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Dear all,

Our next seminar will be held on Wednesday 28th January. We are very pleased to welcome Nick Allum (University of Essex) and our very own Martin Bauer (LSE) to discuss their research comparing various attitudinal data sets on the culture of science. Details of the seminar are below. 

All are welcome. If you'd like to join the email list then please contact Simon Lock.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Professor Martin Bauer, Dr Simon Lock, Dr Jane Gregory

Date, Time and Location:
Wednesday 28th January 2015
16.15-18:00 

Venue: St Clement's, S314, LSE
http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/mapsAndDirections/findingYourWayAroundLSE.htm 

Speakers: Nick Allum (Essex) and Martin W Bauer (LSE)


Title: Changes in the culture of science in Britain – converging evidence from various surveys

Abstract: We distinguish ‘scientific culture’, the business context of research, and ‘science culture’ of societal perception and support for scientific authority. The latter is indicated by public attitudes in the larger sense. Most surveys are reported as news of the day, punctually compared to other countries. However, a corpus of data is now accumulating which allows us to compare the developments within one country and across different countries.

In this PUS seminar, we take a closer look at the UK by a) inspecting items from various surveys, b) creating time-series and trends, and c) examining a quasi-cohort analysis. It is likely that the generations of socialisation are a significant factor in the formation of expectations vis-ŕ-vis science.

We will look closely at the social attitude series of ESRC and BIS (1988, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2013), and at Eurobarometer (1989, 1992, 2001, 2005, 2010, and 2013). Inspection and analysis of these longitudinal series will allow us to disentangle methodological issues from convergent results on how the culture of science has changed (or not) over the past 40 years. 

Nick Allum is Professor of Sociology at University Essex and convenor of the MA Longitudinal Resaerch. He is working on issues of survey data quality and attitude and risk perception measurement. He is involved in the Wellcome Monitor and a board member of ESRA (European Survey Research Association).

Martin W Bauer is Professor of Social Psychology and Research Methodology (LSE). He is Editor-in-Chief of Public Understanding of Science, and he investigates ‘common sense’ in a comparative perspective and in its relation to techno-scientific developments. Recent books: Atom, Bytes & Genes – Public Resistance and Techno-Scientific Responses, NY, Routledge, 2015.

About the Seminar Series
The London PUS seminar is an interdisciplinary intercollegiate seminar concerned with the broad range of topics that fall under the headings of public understanding of science, public engagement with science, science communication, and science-in-society.  It has been run jointly between LSE and UCL since 1993 and is open to all. Our participants predominantly come from a wide range of academic disciplines, and the science policy and science communication/public engagement communities. It is currently supported by the Public Understanding of Science journal published by SAGE and the Department of Science and Technology Studies, UCL. 

Dr Simon J Lock
Lecturer in Science Communication and Governance

Department of Science and Technology Studies
UCL
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT

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020 7679 3763  (internal: x33763)
www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/staff/lock
twitter: @simonjlock

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NEW PAPER:
"Nuclear energy sounded wonderful 40 years ago": UK citizens views on CCS 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513011312

NEW Special Issue of Public Understanding of Science - 'Why Should We Promote Public Engagement with Science?' Guest edited by myself, Jack Stilgoe and James Wilsdon
http://pus.sagepub.com/content/23/1/4.full.pdf+html

Have you heard about our two new MSc degrees? http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/prospective/msc/uclmastersdegrees