Thank you Barbara, for confirming the anecdotal evidence that I have come across. That is exactly the attitude that I have heard going back to the 1970s.
These “engagement sceptics” are the sort of people who will be first to scream when their research budgets – or, as they see it, their right to taxpayers’ money – comes under threat.
They may also be the people who hold their noses when REF asks them to describe the impact of their research.
In wonder if it really is because they don’t want to engage, or if they take this line because they are scared that they will be found it, both for the quality of their research and for their inability to explain what they are up to.
MK
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Barbara Govan
Sent: 30 January 2015 17:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] An engaging personality - the Cox phenomenon moves on
We have met and trained some 450+ UK scientists this year. Many report that time away from the lab spent on engagement is still frowned on, often by colleagues rather than people further up the chain.
Though a professor told me that " if anyone wants to know about my work, they can go to the library and read my papers". Glad to say we managed to change that person's view but it is still out there.
We are the new media skills trainers at the Royal Society from March along with our collaborator and tireless science communicator, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE. She is a space scientist and presenter of the Sky at Night, the world's longest running TV series. Plus we will have a fantastic voice and presentation coach giving scientists access to the same skills as business leaders and people in the public eye.
Keen as award winning science TV producers and experienced trainers of scientists to be joining a new drive on PE.
The UK must aspire to be the best place in the world to do science, says Royal Society Professor Brian Cox | Royal Society
“The Royal Society’s appointment of its first Professor for Public Engagement in Science is part of a wider grass roots programme to involve the UK’s best scientists in getting the public excited about science.”
I bet that there will still be some sniffy academics out there who pour scorn on those among them who do get involved. I had thought that that attitude had died decades ago, but still people tell me that there are senior scientists who try to discourage younger researchers from going public.
Has anyone ever done a survey of attitudes to engagement within the scientific community? It could be valuable evidence to support Prof Cox et al.
MK
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