We would like to highlight the next seminar in the MIST Online Seminar Series, which is likely to also be of interest to the UKSP community.
The seminar will take place on Tuesday 02 March at 11:00 – 12:00 GMT. Details are included below and full details on the MIST Online seminar series can be found on the website: https://www.mist.ac.uk/meetings/mist-online-seminars. To keep updated on all MIST Online Seminars, please subscribe to the MIST mailing list.

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Martin Archer (Imperial College London)
Researchers and public engagement: What role should I play to make a real difference?

Abstract:
A major focus in STEM public/societal engagement concerns engaging with young people, often through schools, in order to positively affect their attitudes or aspirations towards STEM education. However, the ‘science capital’ research has shown that these aspects are complex and resilient, being highly tied to identity and wider experience with school, home, and societal factors. Given these influences, it is not surprising that typical one-off or even short-series approaches to schools engagement, while able to have various positive outcomes, are limited in the extent to which they can have lasting impact. This seminar explores the potential role that physics researchers can play when considering the bigger picture, drawing examples from space plasma physics engagement projects I have pioneered. These include online videos, international art-science collaborations, and a programme of mentored research projects for schools. I will discuss the impacts and mutual benefits, including research results, that have arisen from these novel approaches to engagement.

Zoom meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/91102553593
Meeting ID: 911 0255 3593
The zoom link is supported by Aberystwyth University and Queen’s University Green Fund.

Many thanks,
Jasmine Kaur Sandhu
on behalf of MIST Council