New course - Postgraduate Certificate in Practical Science Communication

The Postgraduate Certificate in Practical Science Communication course will start this autumn. The course is based in the university's Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall, Cambridge.

The courses is organised so that students can study without having to give up their present commitments. Applications are encouraged from prospective students who have some work experience and are looking for professional development, a new outlook, and enhanced practical and academic skills, including:

- scientists, looking to improve their skills and learn about the contexts for science communication

- sci comm professionals, who want a chance to reflect and broaden their experience

- anyone who wants to challenge themselves by thinking about and communicating science in new ways.

The PG Cert runs over one year with 13 days of face-to-face teaching (in Cambridge), with further support online. As well as being a recognised qualification in its own right, the PG Cert can also count as the first step towards a Masters degree. Here's the link for further information. Please get in touch with Jane Gregory directly if you are interested, or follow the instructions in the link.

Recap - Sea

Thanks to the mild summer evening, we were able to hold our last meeting of term once more on the margins of the water, in the riverside gardens of Darwin College. Marie introduced our two readings by Rachel Carson, taking us through Carson's career, the relationship between scientific practice and science-writing in the mid-twentieth century, and women in science. As the introduction to Lost Woods revealed: 'What is remarkable is not that Carson produced such a small body of work, but that she was able to produce it at all' (xi).

We thought about the literary strategies Carson employed in 'Undersea', and its similarities with and differences from 'The Edge of the Sea': her precision or vagueness, imagery and comparisons, and evocation of previous classics of scientific literature, from Lyell's Principles to Darwin's Origin. We discussed Carson's ecological and environmental awareness, and her striking early illustrations of the interconnected effects of climate change. We went on to consider what was known about the depths of the sea (or les profondeurs, in Marie's favoured terminology) at the time Carson was writing, and how new discoveries of phenomena such as hydrothermal vents have reframed our understanding of the deep as a more active and energetic place, rather than a gloomy stillness punctuated by monstrous creatures (pictures of which Marie showed us). Carson's mention of foraminifera provided Simon with an opportunity to bring along some fabulous actual and 3D-printed examples from the Department of Earth Sciences' teaching collection (photographs below).

Overall, a fantastic end to what has been a thoroughly enjoyable term's conversations on and around four marvellous readings. Next stop, Earth...

26th June - Sea

Our final meeting of our aquatic terms goes under the sea, reading two pieces by Rachel Carson: 'Undersea', from the  Atlantic Monthly (1937), 322-325, and 'The Edge of the Sea', an address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1953). Both are republished in Linda Lear (ed.), Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson (1999), or contact MK for a copy.

We meet at Darwin College in our old venue of the Newnham Grange Seminar Room from 7.30-9pm on Monday 26th June.

All welcome!

Cambridge BRAINFest - 23-25 June

Cambridge BRAINFest is a public free festival of brain research that will bring together >130 neuroscientists from across Cambridge to present ground breaking research in 30 interactive exhibits covering themes of Development', 'Brain & Body', 'Pain & Pleasure', 'Imagination & Perception' and 'Learning & Forgetting', spanning research from molecule to man. In addition, we will have Q&A sessions with experts at Café Scientifique, BRAINArt (featuring local schools), secret cinema, build-a-brain workshops, an historical self guided neurotrail and interactive neurotheatre, an evening 'Variety Showcase' (with public lectures covering the dyslexic brain, the degenerating brain and the obese brain interspersed with the story of Parkinson's disease through dance and living with dementia through poetry) and an evening of 'Brains & Mental Health' (a question time styled panel discussion, hosted by Professor Sir Simon Wessely, featuring an expert panel). The theme of the evening will focus on how mental illnesses are disorders of the brain, the ongoing research that will help us better understand and treat these disorders and how we can bridge the existing gap between neuroscience research and current practice in the health service. Please see programme flyer attached.

We hope that Cambridge BRAINFest will not only provide opportunities for mutual learning between scientists and members of the public, but also facilitate the transition of research findings into real life applications within a diverse range of public policy areas including health, education and law.

Join the conversation on @CamNeuro #CambridgeBRAINfest and on Facebook

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Programme of events | Open to the public, FREE |
Bookings now open! (for evening events)
No booking required for the Cambridge Corn Exchange daytime events

Friday 23rd June 2017

19:00-21:00 Cambridge BRAINFest Variety Showcase

Babbage Lecture Theatre, University of Cambridge

Booking now open!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday 24th June 2017

10:00-15:30 Thematic Showcase, Corn Exchange main auditorium

10:30-15:30 Café Scientifique @ Cambridge BRAINFest, St John's room

10:00-15:30 BRAINArt @ Cambridge BRAINFest, Corn Exchange foyer

10:00-15:30 Secret Cinema @ Cambridge BRAINFest, The King's room

19:00-21:00 Brains & Mental Health @ Cambridge BRAINFest

Babbage Lecture Theatre, University of Cambridge

Booking now open!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 25th June 2017

