This annual event gives Doctoral students from across the College, a chance to present their research to one another and to learn what studies are taking places in other Faculties and Departments.
Book your place and find out more information about how to enter the poster session.
Programme of Events
- 12.00-16.00 Poster Competition | Great Hall, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus
- 17.00-18.30 Key Note Speech & Prize Giving, Actor & Imperial Alumni Stephen McGann “Science In the Public Eye” | G16 SAF Building, South Kensington Campus
- 18.30-19.30 Reception | Great Hall, Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus
Prizes
There are 13 prizes to be won as well as a prize for the ‘best poster title’!
- 1st Prize: £300.00
- 2nd Prize: £150.00
- 3rd Prize: £50.00
- Highly Commended X 7: £25.00
- Public Engagement prize X 3: £25.00
- Best Poster Title: £20.00
Key Note Speech: Science In the Public Eye by Stephen McGann
The communication of science and its products is as old as science itself. From Huxley’s spectacular Royal Institution lectures to Darwin’s blockbuster book sales, it’s long been recognised that without telling others about what science is and what it means, science is rendered mute. Telling is the necessary equal of finding.
Yet some forms science communication seem to be more equal than others. While few scientists would argue about the need to publish their work, or even describe their discovery in a science documentary or respected newspaper – many seem less happy about the reporting of science in tabloid media, or the distortions of scientific fact in popular film and television. The age of the celebrity ‘superstar scientist’ like Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking is, to some, a dangerous trivialisation of science’s complexity – a classic case of ‘dumbing down,’ just when science needs to get its vital but complex message across to an endangered world.
Yet does this view over-simplify the true value of science in the wider public eye? Might a reluctance to embrace engagement in the mass, messy cultural conversation diminish science’s influence in crucial public policy debate and public understanding?
My talk will discuss what happens when science communication leaves the comfortable bounds of academic publication or specialist Guardian blog, and becomes a mass cultural artefact. Is there a place for effective science communication in screen drama, on the chat show sofa, in the tabloids, or in the bestsellers list? Is it still science communication – or has mass appeal destroyed the accuracy and value of what can be communicated?
To book your seat at this year’s key note speech by Imperial Alumni and Actor, Stephen McGann, please click on the following link: https://edudev.wufoo.com/forms/zjl4iph1nv4c6b/