This article was inspired after reading the recent report shown, via the link below, on the Times Higher Education website. It stated public engagement by: science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject academics was significantly lower when compared to that of academics from the: arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS). And that female academics both junior and senior were slightly more active in communicating their work than their male counterparts.
It was said those from “technical” subjects such as STEM, were lagging behind when it came to their level of public engagement activity. One of the reasons stated being: their subject type had to work harder to sell itself. From 2500 academics, around 60% of AHSS academics had given a public lecture compared to only 40% of STEM academics, in the last year. Furthermore nearly half of AHSS academics had engaged with policy makers compared to only a third of STEM academics. Social media was the most common method of public engagement highlighted by those surveyed.
So I echo the thoughts of Chloe Sheppard the researchers’ engagement manager at the Wellcome Trust who is chair of the steering group that directed the research. She stated that the reasons of “technicality” we’re a bit of a cop out. As it’s not as if nobody hasn’t managed to relay all manner of scientific, technological, engineering or mathematical subjects to the public previously. There are many institutions are groups who are doing excellent work within scientific engagement. And Creatifik welcomes those interested in communicating their work, no matter how scientific, across: print, web, digital and social media to get in touch.
Read the article that inspired this post here: Click here…