Human Resources
What does it take to have volunteers in your science centre? There is no single optimal model of cooperation. Some science centres rely strongly on volunteers while others prefer full-time staff. Some accept them, but only as backstage people,...
When science moves, things are different. The projects displayed here share common goals: making science more popular, reaching the audience in its own environment. But travelling science is specific: you have to be creative because of the...
Research, theory & evaluation
This session will explore tensions in public engagement with science and technology (PEST) by reflecting on the concepts and practical dimensions of public engagement in research and practice. We will examine these tensions through a combination...
Science & Arts
Art has long been a part of science centres but it can be argued that much of this art is “safe” i.e. not critical of science or how it is done. Would a science centre risk showing art encouraging visitors to question who researches what, to...
Outreach
We think science busking at its best is a non-judgmental and wholly open invitation to play and investigate the world around us. We also believe science busking can be a devastatingly effective and adaptable means of communicating with people....
Museums and universities are both learning institutions working for education, for the professional development of educationalists, carrying out research. Cooperation between them gives added value to the field. However, the relationship is not...
Operations & finance
Emerging countries are now buying brands, expertise and activities from Western cultural institutions to enrich their urban development plans. For European museums, these international projects represent opportunities to build cultural diplomacy...
Networking & Partnerships
Do you have a burning issue you want to discuss at the conference but you were not given the timeslot to do so? Do you feel there is an unanswered question in this programme for which you happen to have the answer? If so, this UnSession is for...
Media
Networked media are bringing large-scale changes to the collecting, storing and delivering of information. The main trends do not so much reverse as complement and reposition the older ways and functions of the museum. The future of science...
Technology
The “green wave” promoted by President Obama, and the increasing public attention to environmental problems, find in science museums and science centres the natural places for public debate and the development of informal educational projects...
Networking & Partnerships
Through presentation and analysis of many activities implemented for the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB), the session will deliver an overview of best practices in communicating biodiversity issues to the public and will provide a basis...
Outreach
Different audiences visit science centres and science festivals, but prisoners are a category of people who have difficulties to approach science, because of the impossibility to visit museums and exhibitions. A lot has been said about the...