10:00-16:00 Thematic Showcase, Corn Exchange main auditorium

10:00-16:00 Café Scientifique @ Cambridge BRAINFest, St John's room

10:00-16:00 BRAINArt @ Cambridge BRAINFest, Corn Exchange foyer

10:00-16:00 Secret Cinema @ Cambridge BRAINFest, The King's room

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional notes

BRAINArt is an exhibition of brain associated art by local children. In the lead up to Cambridge BRAINFest, we visited 1400 students, talked about the brain and 'hopefully' inspired the students to create brain art. A selection of their artwork will be on display throughout the festival in the foyer of the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

Secret Cinema - The King's Room at the Corn Exchange will be transformed into the Cambridge BRAINFest secret cinema. Festival goers will be able to take a break from the showcase exhibit downstairs and view a collection of films from across the Cambridge Neuroscience community. The secret cinema will run for the duration of the festival and details will be provided in the programme and on information screens throughout the festival.

Cambridge Neurotrail is a walking self guided map of Cambridge with neuroscience points of historical interest. We can provide copies of this to you and your guides/ambassadors.

Hopefully this has been useful to you but please let me know if you need any more details.

Jobs - Post-Doc Positions on a Narrative Science Project

Applications are invited for 3 Post-Docs to work on the EU-funded project Narrative Science under the direction of the principal investigator, Professor Mary S. Morgan at the London School of Economics. This team project will investigate how, when, and why scientists use narratives to explain their work within their own communities. Each researcher will develop their own case materials within the overall project, working - by agreement with the project leader - on particular topics and fields of science past and present.

It is expected that candidates will have a PhD in history of science, or a closely related field (including narrative studies, science communication, etc) provided you have some experience of historical research work; or you must have an equivalent track record of independent and original research.

As part of their application, candidates are asked to write a brief response to the larger project summary, found here.

The job advert is found here (which links to further details and tells you how to apply). The closing date is June 22nd.

There will shortly also be an advert for a Research Fellow to help run the project, and to curate a web-based 'library' of case studies in narrative science.

Candidates are welcome to apply to both.

Symposium - 'Synthetic Biology, Metaphors and Responsibility'

Event - 'STEM and Beyond? Informal Science Learning Across Disciplines'

Brunel University London, Friday 19th May.

We have fifteen presentations on STEM Communication, STEM and the arts, and STEM, social science and interdisciplinarity, including a keynote from Prof Martin Bauer (LSE).

Tickets are free but numbers are limited and registration is essential. Please register via the Eventbrite.

Further information can also be found on the Science in Public Research Network page.

Contact neil.stephens@brunel.ac.uk including STEM in the subject for further information.

Noisy Embyros

NOISY EMBRYOS

Dates: 9 – 25 March

Private View: Thursday 16 March, 5.00pm

Noisy Embryos is a multi-channel, audio-visual installation that reflects on the relationship between scientists and the animals they observe by juxtaposing videos of snail embryos generated under laboratory conditions with the 'messiness' of the natural environment and of the process of data collection in the field. It draws on interdisciplinary research carried out by artists Deborah Robinson and David Strang and biologist Simon Rundle during field trips at locations used by naturalist Carl Linnaeus and film maker Andrei Tarkovsky on the Swedish island of Gotland.

Cambridge Science Festival 2017:

Noisy Embryos: From the bane of embryology to indicators of the Anthropocene
Thursday 16 March, 6.30pm-8pm

This interdisciplinary talk links the history of variation in embryology (Nick Hopwood, Cambridge) to the current use of embryos as indicators of climate change (Simon Rundle, Plymouth) to introduce how the audio-visual exhibition Noisy Embryos (Deborah Robinson and David Strang, Plymouth) responds to the uses of embryos in scientific research.

This talk will take place in room RUS110, in the Ruskin Building, no need to book, just turn up. 

We look forward to seeing you at the Ruskin Gallery

www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskingallery

Workshop - Magic Lanterns and Science

Programme:

9:30-10:15 - Coffee on arrival

10:15-10:30 - Introductory Comments. Sally Shuttleworth (University of Oxford) and Geoff Belknap (Leicester University), Constructing Scientific Communities Project.

