Since 2017 the UK Science Festivals Network, with funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI),  has supported its members to bring young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and researchers together.  The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how people can interact with each other. Science festival practitioners have had to re-think their approaches, particularly for audiences who do not necessarily see science as for them.

For this year’s round of UKRI funding, we wanted to support UKSFN members to innovate for the target audience in this new space. What resulted is a real mix of projects ranging from digital game development, to urban design, virtual dance movement workshops and lots of other interactive (and government guideline friendly) activities.  To aid reflection amongst ourselves and the wider engagement sector, we will share learnings from this year’s funded projects as and when they happen. Blogs written by grant recipients from across the country will be published until all have been delivered in February 2021. The first in this ‘UKSFN learning curves’ series is by Matthew Allen and Lisa Whittaker from Cardiff Science Festival.

UKSFN learning curves #1: Earning our “New Ways of Engaging” badge

Every online meeting I attend at the moment begins with “Can you see me? Can you hear me?” Some of the attendees have problems connecting and that’s if we all manage to agree which video conferencing software to use in the first place. So, how then do you work with four different partners, to run an engagement project for 11-14 year old’s on-line, which is usually done face-to-face? That’s the challenge that we are facing at Cardiff Science Festival, working on our UKRI/UKSFN: Bringing young people and researchers together 2020 project Impact Games.

The aim of our project is to inspire young Girl Guides* to get into coding, by supporting them to not just play but create their own computer games. Impact Gamers, a BAFTA award winning community interest company, are experienced in working with young people to help take their game ideas and make them a reality. The games that the young people will create will be based on the work of local researchers** in Cardiff. This could be a game about designing a drug to help treat cancer, or a game to detect weaknesses in bridges and other structures.

This project is an opportunity to inspire the next generation of female computer scientists. The number of girls that study computer science at University is shockingly low (19% of the cohort in 2017/18), so we hope to empower and encourage more girls, particularly from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, to get into coding.

The Girl Guides, Impact Gamers, undergraduate students and researchers should all begin working together in early Autumn. Their games will be completed by February 2021 and showcased at the Cardiff Science Festival. However, the uncertainty of how engagement is going to work by then means that we have to be flexible and adaptable. Whilst much of the early engagement will likely be digital, we have a travel budget set aside for when face-to-face engagement is hopefully allowed again. The games will be playable at the festival and we’ve already began planning how to host them for people to play online as well as in person.

We expect to encounter a few hurdles along the way. For example, digital issues with video conferencing and file sharing are likely to occur, but we’re confident that we can plan ahead to either avoid or account for such problems. Digital engagement is often better for researchers and university students, many of whom have families and large workloads. Eliminating the travel time by using video conferencing is likely to be more appealing to many people, even if it brings with it its own challenges. The most important thing is that we engage young people and inspire them to learn new skills and see that computing is for everyone.

*Girl Guides

It was important for us to identify an organised group to work with, who were meeting on-line duringthe COVID-19 pandemic and who would be keen to engage with the project. The answer for us was the Girl Guides. Most girl guide groups have adapted incredibly well to meeting online, both in terms of technical setup, but also on considerations such as on-line safety and accessibility. The ethos of Girlguiding fits nicely with our project and we’ve found that the girl guide groups have been keen to be a part of it, even with the time requirements that the project has. Girl Guides will also be able to earn badges for taking part in the project.

**STEM Ambassadors and Researchers

Students from Cardiff University will work with the Girl Guides to support them with coding and designing the graphics for the game. Recruiting student volunteers and university researchers can be difficult. The students have been doing their end of year exams and have since gone home, making it more difficult to keep in touch. August and September are typically the times when researchers go on holiday, which combined with the current working from home rules mean that recruiting these groups could be tricky. Constant communication and realistic timelines are key. Initial interest from both groups has been encouraging, so we’re hopeful of recruiting everyone that we need.

More in the ‘UKSFN learning curves’ series’: 

• UKSFN learning curves #2: The Biophonia Project 
• UKSFN learning curves #3: How can we help?
• UKSFN learning curves #4: Developing a fluid and responsive project
• UKSFN learning curves #5: Exploring nature on a level playing field

By Anna Woolman, Engagement Manager – British Science Association

Today (23 July), the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee has published a report in response to the inquiry it launched in April to gather experiences from the diverse sectors under the DCMS remit on how COVID-19 was affecting them.

