven European countries. These workshops involved a variety of ‘actors’ involved in science communication, as well as academics. A high proportion of the questionnaire respondents said that their intended audience is individuals already interested in science, technology and/or health topics to some degree. The discussions with Rethinkerspace members show that a lack of time to communicate science is a barrier that transcends actors and European countries. In terms of digital communications, many communicators reported a sense of disconnect with their audience

Roles, incentives, training and audiences for science communication: perspectives from female science communicators

Both research and anecdote in science communication suggests that it is a field where women feel ‘at home’, with high numbers of women science communicators and students on training programmes, but why might this be the case? Using data gathered from a survey of 459 science communicators based in Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and the U.K., we examine the perspectives of female science communicators, in terms of working practices, motivations and barriers to communicate

Reaching underserved audiences: How science communicators are making new connections using innovative techniques

When science is communicated, the audiences are most typically white, affluent, with relatively high levels of formal education and a pre-existing interest in science. This research involved interviews with science communicators across Europe who have had successes reaching underserved audiences in relation to science. It reveals innovative communication techniques being used to reach new audiences and new roles that are being adopted

RETHINKING Science communication education and training: Towards a competence model for science communication

Science communication is at a pivotal stage in its development due to the emergence of digital communication platforms that are not only presenting new opportunities but are also leading to new challenges. In this context, science communicators, who can include scientists, researchers, curators, journalists and other types of content producer, may require new types of preparation and support to engage with multiple audiences, across multiple channels. Despite the increasing need for adequate science communication training, research in the field is sparse and oftentimes refers to single case studies, calling for more comprehensive perspectives on what is needed and what is offered to equip future science communicators with relevant competences to cope with the changing science communication ecosystem. Against this backdrop, this paper takes two approaches, drawing on data from RETHINK, a European project comprising seven countries, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. First, we report on findings from a questionnaire survey completed by 459 science communicators across the seven countries, focusing on how science communicators develop their communication skills, the types of training they have received and the types of training they would like to undertake. Second, we assess exploratory data collected from 13 different science communication degree programs regarding how they seek to embed and consider issues of digital transformation within their curricula. On the basis of both analyses, we will introduce ideas for a competence framework that addresses not only working knowledge and skills but also professional (self-)reflection and the overall mindset and worldviews of students, whilst offering capacity for increased consideration of the role of digital transformation