Science Policy 101

Description: Hoping to expand on science policy or start it up at your chapter? Come hear what Cambridge has done for their science policy events over the past few years, and share ideas with others on recruitment, publicity, format and topics

• 11:37 PM: TTHEpub Welcome to the Live Blog for the writing for science policy morning session at the 2010 Triple Helix Annual Conference at University of California, San Diego!




• 11:53 PM: Zain Pasha Live Blogging will take place on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 from 10:50am – 12:00pm PST




• 2:41 PM: Jennifer Yang This session will now start at 11:15AM in room 3209




• 2:54 PM: Jennifer Yang Tara Finegan and James Shepherd (founding president of cambridge chapter and past EMT) will be on Skype conference for discussion and Q&A!




• 3:02 PM: Daniel M. Choi Awww….. I missed James




• 3:03 PM: Jennifer Yang raid my session again? hahaha




• 3:13 PM: Jennifer Yang Cambridge is ready! Please come now




• 3:14 PM: David Edwards Yeah, TTHEpub invited me!




• 3:18 PM: David Edwards The Cambridge people are here! The Cambridge people are here!




• 3:18 PM: David Edwards And they brought their British accents with them!




• 3:19 PM: David Edwards We’re all impressed by their Science Policy prowess (and their accents).




• 3:20 PM: David Edwards Science policy: four areas: events (undergraduates), outreach (high schools), ScienceSpeak (engage local public), and career-based workshops (training current Cambridge kiddies).




• 3:21 PM: David Edwards Goal for panel debate events: controversial topics, stimulate debates, target undergraduates; get speakers who are experts in their field.




• 3:21 PM: David Edwards Oh, and they use those events to recruit new members.




• 3:23 PM: David Edwards Hold about 10 events per year (huge gasp of admiration); have events team, one member of events team does research and gathers speakers; each team gives 10 minute presentation, invite field expert, hold QandA session afterward. (And informal refreshments to chill with researchers and because everyone loves nosh.)




• 3:24 PM: David Edwards They’re very successful. Examples of their success: women sucking at science, science improving _______ (accent is somewhat thick), and other successful and controversial stuff afterward, people wept and gnashed their teeth that event was over.




• 3:25 PM: Dayan Li Previous events also include public ownership of science




• 3:25 PM: David Edwards Have iTunesU page where broadcast events, provided through university, everyone subscribes, they’re more famous than NPR. (Also, because NPR is American.)




• 3:25 PM: David Edwards Undergraduate workshops: free.




• 3:26 PM: Dayan Li Outreach component (has an outreach director) – 8 outreach events/year




• 3:26 PM: Daniel M. Choi So… we’re just about to start. Again.




• 3:26 PM: Dayan Li These outreach events teach communication and presentation skills to high school students




• 3:26 PM: David Edwards Outreach: outreach director, eight outreach events per year, approached by local high schools, go in and give presentations, discuss communication/research, have small groups debate controversial issues. (Don’t seek schools often.) Ex: Darwin Festival.




• 3:27 PM: Daniel M. Choi Oops… wrong blog.




• 3:27 PM: David Edwards Room is getting more and more crowded. Ex topics: combating obesity epidemic, HIV/AIDS epidemic, gene treatments, ecocities.




• 3:28 PM: David Edwards That’s all right, Daniel. We forgive you.




• 3:28 PM: David Edwards Ex: the House (ooh, cool British politics!) believes different science that public opinion, good issue for debate.




• 3:29 PM: David Edwards Twelve training events per year: one scientist, talk about aspect of science in news, popular topics (SuperBug: Cape or Tights?), beer refreshments, name: Cafe Scientifique.




• 3:30 PM: David Edwards Events budget: $3500 (already converted into our sagging dollar), events: $2000; outreach: $1000.




• 3:30 PM: David Edwards Oh, sorry…total budget is $6500 per year.




• 3:30 PM: David Edwards Eyes widened.




• 3:31 PM: David Edwards Budget covers everything, including refreshments and speaker costs. Have groups like Royal Chemistry Society sponsoring events.




• 3:31 PM: David Edwards How do they do this? It sounds inhuman.




• 3:32 PM: David Edwards 1: Undergraduate improvement, many teams of people accomplishing these tasks. Must find enough people. Things are self-sustainable once you get recruitment levels up.




