Science in Public 2016 was hosted by the Centre for the History of the Sciences,  University of Kent, Canterbury

Final Programme

Book of Abstracts

Thanks for a fantastic meeting, all!

To catch up, click through to the #SiP2016 Storify

  SiP Constitution; minutes of the 2016 AGM

 Our thanks to BSHS for their support

Science in Public: Past, Present and Future
University of Kent, Canterbury, 13-15 July 2016

The annual Science in Public conference is an occasion for cross-disciplinary debate and discussion and a forum for sharing all work considering the relationships between science, technology, medicine and their multiple publics. Scholars and practitioners attend from a wide range of specialisms related to science including, for example, science communication; history of science; science policy; geography; psychology; literature; social or cultural studies; public engagement; and the arts. We have had a great range of papers submitted including work on science in mass media, museums; public engagement; popular science; science, publics and policy; and science in fictions, art and cinema.

The theme for this year’s conference, hosted by the Centre for the History of the Sciences at the University of Kent, is Science in Public: Past, Present and Future. Several panels will discuss questions of science and the public at different time periods; or consider relationships between historical and contemporary approaches to science in public. Our opening and closing plenary sessions will be from the interdisciplinary projects Constructing Scientific Communities (with Professors Sally Shuttleworth and Chris Lintott) and Unsettling Scientific Stories.  We will also have a strand focusing on comedy and science communication, including: a panel session looking at its history, role and pitfalls; a workshop for those who would like to use comedy in their own communication activities; and a SiP-themed comedy gig.

Our thanks go to the British Society for the History of Science for supporting this conference, allowing us to subsidise student costs and include our plenary sessions.