The Science in Public Research Network is for anyone involved with or interested in academic research about ‘Science in Public’ in the broadest sense. It provides a central point of contact for the research community that has grown out of the ongoing UK based conference of the same name, which has been running annually since 2006. Our Committee is simply composed of those people who have been, or plan to be, involved in organising SiP activities. If you’d like to get involved, drop us a line!
What is ‘Science in Public’ anyway?
We believe that ‘science in public’ research is any work which considers the relationships between science and technology; ‘the public’; multiple publics; or the broader public sphere. This includes work on, for example, science in mass media, museums or online spaces; public engagement and participation; popular science and its histories; science, publics and policy; and science in fictions, art and cinema. Rather than forming another new interdisciplinary field, the SiP Network aims to foster cross-disciplinary discussion and debate between researchers across the many disciplines which address this topic, including science and technology studies, history of science, geography, psychology, cultural studies, media and communication studies, sociology, development studies, English literature, policy and political studies, to name a few.
Because SiP research is relatively ‘young’, we have a strong presence from early-career researchers: however, we strongly encourage participation from academics at all stages of their career. Similarly, while the Network is UK based, we welcome involvement from and interchange with scholars and other networks anywhere in the world.
What are our aims?
- To provide long term continuity for the annual Science in Public conference.
- To give SiP research a more visible online presence via this web portal.
- To facilitate conversations between researchers and practitioners in the area.
In the longer term we would like to build more extensive shared resources such as accessible introductions, course syllabi, reference lists, training resources and online discussion spaces. Given the nature of the topic, it’s really important that we start thinking more about how we do and communicate our own research ‘in public’.
Ultimately, it’s up to us. If you’re interested in making the Science in Public research network happen, have a suggestion, or just want to find out what’s going on, join our mailing list, or get in touch!