10:30-12:00 - Panel 1: Approaches to Science and the Magic Lantern · Iwan Morus (University of Aberystwyth), 'Seeing the Light: Fact and Artefact in Victorian Lantern Culture' · Sarah Dellmann (Utrecht University), 'Images of Science and Scientists: Lantern Slides of Excursions from Utrecht University, NL (c. 1900-1950)' · Emily Hayes (Exeter University), 'Fashioned by physics: the 'scope and methods' of Halford Mackinder's geographical imagination'

12:00-1:00 - Lunch

1:00-2:30 - Panel 2: Magic Lanterns and Museums/Curation · Charlotte New and Meagan Smith (Royal Institution), 'Shedding light on yesterday: Highlighting the slide collections of the RI and relevant preservation' · Frank Gray (Screen archive South-east, Brighton), 'Working with Archive Collections: Development, Access and Historical Context'

2:30-3:00 - Coffee break

3:00-4:30 - Panel 3: Materiality of the lantern · Phillip Roberts (York University), 'Science and Media in the Industrial Revolution: Instrument Makers and the Magic Lantern Trade' · Kelly Wilder (De Montfort University), 'From Lantern Slides to Powerpoint: Photography and the Materiality of Projection' · Deac Rossell (Goldsmiths University), 'Changing Places: Tracking Magic Lantern Culture from Physics to Chemistry to Cinema'

4:30-4:45 - Closing Remarks. Joe Kember and Richard Crangle (Exeter University), Million Pictures Project.

6:15-7:15 - Drinks Reception

7:30-9:00 - Evening lantern show for the general public: · Jeremy Brooker, A Light on Albemarle Street: John Tyndall and the Magic Lantern

Further details here.

Event - "Maps without borders: Stories of civic science in action"

London, 18th February

This storytelling exhibition showcases powerful aerial maps created by citizens using kites, balloons, and point-and-shoot cameras. We explore how people around the world are harnessing the power of Do-It-Yourself techniques to address local environmental, social and political matters. Sitting around a proverbial campfire, we will tell four stories of women and men, unsung heroes in the U.S. and the Middle East, who have crafted tools and gathered evidence that has reconfigured the perception of space, place, and issues that shape their lives. Their maps take us on the journeys that reveal who created them: their challenges, struggles, and successes in achieving change in their communities. These maps lie at the intersection of technology, science, the environment, and social justice; they reveal the power of engagement and how people are creating alternative narratives of place and transformation. Free event. Wheelchair accessible.

More information and RSVP.

CFP - 'STEM and Beyond? Informal Science Learning Across Disciplines'

Science in Public and Brunel STS Cluster are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract to a forthcoming full day workshop about public engagement in the sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences on 19th May at Brunel University London. Titled “STEM and Beyond? Informal Science Learning Across Disciplines”, we welcome contributions from academics from all fields, science communicators, educational practitioners, and science and technology studies scholars. The event is an opportunity to both reflect upon the impacts of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) agenda on communication in all disciplines, and to present examples of good practice. The event features a keynote presentation by Prof. Martin Bauer of the LSE on science communication across the disciplines.

Full event details here: https://scienceinpublic.org/stem-beyond/

Please submit titles and 300 word abstracts for contributions to Neil.Stephens@Brunel.ac.uk by Monday 6th February. Please put ‘STEM and Beyond abstract’ in the subject heading, and include your institutional affiliation if you have one, although we welcome freelance scicomm and education practitioners to join us to share their ideas and experience.

The event is co-organised by the Brunel Science, Technology and Society (STS) Research Cluster and the Science in Public Research Network (SiP), with support from Brunel’s College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, Brunel’s Institute of Environment, Health and Societies, and the Brunel STEM Learning Centre.

Cambridge Shorts 2016 - DISH LIFE

What do scientists really think about their stem cells ?

Dish Life is a melting pot of stem cell science, sociology and creative filmmaking.

Cambridge Shorts brings you an unseen world. Where stem cells and scientists talk to each other. The life in the dish, revealed. We may know why scientists do research into regenerative medicine, we may know what stem cells are, but we don't know how the scientists feel about working with them. What is in the process of culturing cells. Stem cells are more like unruly pets. They can be happy or sad. And so are the scientists.....

Pre-book on EventBrite ( £2 on door). Watch the trailer and follow our news !

Co-created by Dr. Loriana Vitillo (Wellcome Trust/MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute) and Karen Jent (Reproductive Sociology). Written and Directed by Chloë Thomas (chloejocasta@gmail.com). A project funded by Cambridge Shorts 2016, University of Cambridge.

Talk - ‘Science Communication’

A talk by Dr Charlotte Sleigh, Reader in History of Science at the University of Kent, will be followed by a conversation between Dr Sleigh and Tilly Blyth, curator of the recently-opened gallery, ‘Information Age’.

Tuesday 31 March, 1 pm In the Patrons’ Room of the Smith Centre, at the Science Museum

The entrance to the Smith Centre is from Imperial College Road. Go north from the Museum entrance (i.e. to the right when facing the Museum), turn the corner on the left, and ring the bell at the entrance to the Smith Centre of the left. Please feel free to bring a lunch to eat, if you wish.

Everyone is welcome.