Wednesday 26 July
Audio Universe Tour of the Solar System: A Blind-Accessible Planetarium Show
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 4.30pm
Planetarium
Experience the Solar System like never before - by traveling on a spacecraft that can turn the objects in space into sound! Unlike traditional planetarium shows the soundtrack takes the lead role. This was created in collaboration with blind and low vision children and their teachers and is designed to be accessible for this audience. However, it proves to be an immersive experience to be enjoyed for people of all ages and levels of vision! Come enjoy the show, followed by a free-form discussion on how lessons learnt could be taken forward into making more accessible audio-visual content.
Chris Harrison, Newcastle University
christopher.harrison@newcastle.ac.uk
Targeting Projects to the Right Audience
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 4.30pm
Attenborough Lab
In this session, we want to explore how we can identify and target specific audiences. What are people already doing? Why are they doing it the ways they are? How can we do it better? What are the barriers and considerations practically? There'll be idea sharing, friendly critique of current approaches, and workshopping of the best targeting criteria to use to meet your specific objectives and work towards more equitable access to engagement opportunities. Participants will help develop a framework for thinking through how to identify specific audiences most appropriate for their projects, for sharing after the session.
Fergus Powell, Babraham Institute
fergus.powell@babraham.ac.uk
Michael Norman, Public Engagement Manager, Babraham Institute,
Unique approaches to community engagement
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 4.30pm
Curie Classroom
The landscape of engagement has shifted dramatically over the past decade, and a growing number of innovative projects have emerged. While each of these projects are unique, they often share a common theme of community driven engagement at the grassroots level. In this session, we will explore three unique engagement projects: the Castlebrae Superlab; Sherwood Observatory; and Me, Human. We will share our experiences, successes and failures and host a panel discussion with a twist!
Dom Cairns-Gibson, University of Edinburgh
dom.cairns-gibson@ed.ac.uk
Steve Wallace; Planetarium Project Manager; Sherwood Observatory;
Gillian Forrester, PhD, SFHEA; Professor of Comparative Cognition; Behavioural & Clinical Neurosciences Group; School of Psychology, University of Sussex;
Roy Jones; Co-Director; Discovering42;
#IAmRemarkable Workshop
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 5.00pm
The Den
Do you suffer from Imposter Syndrome? Do you find it difficult (even awkward) to talk about yourself? #IamRemarkable is a Google initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to speak openly about their accomplishments in the workplace and beyond, thereby breaking modesty norms and glass ceilings. This workshop will also help "people of majority" become more aware of the gender and cultural norms that keep certain kinds of people from progressing and having their voices heard. Come to this workshop to feel more confident in yourself and learn how to better advocate for others.
Ashley Kent,
hello@ashleykent.co.uk
Automatic for the people (who HATE or struggle with admin)
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 5.00pm
Thinktank Theatre
A sharing session on useful automation hacks, apps and anything you use to help with back-office processes and admin. It's a minefield out there, but find the right tools and your workflows improve. This is especially important for sole-traders and freelancers who have to juggle contracts, keep track of bookings, clients, deadlines and remember where they are supposed to be each day. How do you do it? Whether you have Zapped your way into e-contracting, have chatbots doing your heavy lifting or remain a defiant spreadsheet guru, come along to share your admin hacks. We'll attempt to curate a list of recommended hacks/apps/services/ideas that come out of the session, but this may need its own admin hack.
Matthew Tosh,
matthew@matthewtosh.com
Dr Matt Pritchard; Science Magician; Freelance;
Duncan Yellowlees; Presentation Trainer and Coach; Duncan Yellowlees Training;
What do you want to know and see at Thinktank?
Wednesday 26 July
3.30pm - 5.00pm
Lego Studio
Come and meet the Visitor Services Team and the Learning and Engagement Manager for a tour of Thinktank. It will be a bespoke tour for you! You let us know what you would like to see at Thinktank and we will go exploring! It could be wanting to know more about one of our galleries or seeing how we engage with our visitors.
