March 2005
Contents
Support for teachers, prizes for students
New PPARC funding for science centres
Economic impact of science centres & museums
DIARY DATES: BA working lunches; Ecsite Annual Conference
NEWS FROM THE ECSITE-UK OFFICE
Project portfolio
To check Ecsite-uk's portfolio of active projects, see [archived link - may not work] www.sciencecentres.org.uk/projects
If you have a new project in the pipeline, or a current project that has potential for national roll-out, please contact enquiries@ecsite-uk.net, and let's explore the idea together.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECTOR 1
Small Talk
Are you thinking about organising an event or exhibition about nanotechnology? If so, then you should get involved with Small Talk, a new collaboration between Ecsite-uk, the BA, the Royal Institution and the Cheltenham Science Festival.
Small Talk aims to bring coherence to a range of activities around the UK focused on discussing nanotechnologies with the public and scientists, helping the science community, science communicators and policymakers to learn more about people's views and about the process of working together to gather these views.
We can help you identify topics and speakers, advise you on lessons learned at past events and help ensure the outcomes of your events are shared with a wider audience including policymakers and scientists.
To find out more, visit [archived link - may not work] www.smalltalk.org.uk or email Melanie Smallman, Small Talk project director at melaniesmallman@think-lab.co.uk
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECTOR 2
Support for teachers, prizes for students
£1,000 to you and £10,000 to students for their thoughts?
The Dan David Prize for Students aims specifically to instil a sense of excitement among young people about achievement in Science.
Young people aged 16-18 in full-time secondary or further education across the UK are invited to write a short feature (500- 1,000 words) to nominate 'their living hero' in the field of Science, Engineering and Technology. Our definition of Science is broad and stretches from Astronomy and Design to Palaeontology and Architecture.
And if you run an educational programme and can inspire a group of students to write, then do so: the school/college/science centre that sends the most entries in the competition wins £1,000 and there are five chances to win.
Our media partner, The Independent will be publishing the winning entries both in the national newspaper and on its website - so students might also see their name in print!
Motivate students to write a piece and then send as many entries as possible to the Royal Institution by the closing date of 29 April 2005.
Past winners include the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine, Sir John Sulston. See [archived link - may not work] www.dandavidprize.org for more details.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECTOR 3
New PPARC funding for science centres
PPARC are pleased to announce a new scheme aimed specifically at Science and Discovery Centres and Museums and aimed at the 11-16 age range.
As well as the new Science Centre Scheme, centres remain eligible for the existing Small and Large Awards Schemes. Projects need to include some aspect of our science or technology areas, ie astronomy, space science, solar-system, cosmology, and high-energy particle physics.
SCIENCE CENTRE SCHEME
The scheme will provide funding for Science and Discovery Centres and Museums to develop projects which capitalise on the inspirational value of PPARC science areas and are principally aimed at young people in the 11-16 age group. Centres can apply for up to £30k per project.
Closing dates for applications are 10 April 2005 [funding results by end May] and 10 October 2005
SMALL AWARDS SCHEME
Anyone can apply, for sums of £500 - £15k per project. Applications for projects that address non-traditional audiences are welcome; as are timely and topical applications relevant to current science projects or major communications 'themes' such as Einstein Year. Note that the upper limit has been increased from £10k to £15k.
Closing dates for applications are 10 April 2005 [funding results by end May] and 10 October 2005
LARGE AWARDS SCHEME
This scheme allows for applications of up £100k. The next round of the scheme will be announced later in the year, with a likely closing date of 5 November 2005.
Application materials for all schemes are at
[archived link - may not work] www.pparc.ac.uk/Rs/Fs/Pu/funds.asp (where there are examples of previous funded projects).
Contact Malcolm.Booy@pparc.ac.uk at PPARC, Tel 01793 442098 for more information.
RESOURCE
Economic impact of science centres & museums
During 2004, Ilze Groves - commissioned by a panel chaired by Heureka Director, Per-Edvin Persson - worked on an international project titled 'Assessing the Economic Impact of Science Centers on Their Local Communities'.
Many thanks to all Ecsite members who contributed data: the project was only possible because of the generous support of many people working in science centres and museums around the world.
The report is now available - you can download all of it or selected parts of special interest from [archived link - may not work] www.aspacnet.org/apec/history.html
NEWS FROM THE REGIONS
At-Bristol seeks new CEO
John Durant, CEO At-Bristol, and current Chair of Ecsite-uk leaves us for Boston end June: he's been appointed the new Director of the MIT Museum.[archived link - may not work]
Watch this space for Bristol news!
[archived link - may not work] www.at-bristol.org.uk
DIARY DATES
BA SciComm Working Lunches Scotland
Two Science Communication Working Lunches will be held in April, during the Edinburgh International Science Festival 2005. These workshop-style events provide participants with the opportunity to share their experience, to learn about developments in the field and to network. They are open to everyone working, or interested, in communicating science - be they in education or research organisations, museums, science centres or other science-based visitor attractions.
The first, entitled 'Small Talk - Bigger Better Outcomes' will be held at Our Dynamic Earth on Tuesday, 5 April. The second, at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Thursday, 7 April, will consider 'New Ways of Engaging the Young'. This latter event forms part of the British Council Seminar for science communicators from overseas, so will offer science communicators an opportunity for international networking.
Booking & details at [archived link - may not work] www.the-ba.net/scicomm or email fiona.selkirk@the-ba.net with 'working lunches' in the subject line to be sent a booking form.
Ecsite Annual Conference 2005
10-12 June, 2005, Helsinki-Vantaa
From 2005 onwards, the Annual Conference will be not in November but in June, making northern venues far more attractive to delegates. Our first early-Summer host is Heureka, the Finnish science centre:
[archived link - may not work] www.heureka.fi/portal/englanti
The call for session proposals for Ecsite2005 is out.
Contact Michaël Renvillard for details at mrenvillard@ecsite.net
Ecsite-uk
Dr Melanie Quin, Executive Director
Ecsite-uk: the Network of Science Centres and Museums
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