Dear all

Just to remind you that the next London PUS Seminar is taking place this week at 4.15pm on Wednesday 25 November 2015, when we we are pleased to welcome Eric Jensen from Warwick University (abstract below). The seminar will be held at LSE, in room QUE 3 28/29 (please note this is not the usual building).

The next seminar will be on 27 January 2016, when we will be hearing from Elizabeth Jones from UCL, who is working on the Jurassic Park films.

Best wishes

Jane Gregory

Martin Bauer

Simon Lock

Melanie Smallman

25 November 2015, 4.15pm, Room QUE 3 28/29 LSE

Eric Jensen, University of Warwick

Promise, quality problems and new solutions in public engagement evaluation: Towards evidence-based practice

In principle, robust evaluation has a vital role to play in guiding the steady improvement of public engagement with science initiatives. However, in practice, public engagement evaluation often lacks quality, producing unreliable results that should not be believed or used to orient practice. Problems such as poor questionnaire design, low quality data analysis and over-claiming impacts apply to the way evaluation is practiced by even the most well-funded public engagement institutions and initiatives. This presentation outlines common approaches to public engagement evaluation, typical limitations at every level in the design and implementation of such evaluations and practical solutions that can overcome these limitations.

Melanie Smallman

(Currently Visiting Fellow in STS at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government)

Department of Science and Technology Studies

UCL

Gower Street

London

WC1E 6BT