Lack of engagement on research council  priorities

Phil Willis, Chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Innovation, Universities and Skills, has expressed concern that research councils are increasingly focusing on more commercial work at the cost of investigator-motivated projects. ‘It is happening by stealth,’ he said. ‘This is a worrying trend occurring without public engagement.’

Scientists want to help society

Scientists' sense that public engagement is worthwhile drives their participation, according to a study in the journal Science Communication. Ellen Poliakoff (University of Manchester) and Thomas Webb (University of Sheffield) found that scientists' attitudes to public engagement, their beliefs about their own ability and about their colleagues' levels of participation predicted their intentions better than career recognition or time constraints.

Darwin200 season on BBC

The BBC has announced an autumn/winter season of television and radio programmes as part of the Darwin200 initiative marking the impact of Darwin's ideas two centuries after his birth. It will explore the origins of Darwin's great idea, the impact of his theory of evolution on science, society and religion, and re-create many of his plant experiments.

Royal Society Prizes for Science Books

The novel Six Degrees: Our future on a hotter planet by Mark Lynas has won the 2008 Royal Society General Prize for Science Books. Professor Jonathan Ashmore, Chair of the judges, described it as `a compelling and gripping view of how climate change could affect our world'. The Big Book of Things to Make and Do by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt won the Junior Prize.

Trivialising climate change

The Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr Richard Pike, has criticised the public debate on climate change as ‘dangerously preoccupied with a raft of minor, almost trivial energy-saving initiatives.’ Rather, ‘society needs to be better engaged on how to address the 80 per cent global dependence on fossil fuels,’ he told a summer meeting of the Foundation for Science and Technology.

Imperial College Public Engagement Award

Imperial College has set up a new £2500 Rector's Public Engagement Award, with the first winners to be announced in October. Melanie Thody, Director of Access and Head of Outreach, told Science & Public Affairs, ‘The Public Engagement Award is a great way for us to recognise the time and effort that staff commit to engaging with public audiences.’

Science and journalism – best friends?

Research published in Science suggests that scientists and journalists get along much better than commonly thought. Wholly 57 per cent of researchers were ‘mostly pleased’ with their media interaction, with only 6 per cent ‘mostly dissatisfied’. Steve Miller (UCL), one of the authors of the study, commented, ‘I was really surprised... it just goes to show you shouldn't believe the horror stories.’

New consultation on engagement

The Minister for Science and Innovation, Ian Pearson, has launched a consultation to promote public engagement on science issues and encourage more people to choose science as a career. The consultation, which closes on 17 October, will feed in to the government’s Science and Society strategy and implementation plan, to be published later this year. ‘We need to hear from school children and parents, science teachers and researchers, business leaders and media experts,’ said Ian Pearson. 

Dr Joanna Carpenter is the Shorts Editor