• 3:33 PM: David Edwards 2: Strong recruitment drive and active involvement from members.




• 3:33 PM: David Edwards 3: Look into sponsorship opportunities wherever possible. They’ve gotten money from everybody. They’ve even resorted to panhandling (no, they haven’t).




• 3:34 PM: David Edwards 4: Must have good ideas and concrete vision. Drive imagination forward in attracting recruitment base AND sponsors. Great idea.




• 3:35 PM: David Edwards 5: Contacts are extremely important for sponsorship AND speakers. Must be entertaining event–who’s target audience, etc. Sponsors must be happy.




• 3:35 PM: David Edwards 6: Make things fun! Huzzah!




• 3:36 PM: David Edwards 6.1: Make things fun because that attracts people to be involved in something as cool as the Triple Helix.




• 3:36 PM: David Edwards 7: Received tremendous support from environment (Earth loves Cambridge) and everyone involved with Cambridge.




• 3:38 PM: David Edwards Q1: How much planning is involved? A1: It varies from event to event. (Always doing research for events, sending out letters asking prestigious speakers for their great oratory skills, need to decide angle they should take. And earlier you start, earlier you get sponsorship. Ultimately, about half a year.)




• 3:38 PM: David Edwards A1 (contd.): Outreach takes much less time because they already know what they’re doing.




• 3:40 PM: David Edwards Q2: What’s biggest logistical hurdle to overcome when planning events? A1: Publicity is only at final stage. Doesn’t come into play until you’ve planned who’s coming and tapped your target audience (rat-a-tat-tat). But publicity is minimal; making things interesting is much more important.




• 3:41 PM: David Edwards A2.5 (redirected): Most science policy events fail because they have boorish ideas. (Cambridge people said “zed” instead of “zee”.) After have a good idea, need great manpower. Then, sponsorship and publicity come afterward.




• 3:43 PM: David Edwards Q3: Events committee: how large, and how structured? A3: Varies by year. Depends on role events coordinator wants to take. More structured this year than previous years, although usually around four (planning events, contacting speakers). But Cambridge is making things more shared. Viva la revolucion!




• 3:45 PM: David Edwards A3: Also have outreach director for their French-sounding coffee shop event, and have other team members helping out the science policy/outreach people. Have fundamental core of 2 or 3 people. Importance of RECRUITING GOOD PEOPLE/LEADERS. Don’t hire your mom (or “mum”), unless she’s a good leader.




• 3:46 PM: David Edwards Final comments: Thanks, chaps! Hopefully they’ll be able to attend. They’re inspirational. (Cue Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”) Email the Cambridge people with any questions/concerns.




• 3:50 PM: David Edwards ASU: Recently started science policy events. Had one on healthcare debate. Was successful, but have other ideas that potentially might not be successful. Really good to have good ideas.




• 3:51 PM: David Edwards UCSD: Have science policy director who’s really passionate, but need more manpower. Looking into starting events in the fall. (TTH Conference panel: started planning a couple months ago; and the event was really awesome, damn it!)




• 3:53 PM: David Edwards Harvard: Has science policy committee, mainly inviting prominent faculty to have semi-formal dinner (1.5 hr. discussion). Sometimes have to lottery for event because so many people want it. (Focus on interdisciplinary people, which everyone cares about, not just science people.) Need to move beyond talks; collaborate with Brown on science has human rights events? Had three events last year.




• 3:56 PM: David Edwards Harvard (how attract people): spam e-mail LISTSERVs, have posters around everywhere, advertise through class announcements, and dinners are free. (Mmm…free….) Only have 15-20 members per event. Introductory level discussion.




• 3:58 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen is watching what you all are doing from daniel’s computer harharhar




• 3:58 PM: David Edwards Ha! Neat.




• 4:00 PM: David Edwards Berkley: No science policy group and not extremely united because some members are involved internationally. Don’t meet regularly. Have decals (not car stickers, but student-run classes sponsored by professor). Only people who attend weekly meeting are production members.




• 4:00 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen: connections, connections, connections. persistence is key for sci pol. it’s our gateway to connecting with outside sources, etc.