Science festivals are a key cultural offering in many UK towns and cities annually. Over 40 UK-based science festivals are members of the UK Science Festivals Network (UKSFN), and UKSFN formed a response to the DCMS inquiry to highlight how science festivals across the country were being affected by the pandemic. Over half of the network’s members responded to the survey and we also sought views from members’ meetings, which have been held monthly since the start of lockdown.

Significant short-term impact

The survey revealed that, in the short-term, members have been significantly affected in the following ways:

Festival cancellations: 63% had to cancel their 2020 festivals that were set to take place from March onwards;

Reduced income: 55% have lost a proportion of, or all, their 2020 income. While some have been able to re-purpose grant funding for resilience, others have lost sponsorship deals entirely;

Ability to retain staff: 33% have furloughed their staff, 22% have deployed staff to other work and 15% have had to make staff redundant, not renew their contracts and/or stall hiring processes. The remainder have not made any changes, but most are unsure how long they will be able to retain this for.

Possible longer-term impacts

There is a large degree of uncertainty about what the future will hold and widespread concerns that the science festival, and wider live events, sector will be one of the last to recover. UKSFN members highlighted several possible long-term impacts, namely:

1. Festival survival threatened: 41% are hopeful they will be able to continue running their festival post 2020 and 32% also foresee being able to do so after significantly adjusting their format, scale and staff numbers. 27% foresee serious implications in their ability to run their festival post 2020.
2. Economic stability threatened: Most science festival business models rely heavily on grants and corporate sponsorship to ensure events are either free or low-cost to make them accessible to a wide number of people. It is expected to be increasingly difficult to secure funding from these sources because of increased demand and the strong prospect of societal economic instability. As a result, there is a real possibility that some science festivals will not be able to continue in the long-run, or at least not be able to provide economically accessible content.
3. Inability to bring people together face-to-face: In 2019, members in the Network had over one million face-to-face interactions with members of the public. As a result of COVID-19, the figures for 2020 will look very different. Many members report their ability to continue beyond 2020 being dependent on when Government advice about running events is released and what shape this takes. Although organisers have been able to be responsive and resilient in their immediate response to COVID-19, long-term uncertainty makes building objectives and executing large-scale, effective, public focussed projects difficult.
4. Digital versus physical events: While digital content is a useful short-term solution to public engagement in the pandemic era, there is recognition amongst members that physical engagement is still, and will continue to be, a vital aspect of festivals. Where they take place, festivals play an important role in community cohesion and support. Bringing people together in a shared physical space is a fundamental aspect of this. Physical opportunities for people to engage is also important when considering audiences who face digital exclusion. In this regard, the sector is facing a significant challenge to overcome. Funding and development opportunities for practitioners is vital if it is to innovate in this area.
5. Shifted public priorities: There are concerns about audiences’ bandwidth to engage with cultural events, like science festivals, even after lockdown measures have been lifted. COVID-19 has been a monumental societal shock – alongside the issues surrounding public comfort with being in large groups, there will no doubt be issues around people’s willingness to spend time and money on ‘non-essential’ entertainment activities and to try new things which are not in their usual remit.

The UKSFN’s response was one of over 580 pieces of written evidence submitted to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry. You can read the UKSFN submission and the full report and evidence submitted on the Parliament website.

Looking ahead

The pandemic has not only highlighted the need for relevant and inclusive science communication, but also the value of community cohesion. The BSA believes that science festivals can serve as an important catalyst for both – now and in a post-COVID-19 world – but, as this consultation process has shown, their future is at risk. We will continue to support UKSFN members, identify possible funding opportunities, and champion the role of science festivals in the months ahead.

(Banner image courtesy of bluedot, UKSFN member)

At this time of uncertainty, networks and communities of practice are key for so many in the science engagement sector. Ivvet Modinou, Chair of the UK Science Festivals Network, explains why…

At the UK Science Festivals Network (UKSFN), we know the value of festivals; an opportunity for people to come together to celebrate, and sometimes challenge, science and its place in society through a local lens.

Each year we ask the members of the Network to share some key figures so we can gather a snapshot of the sector and its impact. The numbers speak for themselves. In 2019, science festivals collectively enabled over a million face-to-face interactions and our members worked with over 11,500 researchers, giving them the opportunity to meet the public and share their work. Not to mention mobilising over 5,000 volunteers who gave up their time to help make festivals happen in their local area.

