Papers by Helen Featherstone
Foreword This second volume in the Postgraduate Papers series has been produced as part of the ce... more Foreword This second volume in the Postgraduate Papers series has been produced as part of the celebrations of ten years of Science Communication postgraduate programmes in the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol. Every year, some fifteen to twenty students undertake a Master’s level project as part of their MSc studies. These papers represent just a small selection of the projects carried out between 2009 and 2013 but they persuasively demonstrate the wide range of subjects tackled by our students and the innovative research they conduct. Bonnie Buckley, Jennifer Garrett and Melanie Davies looked at aspects of science communication in science centres and museums. Bonnie examined the motivations that lead people to be volunteers in science centres; Jennifer investigated how science centres can play a role in communicating environmental sustainability and Melanie explored how science centres can use a range of activities to sustain and d...
Public Understanding of Science, 2008
Understanding your audiences' perceptions is key to the success of any communication campaign... more Understanding your audiences' perceptions is key to the success of any communication campaign. This research note outlines a pilot study using the Situational Model of publics to segment the broader public. Focus groups were used to study publics' understandings and perceptions of climate change to determine if this issue-based publics model is relevant to this field. The work shows the potential of this model of publics, but in the case of climate change it may need a minor refinement.
Journal of Science Communication
The PCST conference attracts a substantial number of science communication academics and practiti... more The PCST conference attracts a substantial number of science communication academics and practitioners from all over the world. The conference is stimulating and refreshing but the size of it means that quality control is challenging for the organisers. This review highlights areas of both strengths and weaknesses whilst also making recommendations to the PCST committee for PCST 2016. The committee are encouraged to further strengthen the academic/practitioner combination and the international nature of the event. However, they are also recommended to ensure that work presented is of high quality with clear purposes and strong evaluative evidence presented.
Research for All
Training is often cited as key to embedding public engagement in universities. The literature and... more Training is often cited as key to embedding public engagement in universities. The literature and professional discussions on public engagement training tend to focus on the training intervention itself (for example, the content and delivery formats), rather than on the learner (for example, current levels of public engagement practice, longer-term career aspirations, and workplace environment). In this article, we share our reflections on putting the learner first. We draw on our own general experiences and in particular our ChallengeCPD@Bath programme (funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Strategic Support to Expedite Embedding Public Engagement with Research call). We argue that many of the challenges associated with the provision and uptake of training and professional development for public engagement with research are not unique to public engagement but relate more broadly to perceptions of training and professional development that exist within the academy. Howeve...
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2014
Public engagement is widely recognized as a key priority for achieving societal support for resea... more Public engagement is widely recognized as a key priority for achieving societal support for research. We spotlight creativity in public engagement as a way of reaching wider audiences and incentivising researcher involvement, demonstrating some of the possibilities with a recent initiative to engage the public with ecology at music festivals.
Formative evaluation should play a key role in the development of a science communication project... more Formative evaluation should play a key role in the development of a science communication project or initiative. Such research is vital to understanding the needs and interests of the audience or participants; meeting these needs and interests helps ensure the project’s success. However, there can be a temptation to plough ahead without undertaking adequate formative evaluation. Using ScienceComics (www.sciencecomics.uwe.ac.uk) as a case study, this article explores both the challenges and benefits of using formative evaluation to guide project development. It focuses on the actors involved in the formative stages and the impacts these actors had on the final outputs. This evidence is used to develop practical guidance on integrating formative evaluation right from the start.
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Papers by Helen Featherstone