The 2013 convening | PARTICIPANTS
Physicist, author and NOVA host Brian Greene and NOVA senior executive producer Paula Apsell were among 74 communicators, educators, researchers, and funders at the workshop. Photo: Lisa Abitbol
The idea of the convening was to start with the innovators—the women and men who are doing public science engagement differently than in the past—and get them talking about what works, what’s changing, and why. We also wanted to take as broad a view as possible of the whole landscape of opportunities for the public to connect with science, while keeping the meeting small enough for genuine conversation and working debate (75 attendees in total). We were excited to welcome a roomful of highly creative, even pioneering practitioners working in areas from science journalism, blogging, and publishing to science festivals and other live events, filmmaking and television, museums, citizen science, podcasting and radio, and music and the arts. The group hailed from UK, Ireland and Canada as well as the US, and included emerging innovators as well as high-profile, influential figures.
Crucially, in addition to the practitioners there were also a number of researchers who study public science engagement from various angles (such as rhetoric, learning sciences, anthropology, and philosophy), and several funders who have supported some of the most culturally forward-looking programs in recent years.
Seattle-based public engagement professional Meena Selvakumar was one of a half-dozen museum-based participants at the convening. Photo: Lisa Abitbol
Download the list of participants here.
We knew we were just scratching the surface with this list of 75, and we wish we could have included many more of the best minds in the field. But the 2013 convening was just a beginning, and we look forward to a wider dialogue and deeper exploration. If you create or study public science experiences and you’re interested in advancing the field, we hope you’ll get in touch.
