swissnex India, in partnership with National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Science et Cite, brings you ScienceComm’18 India, a daylong conference with experts from Switzerland and India for engaging talks and workshops on the theme ‘scientainment’ – science + entertainment.
The idea of scientainment is to communicate science in an entertaining manner to make it engaging and enjoyable. The conference would bring in experts who would give insights on the power of platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, etc. in creating engaging scientific content. It would explore the potential of avenues such as digital storytelling, theatre, and gaming and stand up comedy for science communication.
Know your sessions and speakers –
Learning while laughing: Transforming science and scientists through play
By Adria LeBoeuf & Samuel Lagier
The Catalyst trains scientists to be better communicators and create new entertainment for the public about science. In this session you’ll learn how complex scientific concepts can be communicated through the arts and you’ll get to do some learning while laughing as Adria and Sam introduce you to how improvisation can be used to facilitate creativity, collaboration and communication.
Sustaining interest and engagement in fundamental research. How we do it at CERN.
By Ana Godinho
After hitting the limelight in 2008, when the the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was switched on, and again in 2012, with the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson, nicknamed “the God particle”, the challenge for CERN, European laboratory for particle physics is to sustain the level of interest and engagement in it’s research and in particle physics. In this talk, Ana will describe how CERN is exploring different approaches to telling it’s stories (text, image, virtual and augmented reality, hands-on activities) and adapting them to the range of communication channels at their disposal (web and social media, exhibitions, public events, visits, education activities), for different audiences.
Talking funny: Bringing humour in your presentation
By Jagdish Chaturvedi
Jagdish is known for his uncanny knack of bringing witty humour into his talks that makes it an engaging experience to listen to and bring back memorable takeaways. In this interactive session, Jagdish will share some practical tips and tricks to help you bring appropriate humour into your public presentations and speeches. Learn from a seasoned comedian and public speaker, the little secrets that can make you an impactful and memorable speaker.
Science through Images: From Woodcut Engravings to Viral Memes
By Leslee Lazar
Whether scientists communicate to other scientists or the society at large, they rely on visual information to tell their story. With increasing complexity in data and narratives, new types of visualizations are invented; multidimensional data on the web browsers to comic strips for health awareness. How do these visual representations influence the dissemination of the message? Do they help to accurately represent the science, or does it create misinformation? Leslee will explore how visual representations influences the scientific narrative, giving examples from history and in our “post-truth” world. He will also give some tips and ideas on how to communicate your science visually.
The Science Booster – Bringing Science to Crowdfunding
By Luc Henry
Everybody loves science and technology. But why can only researchers and engineers be part of the fun of discovering or inventing new stuff? Because science is difficult, dangerous and expensive. Or is it really? Science and innovation do not always require big investments. Crowdfunding has become a popular way to help people launch initiatives that would otherwise never have been funded. This holds especially true for the arts and for innovation. As science still lacks resources dedicated to short-term and small-scale projects, could crowdfunding be a new way of supporting unconventional initiatives? Through an interactive session, Luc Henry will highlight the role of crowdfunding in supporting scientific discoveries and their communication to the public. He will discuss the opportunities, myths and realities behind the potential impact of crowdfunding platforms for science.
Science and Fun? Finding The Intersection.
By Rajesh Tahil
Podcasts have gained great popularity in the US, and other geographies with large numbers of people spending many hours a week as they commute, work or cook listening to their favourite shows. In anticipation of an emerging market of young and mobile listeners in India, The Intersection is a ‘science’ podcast that attempts to take complex topics from science and present it in a simple, engaging and entertaining way. Through this session, Rajesh will talk about the process of creating The Intersection and will outline how a podcast can be a great medium to make science fun and entertaining.
Shoot for Science! Telling stories through the lens.
By Prasenjeet Yadav
Photography is one of the most influential visual mediums which is easily accessible to the broader audience. In this session, Prasenjeet will show you how to harness the power of photography to build story that can help communicate a scientific concept or a project in an easy to understand manner. The idea of this session is not to make you photographers, but to help you become visually literate, and introduce you to the concept of ‘Science Photography’.
Peek into our video and photos for what we brought to the spotlight at Science Comm’17!