• 4:01 PM: Daniel M. Choi Hi again, James! ~Daniel




• 4:01 PM: David Edwards UChicago: Have two events every semester. Screened some neat paleontologist dude’s movie and had QandA with that dude himself. Had event with invasive species and Asian carp (strong local issue) and misuse of scientific information, which wasn’t as well attended. Have three people in science policy who only plan events. Worked pretty well.




• 4:05 PM: David Edwards Contributing writer feedback: writers should be involved, don’t know hierarchy, no weekly meetings (oh, the embarrassment and shame…), no sense of community, writers never meet other people, including editors.




• 4:06 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen: i think this comes from more fluidity within the org. it should be the president’s job to have regular general meetings where writers, PE’s, sci pol can meet and update each other in order to get feedback




• 4:07 PM: David Edwards CWF (2): Need to know president/other executive board members, more informal interaction between writers/editors and production people; writers increase involvement, verbal discussion of research? Poster session practice?




• 4:07 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen: another advantage is you can be up to date with current issues from what the writers are writing about. and during the events you can directly cite the connection to the journal, deeper level analysis from event panels and student insight from their own writings




• 4:09 PM: Daniel M. Choi @CWF(2): an organizational issue, I think. we can bring these up during discussions later today




• 4:10 PM: David Edwards CWF (3): Weekly meetings? Cornell (occasionally have meetings), weekly meetings wouldn’t be too helpful for some writers but everybody’s equal when spitballing science policy ideas; UCSD (no); Harvard (yes, but only for board members, and some actually come); ASU (no)




• 4:12 PM: David Edwards Any social activities? (UCSD – occasionally); UChicago (board has weekly meetings, but everyone has general body meetings; people like not having to attend meetings and meet their deadlines; membership is split evenly between new and old members); ASU (end-of-year journal release party)




• 4:12 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen: weekly meetings or event-based? two different ways of viewing this, depending on structure




• 4:17 PM: David Edwards Journal releases? UChicago (always try to combine journal release with good science policy event); Harvard (e-publishing, but collaborate with other student organizations publishing science stuff; competitive journals — think, Harvard students fighting over science journals — but have science/society edge)




• 4:18 PM: Daniel M. Choi cal: lack of marketing/distribution component of organization




• 4:19 PM: David Edwards Collaboration? Harvard (pretty easy because events overlap; goals are combined)




• 4:21 PM: David Edwards Coming into roles/formal introduction? Cornell (yes, although disconnect initially); ASU (yes, although more informal than preferred)




• 4:22 PM: Daniel M. Choi jen: good idea. again great ideas but need to be solidified with leadership at chapter level




• 4:25 PM: David Edwards Cal (response): ASU (don’t have Marketing Director; place posters around campus, speak with professors, attract professors whose students are already writing research papers); Harvard (goal of TTH has changed: stimulate discussion of science/society, but now more scientific)




• 4:25 PM: David Edwards Daniel, does that help?




• 4:27 PM: Daniel M. Choi @responses: i think it’s just an individual basis. we just haven’t had someone strong to jumpstart the process regardless of how our focus will be. a lot of issues outside of just distribution lol…. (jen)




• 4:28 PM: Daniel M. Choi fyi, daniel’s posts = jen’s posts




• 4:29 PM: Daniel M. Choi okay, wrap up guys




• 4:29 PM: David Edwards What events can we hold? Harvard (science cafes — informal discussion with professor — didn’t work because events weren’t well-planned and people don’t want to waste their espresso on science stuff); UChicago (didn’t work, either; audience is much more casual and don’t want to participate); ASU (part-presentation and part-discussion worked really well; liked UChicago’s movie/media ideas)




• 4:29 PM: Daniel M. Choi zain’s shutting off live blog soon. LUNCH!!!




• 4:29 PM: David Edwards Okay, one more point.




• 4:29 PM: David Edwards Not yet!




• 4:29 PM: Zain Pasha Lunch is ready. I’m not shutting it off




• 4:30 PM: Daniel M. Choi GO. eat.




• 4:31 PM: David Edwards How interested are poeple? Cornell (not that interested); Berkley (anything connected with politics attracts); ASU (make things more interdisciplinary; physics of catching bullets, for example; people already have idea about subject before attending event)




• 4:31 PM: David Edwards Thanks, Zain. Almost done.




• 4:32 PM: David Edwards Done! Zain, you can shut us down. Food awaits!

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