We throw things away because we want to forget them. But they don’t cease to exist. Dealing with the vast quantities of waste from our modern lives is a major environmental and economic concern. This is an important message, but engaging...
Science isn’t always appetizing. The nature and impacts of scientific research can sometimes be hard to swallow. This session explores the approaches taken by museums across Europe, including MUSE and the Science Museum in London, to engage...
In recent years, museums and science centres have been experimenting with bridging the gap between real objects and digital experiences. The meSch (Material Encounters with Digital Cultural Heritage) project has this challenge at its heart:...
Adults make visits possible but children often take the lead once inside the science centre or museum, directing the visit and acting as experts for the rest of their group. This session explores the role of children as experts in museums and...
In the last two decades, hundreds of hands-on science centres have been opening their doors around the globe, many of them in the developing world. Some of them follow the “philosophy” of the Anglo-Saxon world (e.g. the San Francisco...
Professionals from four different countries will share tools and tips about planning, budgeting and evaluating customer services. National laws and employment regulations might differ, but all speakers share the same goal: a happy customer served...
How can science centres fuse meaningful collaborations with formal science education across the Globe? How can we contribute to deliver science curricula? This session highlights situations when formal science education calls upon science centres...
In this provocative session three internationally renowned panelists will challenge the audience to think afresh about learning and teaching in informal settings.
You may be familiar with the sector’s most popular texts, but are you...
All around the world science museums and science centres are experiencing a strong growth. At the same time more and more research institutes develop exhibitions as a major tool to communicate current research, and visitor centres are created...
How does an institution encourage curious minds to connect? How and why does it generate or foster the building of a community? What do the various parties gain from it? Two cases will be rapidly presented about two different types of...
We all have expertise on how to work with and inspire regular visitors. There are countless studies on how to engage different kinds of audiences. But do we really know how to work with and train our museum staff? Our human interface with the...
A substantial element of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) requests the engagement of all societal actors. The change from isolated research to research with shared responsibilities is a long process that requires substantial change of...