Katherine Bosworth, Birmingham Museums Trust
Katherine.bosworth@birminghammuseums.org.uk
How To Make Your Science A Blockbuster – Creative Lessons from TV
Wednesday 26 July
4.30pm - 5.30pm
Curie Classroom
Assistant Producer Sam Ridgeway guides you behind the scenes of the TV industry to reveal how an idea makes it to your screens and the creative lessons to help our SciComm. From how the same thinking used to develop a hit TV show can help design an exhibition, to which Netflix secret can give academic papers a second life, this is an interactive session of case studies and activities.
Sam Ridgeway,
sgr277@nyu.edu
Thursday 27 July
Making science engaging to people with learning and physical disabilities
Thursday 27 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Thinktank Theatre
The session spotlights techniques and best practice used in making science engaging to an audience with learning or physical disabilities. I draw on my experience as the STEM Lead of the LIghtyear Foundation, specifically the lessons learned from designing our Virtual Physics Labs. I walk the audience through an experiment, identifying specific strategies that need to be used when catering for this audience. Evidence has shown that our students found experiments with a tactile element more engaging eg including something to feel, smell or taste. Discussion on how techniques could be applied to other outreach activities is encouraged.
Dr Claire Malone, Lightyear Foundation
claire@lightyear.org
So you want something made
Thursday 27 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Attenborough Lab
One of the joys of this industry is the weird and wonderful stuff it often involves, but if you can't buy that stuff off the shelf you are going to have it made. Getting custom kit built can be daunting, but there are ways of making the process easier (and thus cheaper) for both sides. Come and find out about and discuss this process.
Dave Ansell, Sciansell
dave@sciansell.co.uk
Social Value, CSR, ESV, WTF?
Thursday 27 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Darwin Classroom
Businesses can get involved in STEM engagement for a huge variety of reasons, working with local schools, communities and events. They can be looking to give something back, offer opportunities for their employees to volunteer, increase awareness of their organisation or because they have to! They’ll often link up with STEM engagement organisations to draw on their expertise and experience. Join our panel to look at different types of projects and partnerships and explore some of the positives and pitfalls they can bring.
Chris Snowden-Smith, Transpennine STEM Ambassador Hub
Chris.Snowden-smith@railwaymuseum.org.uk
Rachel Mason; Associate Director; Science Made Simple;
Debbie Syrop; Public Engagement Officer; Cardiff University;
Em Haydon; Science Engagement Manager (Schools); Wellcome Connecting Science (Wellcome Genome Campus) ;
Engaging All Audiences with STEM
Thursday 27 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Curie Classroom
Opportunity in this ‘taster’ session to share and discuss ideas, as well as tools and techniques we use at the Science Museum Group, on how to put the science capital research into practice so that a broader range of people can engage with and participate in science.
Karen Davies, Science Museum
karen.davies@ScienceMuseum.ac.uk
Beth Hawkins
Is it all about the bangs? Theatre practice for STEM engagement
Thursday 27 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Curie Classroom
Have you got a table top demo that you have always thought would make a great part of a show? What about a small demo show that you have always wanted to put on the big stage? In this highly interactive fast paced session from the award-winning STEM Response Team (SRT) you will focus on aspects of design and delivery of STEM outreach on the larger theatre stage and consider some of the practice based and technical aspects of performance that will take your show from pathetic pop to a massive bang!
Martin Khechara, University of Wolverhampton
mpkhechara@wlv.ac.uk
Heather Angell; Public engagement and Outreach Assistant; University of Wolverhampton;
I can find the STEM in anything!
Thursday 27 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Thinktank Theatre
Join our panel of experts(/victims) for a fun exploration of how everything in the world around us has science and maths hiding somewhere in it. Watch them draw a random concept from a bag - or throw in your own suggestions - and panic while they try to think of a maths or science connection. We'll also discuss how this can be useful in developing STEM content, and the possible ways in which this approach falls down.
