Making Science Public: A blog on science, language and culture
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Responsible innovation: Great expectations, great responsibilities
I recently happened to click on a website providing advice to researchers working on ‘medical technologies’. It starts by pointing out that: “Researchers in cutting edge fields are increasingly being asked by funders and regulators to conduct responsible innovation in order to increase the social and economic benefits and effectively manage the risks of their…
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Working across science cultures: A student’s experience
This guest post is the outcome of a twitter conversation between Brigitte and Stephanie Ashenden. It’s great to have a student guest-post on this blog! Attending my first ever lecture back in my first year of university was without a doubt, one of the biggest eye openers to the competitive nature of the job market.…
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Amelia Sharman audio & Prezi: Mapping the climate sceptical blogosphere
Amelia Sharman gave a seminar last week ‘Mapping the Climate Sceptical Blogosphere’ to the Institute for Science and Society, as part of Making Science Public’s month of climate change lectures. Amelia discussed her methods for determining which blogs were most central to those amongst what can (loosely) be called a climate sceptic community, and the…
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Evidence and Public Engagement in Immigration Control
Immigration control has become a fundamental project in contemporary Britain especially in relation to the incapacity of the welfare state to absorb large numbers of poor immigrants coming from all over the globe. However, as Bridget Anderson has argued in her book ‘Us and Them: the Dangerous Politics of Immigration Controls’, immigration control, as a…
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Mike Hulme: Public Life of Climate Change, The First 25 Years
Mike Hulme, one of Making Science Public’s Honorary Associates, joined us in Nottingham today for a workshop about the role of scientific expertise and consensus in public life. Mike also gave a public lecture at lunchtime, which attracted a multidisciplinary audience from within the university, as well as members of the public from beyond the…
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Global warming is dead, long live global heating?
This post emerged from a weekend conversation between Mike Hulme, Brigitte Nerlich and Warren Pearce. It is also available as a pdf. There has been a lot of talk recently about a so-called ‘pause’ or ‘hiatus’ in global warming. Some argue that it poses a serious challenge to established climate science and may undermine its…
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Dan Kahan public lecture 13/2/14: Democracy and the Science Communication Environment
UPDATE: over 100 people attended the event at Lakeside Arts Centre. Dan has posted a detailed synopsis with link to slides. We are delighted to announce that Dan Kahan (Professor of Law and Psychology, Yale Law School) is visiting the university to deliver a public lecture on February 13th. This is a rare opportunity to…
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How to do things with GIFs: Some musings on online science communication
Some weeks ago my son said to me: “Mum, you should write a blog post about GIFs”. As I am a bit of a techno-culture-laggard, I asked him what these things were. He showed me a few and they made me laugh. They also made me think. Images, GIFs, infographics, short videos and so on…
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What on earth do you mean? An outsider’s view on Public Understanding of Science
This is a guest post by Hilary Sutcliffe provoked by a twitter exchange: Yesterday Patrick Sturgis tweeted a link to an article he has just published in the journal Public Understanding of Science. Hilary asked for a copy, as the articles are behind a paywall; I sent her the article and asked at the same…
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Blogs, publics and controversies: climate change lectures in February
Time to unveil three four FIVE! exciting climate change lectures hosted by Making Science Public in February. Superb speakers examining different perspectives on one of the defining issues of modern public life. All are welcome to these lectures, all held on University Park campus. Thursday, February 6th: 1-2pm, Law & Social Sciences (West Wing), A100 Amelia Sharman…
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