Science communication Talking (and Listening) to Diverse Audiences

19 September 2019 | 09:15 – 16:30 | BAS - Seminar Room 2, Aurora Innovation Space

Overview
The purpose of the workshop is to explore how to engage with diverse audiences: fellow scientists, policymakers, and members of the general public. We will look at different roles that scientists play in society. We will also explore how people form opinions and convictions, and how we evaluate the trustworthiness of communicators.

The workshop consists of two parts, one addressing the relationship between scientific research and science-based policy; the other one introducing knowledge from neuroscience and psychology which can help you understand how your audiences may respond to what you want to communicate. The material covers key topics from “Time for Change?”, a report of the UCL committee on the communication of climate science ¹ .

Following the ground-shifting developments of 2016 (the EU referendum and the US election), there will be ample time to discuss how we can productively deal with the divisions in society, and the seeming rejection of “expert” knowledge by some.

Schedule
09:15-09:45 Introduction to the day and the material of the workshop

Part A. What does your audience expect from you?
09:45-12:00 What are the roles of scientists in society?

In small groups, we will discuss:

• Your motivation to study for a PhD
• How does your chosen research topic influence your motivation? (or vice-versa)
• Society also sees a need for PhD students, but how does its motivations differ?

These ideas will be collected through whole class discussion, converging on five science/policy roles identified in the “Time for Change?” report. Although individual scientists do not need to adopt each role, the science community as a whole needs to balance these to fulfil the needs of society.

We evaluate specific examples of science communication, asking questions such as:

• What roles are the scientists/communicators undertaking?
• Who is the target audience and what does it expect?
• Is there a mismatch between the role the scientists undertake, and what the particular audience expects from them?
• Why do some science communication contexts become controversial, and others do not?

The class will result in an appreciation that there are different roles when engaging with public and policymakers about your science. Others may not choose the roles you choose, but we need to ensure that the balance of these roles executed by the scientific community fulfils the needs of society.

12.00-12.45 Lunch

Part B. What does your audience hear?
12:45-4.30 “Experiential” introduction to the mind sciences

We will discuss and undertake different experiments from the history of psychology and neuroscience. Each exercise aims to generate an experience of “seeing yourself see”, i.e., it will lead to awareness of how the human brain perceives and evaluates information. The different exercises will explore the following questions:

• How do our brains perceive reality?
• How do they separate “truth” from “falsehood”?
• How do we become convinced of being right?
• How do we deal with (the possibility of) being wrong?
• How does the scientific process (Popper’s process of “conjectures and refutations”) differ from the way our brains operate in everyday thinking?
• How do we evaluate other people? How do we judge whom to trust?
• How do these mental processes impact the way different audience groups accept or reject scientific messages?
• How can understanding this make us more effective as scientific messengers?

The class will result in an appreciation of how the human brain evaluates information, how this can lead different people to evaluate the same scientific evidence differently, and how understanding these psychological mechanisms can prepare you to engage more effectively with diverse audiences.

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¹ The report can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ccspc-report . Chapter 1 deals with the science-policy interface, Chapter 2 with mind science insights relevant to science communication.