Katie Steckles,
katiesteckles@gmail.com
TBC
TBC
TBC
Multi-sensory, accessible astronomy: from the classroom to a museum exhibition
Thursday 27 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Darwin Classroom
We are working with teachers of vision impaired (VI) children, their pupils and VI community groups to create multi-sensory, accessible astronomy educational resources. We will first briefly present the lessons learnt from our co-creation with the target audience; using sonification (turning data into sound) and tactile resources. We are now working with a museum to incorporate these approaches into a multi-sensory and accessible exhibition. Most of this session will be used to draw upon the experiences of BIG Event attendees to share ideas, build-in best practices, and work towards a broader goal of fully accessible exhibitions.
Chris Harrison, Newcastle University
christopher.harrison@newcastle.ac.uk
Aish Girdhar, Newcastle University,
Vicky Fawcett, Newcastle University,
Engineering a great workshop!
Thursday 27 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Attenborough Lab
Eggs on parachutes, marshmallow-and-spaghetti towers, paper bridges, Rube-Goldberg machines… even rafts. For school groups, youth groups, families or corporate away days there are endless variants on the ‘engineering challenge’ allowing people young and old to use their brains and their hands to find out more about science, engineering, themselves, and each other. Be a security engineer and a burglar in one of our very favourite engineering challenges, and come ready to chat about your favourite challenges, tips and pitfalls you’ve encountered in setting rules, what participants (and we) can learn, and how we can frame the best experience.
Rosy Ansell, Sciansell Limited
rosy@sciansell.co.uk
Is that Laser Legal?
Thursday 27 July
1:00pm
To be allocated
It is cheaper to make dangerously powerful laser pointers than safe ones, so a fair proportion of those sold as safe are dangerously overpowered (often as invisible IR) Last time we ran this session we found about 10% were illegal and found a couple 10 times as powerful as advertised. We have a power meter to check your lasers are what they claim to be. Don't forget to pack your laser pointers.
Dave Ansell, Sciansell
dave@sciansell.co.uk
The BIG AGM
Thursday 27 July
1.30pm - 2.30pm
Thinktank Theatre
BIG STEM Communicators Network operates as a not-for-profit organisation of members – a club, effectively; everything it does is to support the development of its members and the science communication profession in the UK and beyond. BIG's Annual General Meeting is held annually and gives members the opportunity to contribute; to understand what the Executive Committee has done for the membership over the last year; to help shape the future of BIG. This is also when the Executive Committee election results are announced and we'll congratulate this year's Beetlestone Award Winner, TBA. All BIG Members are welcome. The BIG Executive Committee 2021-2022
Ashley Kent, BIG
event@big.uk.com
Meeting for the Incoming and Outgoing Executive Committee
Thursday 27 July
12.00am - 3.30pm
Lego Studio
This is a session for the newly elected Executive Committee and the outgoing Exec. It's a mini-handover and only required for the Exec members.
Helen Nightingale, BIG
admin@big.uk.com
Best Demo Prep
Thursday 27 July
2.30pm - 4.00pm
Thinktank Theatre
This is a closed session, just for Best Demo competitors to set up and for helpers to help. Strictly no peeping in here, please. If you’re competing, you need to drop in, even if you don’t need any set up time.
BIG Exec Person,
event@big.uk.com
Are you game to talk about research?
Thursday 27 July
2.30pm - 4.00pm
Curie Classroom
Try out our new board game where you will run a research centre. You will hear how we collaboratively developed games to connect: researchers, artists, patients, and the public. We used games to discuss difficult and abstract questions about priorities in healthcare systems and research institutions. This game came out of a collaboration between UCL Engineering researcher Richard Colchester and game developer Matteo Menapace as part of the public engagement through art project “In Theatre".
Phil Wiles , Wellcome EPSRC Centre Interventional Surgical Sciences
p.wiles@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Richard Colchester; Researcher; UCL WEISS;
The STEM Response Team super share session
Thursday 27 July
2.30pm - 4.00pm
Attenborough Lab
The STEM response team is the University of Wolverhampton's award-winning STEM engagement team, who engage thousands of young learners in schools and people in the community annually. They develop and deliver interactive workshops and science theatre shows, mostly in areas of underprivilege across the West Midlands. In this sharing session the STEM Response Team will bring together their most popular workshops and resources to share with delegates to help them think about developing new activities of their own while giving best advice for working with participants from who might be from underserved communities in a large university outreach programme.
