TALKFEST - Science and hobbies

Thursday 1 September 2011

18:30 - 20:30

Charles Darwin House, London

Modern scientific research is a highly professionalised business, for all that people may joke they're not in it for the money. Still, there are people who enjoy at least a bit of science as part of what they do in their spare time. At this Talkfest event we discussed some of the positives and pitfalls involved in thinking about science and science communication as a hobby.

Topics dicussed included:

Can and should crowdsourced citizen science projects tap into the enthuasic occasional workforce of amateurs?

Are community groups based around hobbies (e.g. based around photography, reading or knitting) a good way to reach 'new audiences', especially for projects aiming to getting people discussing science in society issues?

Should the science communication work of scientists, especially blogging, be seen as a hobby or part of their dayjob (or is such a distinction a silly idea in the first place?)

After the event:

With huge thanks to UCL's Head of Public Engagement, Steve Cross, a podcast of the event is now available to listen to online.

Chair and panellists:

Alice Bell is Senior Teaching Fellow in Science Communication at Imperial College London. She has worked widely in public engagement and science education and has a PhD on children's science books. She has worked in online science writing since 2001, and has a research interest in scientist bloggers. She has also been known to blog about knitting. You can follow Alice on Twitter.

Dr Linda Davies is an ecologist with research interests in environmental policy, biological monitoring and public engagement in science. She has worked in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London since 1999. Linda now leads the OPAL consortium of fourteen institutions, who work together and aim to get the nation to spend more time outdoors exploring and recording the world around them. 

Amy Sanders commissions events, exhibitions, games, art, treasure chests, banquets and scratch 'n' sniff cards, on biology, medicine, science and life, for the Wellcome Trust. You can follow Amy on Twitter.

Rob completed his PhD in astrophysics in 2010 and since then has been working at Oxford University for the Zooniverse, creating citizen science projects. He has been communicating astronomy to the public for several years. Rob blogs at Orbiting Frog and is also on Twitter.