VoYS May 2007
Organised by Sense About Science, in association with the Biochemical Society, Elsevier, Institute of Biology, Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, the Medical Research Council, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Society for Applied Microbiology and the Society for General Microbiology.
Voice of Young Science workshop (biological sciences and bioengineering)
18th May 2007
Sense About Science’s ninth VoYS media workshop was held at the Institute of Biology for early career researchers from biological sciences and bioengineering.
In the first session, Science in the Media, we heard from Professor Stephen Minger, Dr Azra Ghani, and Dr Steven Keevil (Find out more about the speakers…)
The panellists discussed their successes and the difficulties experienced when speaking to the media, from the lab coat stereotype to unfortunate quotes about Christopher Reed. There were many audience questions ranging from whether scientists enjoyed talking to the media, what level of personal responsibility scientists had to the public, the effects on their career from being in the media and how to deal with misrepresentation. The scientists concluded that despite the pitfalls that can be encountered, talking about science is worthwhile and scientists should get involved.
“This was a really good introduction and it was nice the panellists were positive about their experiences.”
“Insightful info about how scientists have dealt with the media - good that they talked about their mistakes as well as their successes.”
“Excellent session and speakers giving very frank and honest opinions about their media experiences”
Audience members on first session
Next came the journalists, Alok Jha, The Guardian, Rachael Buchanan, BBC News, Fiona MacRae, The Daily Mail and Anjana Ahuja, The Times. The session began with the delegates outlining how they felt the media could improve its reporting of science. The journalists defended their profession in a lively and vigorous debate, which gave a good insight into the world of science journalism. The audience asked how personally responsible journalists feel when reporting a story, particularly when it is controversial. This led to some very interesting comments and examples of how journalists try to be fair whilst taking the responsibility very seriously. The session helped the audience understand the difficulties of merging the world of scientists and the media.
“Very helpful to hear the journalists points of view to get a better understanding of their role and to see that they’re human too and have good motives for science reporting.”
“Good to understand what the media wants. At the end of the day the story has to be just that - a story and there has to be a public interest.”
“This was especially interesting as I had never met a science journalist before and it dispelled a lot of negative impressions.”
Audience members on second session
The final session saw the audience divided into three groups of ten for a more informal working session. Adrian Mulligan, Associate director of Academic Responsibilities at Elsevier talked to the groups about the different forms of peer review and gave advice on getting published and how to target research to the right journal. Ellen Raphael talked about Sense about Science, discussing projects and the ways we correct misinformation with examples from the last five years. Claire Bithell, from the Science Media Centre (SMC) gave her top tips on how to prepare for an interview and how the SMC works as a press office for science.
“Very engaging and useful talks.”
“Motivated me to practically tackle scientific awareness in the public.”
“Very interesting and diverse speakers”
Audience members on third session
All in all it was a very lively and informative day. Roll on the next one! To read audience reviews of the day please see links in the right hand menu. Here are some selected comments:
“Thanks for a fantastic day and a brilliant opportunity!”
“An excellent day - thank you for your effort and input!”
“A really worthwhile and informative day!”
The next workshop, for early career researchers in the physical sciences and engineering, is taking place on Friday 14th September. For further details or to apply for a place please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Last updated: August 17 2007