Martin Khechara, University of Wolverhampton
mpkhechara@wlv.ac.uk
Heather Angell; Public Engagement and Outreach Assistant; University of Wolverhampton;
Harry Johnson; Public Engagement and Outreach Officer; University of Wolverhampton;
What does the UKRI Public Engagement strategy mean for you?
Thursday 27 July
2.30pm - 4.00pm
Darwin Classroom
UKRI have recently issued their first Public Engagement strategy. it outlines 3 main goals for PE work which emphasise, 'shared endeavour’ ‘collaboration’ and 'long term engagement' with innovators and publics. What does this mean to engagement practitioners? Does the work you do already fall under this strategy, do you need to reframe your work or start again with new aims? How does this translate in our work with researchers? We plan an interactive session exploring the meaning of the new strategy and seeing how current and future activity by BIG members can help towards the UKRI’s 3 goals. We will hear from UKRI on their aims, how engagement might be assessed and supported, and explore the ‘culture change’ they hope to realise with the new strategy.
Lucy Moorcraft, Northumbria University
ycul@chemist.com
James Piercy,
Claudia Antolini,
Steve Scott; Public Engagement Lead; UK Research and Innovation;
A tour of the Museum Collection Centre
Thursday 27 July
2.30pm - 4.00pm
The Den
Birmingham Museums has 9 sites but 1 is very different and located only a 15minute walk away from Thinktank. The Museum Collection Centre is the main store for Birmingham Museums, holding around a million items. With only a small percentage of collections on display at Birmingham Museums, or on loan to other organisations, it is the only place to see collection items not normally on display. This session would be a private tour led By Thinktank staff to have a look behind the scenes at what a museum store looks like on a grand scale. https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/museum-collection-centre
Laurence Butler , Birmingham Museums Trust
Laurence.Butler@birminghammuseums.org.uk
Friday 28 July
Because you’re worth it!
Friday 28 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Curie Classroom
Are you squeamish about money? Do you always feel like you are overcharging? Have you ever said, "I love what I do and would do it for free if I could."? Then this session is required reading for you. Hear from freelancers and business owners about why you need to be charging a fair rate for yourself as well as for the industry. We'll talk a bit about how to get set up as a freelance and we'll remind you that you are worth it. Join us to start feeling better about discussing money and getting paid.
Ashley Kent, BIG
event@big.uk.com
Sarah Bearchell; Children's Science Writer and Presenter; Freelance;
Leonie Briggs; Director; Amazelab;
Matt Williamson; Owner/Presenter Tayside Planetarium;
Why should you be running youth educator programs? A talk on the research and best practices from well established youth educator programs
Friday 28 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Darwin Classroom
This session will involve presentations from Thinktank, Centre of the Cell, and the University of Exeter, highlighting and describing youth educator programs at their sites and with examples from the USA. Each site has well-established youth educator programs, which involve providing teens with opportunities to learn STEM skills, to develop soft skills, and to gain experience interfacing with and educating the public. The session will begin with an introduction to our ongoing collaborative research with these sites over the past 5 years. Then, each site will share best practices from their program and from the US sites. TO finish you will hear the research findings of our study. We will focus on two types of findings: 1) benefits that the teens have on visitor experiences and learning, and 2) benefits that the programs have on the youth participants. In particular, we will review findings demonstrating that visitors report greater interest and perceive that they learn more after interacting with a youth educator (Mulvey et al., 2020).
Sarah Wickson, Birmingham Museums Trust
sarah.wickson@birminghammuseums.org.uk
Adam Rutland PhD; Professor of Social Developmental Psychology; University of Exeter ;
Myfanwy-Cerys Williams; Learning Officer; Centre of the Cell;
Mengya Zhao; Postdoctoral Research Fellow; University of Exeter;
or Fidelia Law; Phd Candidate; University of Exeter;
DIY: Demo It Yourself
Friday 28 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Thinktank Theatre
Join our panel of presenters as they each show their own distinctive take on a classic demonstration. We’ll then have a look at each approach, some of the decisions made and the subtleties. You’ll then have chance to have a go yourself, borrowing (or stealing) what you liked from each different presenter to create your very own unique version of a demonstration.