However, we know that 2020 will tell a very different story.

As social distancing becomes the new normal, festivals and live events across the country ranging from science to music events, and from literary festivals and art exhibitions, are quite rightly cancelling or adapting their plans. These are difficult decisions, plagued with uncertainty, that have many implications for staff, partners and audiences. The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), which represents 65 arts and music festivals in the UK, recently reported that their members may be facing redundancies of 59% on average, and the sector could lose more than half of its workforce between September 2020 and February 2021 without support. Moreover, these cancellations raise questions about how science festivals can ensure we are still there for our audiences in meaningful ways, and how do we support researchers to continue engaging the public with science?

At the UKSFN, we have been thinking about how to answer these questions, and to best support and bolster our science festival community to think about how we refocus and rebuild after COVID-19. We can do none of those things without support from our peers and it’s in times of crisis that we realise how important that community is. Whether we see it or not, community appears, seemingly out of nowhere, when we are struck down – like an invisible safety net helping us bounce back. The stronger the community, the stronger the net.

Being able to lean on each other, mentally not physically of course, in these times is so critical. We are trying to keep our members connected – to share knowledge, opportunities, or frustrations, whether it’s through WhatsApp, Zoom or a simple phone call. We are here to listen and provide a space for conversations around how we as a sector move forward, whilst listening to what people want and need. We are also working with our colleagues in the US and take inspiration from their innovative Listening Tours with different audiences.

Together, the UKSFN, which is supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), continue to advocate and reaffirm the importance of science festivals in conversations with funding bodies and decision makers. We have begun work on a submission to the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport inquiry on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors’ and we have already collected the views of our members to feed into that important inquiry.

Science festivals are an important component of the science engagement ecosystem. Whilst our community may not see it now, as we are busy putting out fires and thinking about how we survive financially, this could serve as the pause we all need. A pause to not talk but to listen, to not plan but to reflect. We are a creative, vibrant community and using this strategic patience, I am confident that we will make it through to the other side stronger and better than ever.

by Anna Woolman, Engagement Manager, British Science Association 

Over the last three years, members of the UK Science Festivals Network (UKSFN) have been developing their approaches to engaging young people with research, focussing on those from backgrounds traditionally underserved by science engagement activities.

Since 2017, funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has enabled Festivals to hone their ability to engage with audiences that are not generally seen at science communication events. Now, they not only have a better understanding of how to reach such audiences, but also how to utilise researchers and community partnerships to do so.

The development process has been iterative. In 2017 Festivals who applied for the funding were generally not as confident in targeting those with low levels of engagement and from low socioeconomic backgrounds, let alone the 11-14 year old target audience. Compared with families, teenagers are generally harder to engage with outside the classroom, let alone those who may face additional challenges in their lives. As such, it was important that Festivals stepped out of their comfort zones and trialled alternative ways of working with this demographic.

From the beginning it was clear that the projects most successful in engaging with the target audience were those that formed a meaningful local community partnership with a group that had led to trusted relationships with them. This evolved to encouraging applicants to partner with community groups in 2018 and finally it being a requirement of the funding in 2019.

The effectiveness of the community partnerships is highlighted in the 2019 evaluation, where those leading the groups were interviewed. There was unanimous desire and sense of urgency amongst them for similar projects to take place, especially those that put their audiences in direct contact with active researchers. Not only did involvement in the project positively impact their audiences, but the funding also enabled the provision of high-quality free activities for them and this was a key reason for the groups’ involvement. The community groups we spoke to are constantly looking for funding opportunities to provide services for their users and this project enables them, in a small way, to do that. As one community group leader highlighted “it’s funders who are hard to reach not people” – a sentiment echoed amongst interviewees.

A key requirement of the project has always been to provide a platform for active researchers to engage with audiences, especially those with whom they may not usually interact. Throughout the years, feedback from researchers has been consistently positive. Many remarked valuing the opportunity to reach new audiences, but also develop their confidence to engage public with their research more generally. It was often said that they would like to be involved in more projects like it in the future. Projects like this enable researchers to take an active role in making their research sphere more accessible for people from a wider variety of backgrounds and, importantly, to understand their needs. It also encourages them to expand their view of what science engagement is and can be.

