Science Communication Unit (SCU)

Margarida Sardo and Sophie Laggan WeCount is a citizen science research project funded by the H2020 SwafS-programme and aims to empower citizens to take a leading role in the production of data, evidence and knowledge around mobility in their own neighbourhoods. The project started in December 2019 and was designed to have lots of face-to-face … Continue reading "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in delivering Citizen Science projects: Insights from the WeCount project"

This post was originally published on the Engineering our Future and Curiosity Connections blogs. Neurodiversity Week (15-21 March 2021) celebrates our unique strengths and differences, while recognising that the many talents of people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other neurodiverse ways of thinking and learning are often not suited to traditional, formal learning environments. … Continue reading "Providing space for social communication in a STEM engagement project"

When children are asked what an engineer is, and what they look like, it can often be a tricky question.  They may jump to the image of an engine mechanic, or a man in overalls with a spanner and a hard-hat.  They may also have trouble recognising familiar jobs as coming under the umbrella of … Continue reading "What is an engineer anyway? – Communicating engineering careers to pupils with DETI’s Engineering Curiosity project"

By Dr Laura Fogg-Rogers We’re living through a Climate and Ecological Emergency and we urgently need to reduce carbon emissions. And yet society seems frozen into inaction. Could a new modelling and communication approach help to gather momentum? The ClairCity project was led by UWE Bristol and brought together the Air Quality Monitoring Resource Centre … Continue reading "Seeing people in the data"

Kassie at NASA Ames in front of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) My name is Kassie. I’m a storyteller, science facilitator, and science advocate. I work as a federal contractor for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute at NASA Ames in Silicon Valley. A decade ago, I would have never expected my career … Continue reading "“It gave me the confidence to consider science communication as a career…”"

This blog post was originally included in Transforming Society published by Bristol University Press and Policy Press, on 12th November 2020, and is reproduced with their kind permission here. Like many publishing projects this one started like any other. An exchange of emails, a flurry of ideas, and a conversation over tea in a university … Continue reading "The contemporary relevance of science communication in the era of COVID"

I recently had the opportunity to produce a documentary about the concerning shortage of early career pollinator taxonomists in Europe. The film was made to complement a Science for Environment Policy (SfEP) report that I co-authored, about the  important role of pollinators in the survival of the global ecosystem, and highlighting the vital role of … Continue reading "Creating a short science based multilingual film for a European audience"

Photo credit: Marten Newhall, Unsplash Words: Andy Ridgway When I started teaching science writing after spending years as a journalist, I wanted to share my experience, my way of doing things, in the classroom. But I quickly struck upon a problem. What did I actually do? How did I find and research stories? How did … Continue reading "How open are we as science communicators?"