Chris Snowden-Smith, Transpennine STEM Ambassador Hub
Chris.Snowden-smith@railwaymuseum.org.uk
Ian Snell; Education Programme Manager; Science Oxford;
James Piercy; Science communicator, Trainer and Public Engagement Consultant; Thepiercy;
Sarah Cosgriff; Freelance;
Sharing the low hanging fruit
Friday 28 July
9.30am - 10.30am
Attenborough Lab
Every method of communication comes with a bunch of tips and tricks that seem obvious in hindsight and allow us to achieve better results with minimal effort. This session will bring together expertise from attendees to share those little game-changers that make everything better. From hidden features in PowerPoint to working with stage equipment or posting on social media, there are tonnes of simple things that you could take years to figure out on your own but which could be explained to you in just a few minutes. Our goal is to do the latter!
Robin Hayward, University of Leeds
r.hayward@leeds.ac.uk
Em Truman; Regional Coordinator; National Space Academy (National Space Centre);
Sarah Cosgriff; Freelance;
Engaging Outdoors
Friday 28 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Science Garden Arena
Connecting with nature and outdoor learning are known to be good for us. In this session, discuss why it's good for us (or how to convince other people it's a good idea), get practical tips on taking your engagement outdoors - what to take, what info to send out, what to include on the risk assessment, which unexpected things should always be expected - and get some ideas for activities that work just about anywhere outside. Happy to have a collaborator if someone would like to jointly lead this session.
Naomi Foster, North Pennines AONB Partnership
naomi@northpenninesaonb.org.uk
Puzzles in maths (and wider STEM) communication
Friday 28 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Attenborough Lab
Many people enjoy solving puzzles, and they're often a great inspirational hook to engage people with science and maths content. We'll share some ways in which puzzles have been used to hook people into maths and science, and discuss the potential benefits (and possible pitfalls) of using them in your work.
Katie Steckles,
katiesteckles@gmail.com
Instagram: Experimenting Online
Friday 28 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Curie Classroom
Join this panel as intrepid SciCommers share their journeys navigating Instagram - a platform emblematic of the changing online landscape and pressures of the algorithm. In the rivers of Reels, how can video diaries bring people into labs and make science more open? In the deserts of the DMs, what’s the best way to foster collaboration? Wandering the landscape, is social media a brain drainer or a brain retainer for scientists and audiences?
Sam Ridgeway,
sgr277@nyu.edu
Extending beyond space in a sphere
Friday 28 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Planetarium
A planetarium is a fab way of engaging an audience with space – exciting, enticing, wondrous. But can we extend the experience, by thinking outside the box (well, dome)? Have you tried space yoga, or meteorite handling, or making a scale model Solar System? Join us to share your ideas and experiences of adapting planetarium shows to make them more toddler-friendly, more active, more interactive! Can you use a planetarium to explore topics other than space?” [Actively seeking other contributors to join us on this too!]
Emily Fisk, Science Oxford
emily.fisk@scienceoxford.com
Matt Williamson; Founder and Lead Presenter; Tayside Planetarium;
Creating content at Thinktank
Friday 28 July
12.00pm - 1.00pm
Darwin Classroom
Thinktank is launching its new exhibition looking at the world of computer coding. This display uses the museums collections, stories from the local area and has been created with local experts, universities and focus groups. Join us as we talk about the different process and ways of working Thinktank has used to make sure that the displays and exhibitions we produce, are not only suitable for visitors but created and consulted on, by them as well. The session will focus on coproduction methods, consultation with groups and how best to work with academics and individuals who have specialist knowledge.