One of the most interesting aspects that has evolved since 2017 has been the reflections and understandings of the Festival organisers themselves. Feedback from 2017 suggested some had difficulty finding and maintaining connections with the target audience. This changed in 2018, where there was a demonstrable learning curve with how to effectively work with community groups to reach and engage with the target audience. Here, it became clear that flexibility, building trust, perseverance and above all listening were key.

These insights amalgamated in 2019 where organisers went a step beyond focussing on the audience alone, commenting they were keen to involve more researchers who were from similar backgrounds to their target audiences. This reflects the growing emphasis on the importance of role modelling in science engagement. It is positive to see Festivals integrate this way of thinking in the development of their projects.

Having worked with the UKSFN and its members over the three years, it has been a rewarding experience to see a collective evolution in approaches to working with new audiences. Science Festivals are uniquely placed in their towns and cities to facilitate relationships with active researchers and local communities. Organising a Festival is no easy feat, and organisers are often juggling numerous projects, partnerships and key performance indicators at any one time. Despite this, the fact that UKSFN members are keen to apply for funding to reach audiences outside of their usual remit demonstrates the passion and ambition in the sector to learn and develop.

What could come out of this project in the future is exciting and there is no doubt that Science Festivals will continue rising to the challenge. As we kick off the fourth iteration of this project in 2020, we’re looking forward to providing Festivals with further opportunities to trial new ways of working and create more impactful projects for young people and researchers alike in their towns and cities.

By Anna Woolman, UKSFN coordinator

2018 was another big year for the UK Science Festivals Network (UKSFN). Not only did we finish it 50 members strong, but we also started and continued a number of exciting projects…

UK Science Festivals Network conference (UKSFN18)

For the second year, we brought together science festival organisers and those interested in the sector to discuss best practice in live science events. This year there was a focus on diversity and inclusion, from practical advice on diversifying those delivering content, to learnings from the national campaign to get more women and girls into sports (‘This Girl Can’), and much more. Catch up on what was discussed here.

UKRI/UKSFN: engaging underserved audiences

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the UKSFN partnered again for the second year to engage underserved young people with science through their local science festivals. A number of members got involved, partnering with local community groups to deliver a variety of successful activities and long-term engagement projects. Keep an eye out for a summary of this project in 2018 which will be posted online in the coming months.

UKSFN: innovating by design

Over the final 6 months of 2018, 5 festivals in the Network were supported and guided by the Design Council to develop their approaches in reaching underserved audiences. This pilot project not only sought to give festivals the chance to reflect on their practices, but also provided valuable professional development opportunities – something that is often left by the wayside in the face of more pressing demands for festival organisers. We are thankful to the Wellcome Trust for supporting the first iteration of this collaboration and look forward to seeing where it goes in 2019. Read more about the project here.

We are proud of what has come out of these projects over the year and look forward to building on them in 2019. However, none of it is possible without our members, who, over the last year ran 4,080 events involving 10,941 scientists, researchers and presenters. This culminated in 1,225,779 face-to-face interactions with the public and the involvement of 3,074 volunteers. This is all summarised neatly in our most recent infographic. As ever, we are very proud to represent a diverse and passionate group of festivals and their organisers. We cannot wait to continue working with everyone over the coming months.

If you are interested in joining the Network or want to discuss potential partnerships, please get in touch at info@sciencefestivals.uk

By Savita Willmott, Chief Executive of the Natural History Consortium and one of the participants in the UK Science Festivals Network / Design Council project, “Innovating by design”.

How can design thinking help science festivals to improve their programme and reach under-served audiences? This was the challenge that was presented to us from the UK Science Festivals Network, and we jumped at the chance to join a national cohort of festival directors to think differently about our curation.

Those of us who run science festivals tend to feel pretty passionate about the format. Personally, I love the opportunity of a festival to distribute itself across a city or neighbourhood, take over well-loved community spaces and create new pop-up ones, and spark an exploration of wonder and discovery over a set time period. Science festivals bring researchers, audiences and organisations out of their buildings, out from behind their lab benches or desks, out of their homes and regular routines, all to come together in a ‘third space’. Science festivals create memorable moments, are a test-bed for trying new methods of science engagement, and incubators for “learning fast, failing fast” by many researchers to dip their toes into public engagement. The media loves science festivals and the visual spectacles, artistic content, and fundamental debates about the issues touching all of our lives.

