Breadcrumbs
- Home
- Research staff
- Research staff blog
- Getting out more: Finding out more
Getting out more: Finding out more
06 September 2010
By Sarah Davies
As a social scientist working in a Science Communication Group, part of my PhD involved fieldwork at different science dialogue events. I sat through hours of debate and dialogue – note-taking all the time: I was attempting ethnographic ‘thick description’ – and there’s a tendency for events to run into one unless I resort to my fieldnotes. But a few moments stand out: a woman speaking movingly about her experience of mental illness; a couple of scientists politely quarrelling on stage; an audience member explaining, eruditely and at some length, why they believed Einstein was wrong.
I find public engagement fascinating because of such shifts between the sublime and the ridiculous. These kinds of interactions are shot through with humour, passion, enthusiasm and knowledge: at one moment a patient is giving a startling different perspective on a medical advance to the ‘experts’ on stage, while the next you’re learning about the physics of music or making flour bombs. Most of the events I studied involved well-established scholars with permanent contracts, but I’ve increasingly – since becoming a contract researcher myself – got interested in how research staff participate in public engagement. What opportunities do they have, and what are the challenges in taking these up? What are the pros and cons of public engagement for researchers? We’ve started to discuss some of these questions on this blog, as well as on Vitae’s public engagement mini-site, but I’m thrilled that – thanks to Innovate 2010 – I’m going to be able to run a small research project looking at them in more detail.
Please do watch this space for more information: amongst other things, I’ll be running a survey which will seek to reach as many research staff as possible and I’m keen to use the blog to facilitate this. But here’s a question to throw out there (and maybe act as inspiration as I plan the research): have you been involved in public engagement? And if so, what did you do and how did you find it?
Tennie Videler08 September 2010 at 10:49 AM
permalinkreport this comment
Congratulations Sarah, on winning one of the mega competitive Innovate awards.
So this explains to some extent Sarah going to the Vitae conference: she presented her project together with the 7 other winners. Very exciting.
Good luck with the research and I am looking forward to the outcome!
Simon Smith10 September 2010 at 07:27 PM
permalinkreport this comment
Well done Sarah! So is the study aiming to look specifically at the involvement of contract research staff in public engagement? I'd be interested to learn more.
Unfortunately I couldn't attend the conference, partly because of the cost, and partly because it clashed with a Vitae / White Rose event in Leeds on Building Impact into Social Science Research that I was helping run. It was targeted at PhD students, and coincidentally we were trying to get them to think about public engagement, among other things, when designing research. Mostly they seemed to get the idea that it could be an intrinsic part of any research.
Matthew Salois13 September 2010 at 02:36 PM
permalinkreport this comment
Congratulations Sarah on winning the award. I look forward to hearing more about your work and forthcoming results.
I can actually say that I have never been a part of public engagement with any of my research. While that is not a very interesting answer, perhaps it says something.
I have worked in three economics departments as a researcher and in one epidemiology department. None of the economics departments I worked in were especially keen on public engagement and often took to purposefully avoid it.
The epidemiology department, on the other hand, was very active in engaging the local community and trying to give their research whatever spotlight they could.
David Proctor13 September 2010 at 11:41 PM
permalinkreport this comment
Hi Sarah,
I sent you an email addressing this question earlier tonight, but failed to include one link that has a lot of information on activities in my college at the University of Dundee:
http://www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/other/impact/
Most of the activities listed involve research staff, and some are pioneered by us. Unfortunately, due to time constraints my own involvement has been limited to organizing the Women in STEM speaker this past March.
Good luck with the Innovate project!