Laurence Butler , Birmingham Museums Trust
Laurence.Butler@birminghammuseums.org.uk
Accessible evaluation
Friday 28 July
2.00pm - 3.00pm
Attenborough Lab
Do you ever feel you are just doing evaluation for the sake of it? In this workshop, we'll discuss why you should spend time thinking about what evaluation you want to do, and sometimes the right decision is not to do it at all. We'll talk about how ensuring your evaluation doesn't interfere with your audience is paramount, and sometimes that means using reflective evaluation methods, or thinking outside the box. In particular, Rowena will look at some examples of evaluation techniques that may not be accessible to everyone (think dexterity, colour-blindness…) and open the floor to see how many more we can come up with. I'm hoping that this sharing element will get us thinking divergently, and generate lots of best practice go-to examples we can share with other BIG members. Sarah will share some of the techniques she learnt and used with children in SEND schools and why first hand evaluation is really important but it might not always be entirely reliable! We will also talk about the dilemma of teenagers, such as those who write what their mates say or who just say everything is rubbish!
Dr Rowena Fletcher-Wood, Freelance/Greene's Tutorial College
rowena.fletcherwood@gmail.com
Dr Sarah Bearchell; Science Writer and Presenter; Primary Science Specialist;
Bigbubbleman Blitzes Birmingham
Friday 28 July
2.00pm - 3.00pm
Science Garden Arena
This is an outdoor bubble show with a practical demonstration of equipment and techniques. Ian Russell, producer of interactive science exhibits and a BIG old-timer of many years, introduces his alternative iridescent persona. 'Bigbubbleman' (www.bigbubbleman.com) is increasingly well known for providing crowd-pulling entertainment at big outdoor events. It's not difficult to please a bunch of children by knocking out some bubbles if you have some basic gear and a working recipe for the liquid. But Bigbubbleman has been practising for over ten years and can fill more space with bubbles and excited children than you might believe possible.
Ian Russell, Interactive Science Ltd
ian@interactives.co.uk
Careers: How did we end up here?
Friday 28 July
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Thinktank Theatre
A friend in sci-comm once said that "careers are things that happen in retrospect". Come along to this session to find out how a bunch of BIG folk got to where they are now and what on earth it is they actually do. Our panel will share stories, skills and maybe even secrets and answer your questions on careers in STEM communication and public engagement.
Naomi Foster, North Pennines AONB Partnership
naomi.d.foster@gmail.com
Lucy Moorcraft; Impact and Engagement Officer; Northumbria University;
Research-based approaches to science engagement
Friday 28 July
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Darwin Classroom
You’ve probably heard of important concepts like ‘science capital’ and may have heard of evidence-based science learning approaches such as ‘Thinking, Doing, Talking Science’, both of which have a positive impact on young people’s interest, attitudes and even attainment in science. But what do these terms really mean? And how might practice based on these concepts and approaches support more effective science engagement and informal science learning? Come join us as we explore what the research says and illustrate how it might apply to the work of science communicators.
Jen DeWitt, Independent/UCL
jennifer.dewitt@alumni.brown.edu
Bridget Holligan; Director of Education and Engagement; Science Oxford;
Social Media: People, Planning, Posting
Friday 28 July
2.00pm - 3.30pm
Curie Classroom
Want to create engaging social media posts? Join this interactive workshop. Sophia Constantinou has led on social media at the Faraday Institution for 2 years, communicating scientific advancements and reaching academia, industry and government. Learn tips and tricks for planning social media posts, focusing on Twitter and LinkedIn. We will discuss how to make social posts accessible so that everyone can experience the science we communicate about. Sophia will share the method she uses to plan social media content for a scientific institution (if you like organising things in spreadsheets, you’ll love this method!), and how you can use this method for your social media goals.
Sophia Constantinou, The Faraday Institution
sophia.constantinou@faraday.ac.uk
Dominic Grantley-Smith; Training Manager; The Faraday Institution;
I Saw This and Thought of You
Friday 28 July
5.00pm - 6.00pm
Thinktank Theatre
Back for the nth year running, the session to end all sessions (because it's the last session): I Saw This And Thought Of You. BIG's equivalent of an open mic slot, this is where all the little things can be raised. Found a Thing you think everyone should know? Tell us here. Want to share your love of all things plier-related? You could do that. Have a pithy insight? Want to raise a question? Newcomer or old hand, there's an up-to-2-minute slot with your name on it. Sign up throughout the Event.
Sam James,
drsamjames@gmail.com
Not yet scheduled
No sessions added yet.