But.

Those of us who run festivals also tend to feel passionately about reaching beyond our usual audiences. We know that we are part of the ecosystem of a city, and working within the ‘usual patterns’ of our audiences, even systemic inequalities, or access to spaces. We worry about elitism of science, we spend months on programming, we think deeply about which events are free and which are open access. We carefully craft our marketing, messaging and PR to be as inclusive as possible. We balance all of this with trying to push the boundaries of our format, working as usual with minimal resources, constantly fundraising and usually begging favours in all directions.

Science festivals are trying to reach beyond traditional audiences

The next stage for science festivals, to make some real progress on reaching new audiences, is not more strategies, more committees, policy documents and ‘inclusion training’. It’s not about festivals teams working harder, it’s about working differently. Thinking differently.

We’re halfway through our workshops with our Design Council, and we’re already thinking differently about our 2019 programmes. The start of the project has helped us reflect on some of the most fundamental questions behind our festival. What problem are we trying to solve with this event? How can we better understand our audience, what they want, and how they experience our event?

Our project is focusing on Bath, and is unique in the cohort. We’re taking the extra step of creating a partnership between Bristol Festival of Nature and Bath Taps into Science. We’ve created a big, bold mission – to work together to raise the levels of science and environment capital across all wards of the city. It’s a “big hairy audacious goal”, and it’s absolutely the right one.

We couldn’t describe design thinking when we started our project (creating interesting chairs?!). We’re still not sure you should test us on it, but we do know that we are going to have a very different product in 2019: a strategic alliance between two science festivals that has the people of Bath at their heart.

Bath Taps into Science is 9-16 March, 2019. Bath Festival of Nature is 1-9 June, 2019. Do join us.

By Ivvet Modinou, Head of Engagement, British Science Association

Science festivals and underserved audiences

Festivals are a powerful way of engaging the public with health, the human condition and science. For visitors, they get an opportunity to come face-to-face with science and research on their own terms, increasing their interest and confidence. From busking and science cafes to family shows and workshops, the diversity of formats available is a strength that makes the UK a global leader in festival programming. However, despite the desire to welcome new audiences, this has had varying success and is something that science festival organisers are constantly trying to improve.

The UK Science Festivals Network (UKSFN), supported by conversations with staff at The Wellcome Trust, believe that user-centred design could allow festival organisers and programmers to go one step further and really embed audiences at the heart of their events.

The science festival community often stems from the science communication sector, which is driven by engaging the public with scientific research. Scientific research forms the starting point for how science festivals are programmed; focusing on cutting-edge research and new technologies, but often reaching audiences who are already engaged in science.

There is also a strong drive within the science festival community to reach under-served audiences, particularly those with ‘low science capital’. However, as festival organisers’ time is precious, professional development can take a backseat against more pressing demands – like securing event funding, negotiating with partners or organising staff and volunteers. If we’re going to create more user-centred events, we need to find a sustainable way of stepping back, so we can understand more about our audience’s motivations and make-up.

Funding and limited resources are often a barrier to effect change – so the UKSFN are partnering with the Design Council to work with festivals to develop their skills in user-centred design, which they can embed into their practice going forward.

Design Council is a pioneer of user-centred research and design practices. They have a strong track record in delivering innovation programmes to support organisations in the public, third and private sectors, enabling them to unlock new value and deliver transformational results that boost productivity and competitiveness, which in turn improves lives. Design Council has developed a Framework for Innovation called the Double Diamond, which is based on their track record in delivering support programmes at scale across the public and private sectors over a 20-year period.

By helping science festivals develop the skills needed to create user-centred programming, we will hopefully see science festivals becoming more effective at engaging the audiences they want to reach.  

The Science Festival community are open to new ways of working and new formats for engagement – many of which take methodologies from the arts and other creative industries when curating their festival.

Given the resource constraints within the festival community, we are excited to be supported by the Wellcome Trust to pilot a new approach to working; supporting festivals to experiment, learn, build capacity and add new methodologies to their festival programming toolbox.

To find out more about the Design Council, go to their website: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/

To read our strategy and discover more about why we’re undertaking this type of work, read the British Science Associaton’s blog about how we’re revolutionising people’s relationship with science: https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/news/introducing-our-new-strategy