RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS. Gothenburg’s International Science Festival (Vetenskapsfestivalen) is set to continue with its “science roulette” concept at this year’s event, to be held on the Big Wheel at the Liseberg theme park in the city. One of the researchers taking part in the roulette this year is Björn Schröder, a research assistant at the Wallenberg Laboratory, who will be talking about his research into the bacteria in our intestines.
The “Vetenskapsroulette” (science roulette) sees various researchers and subjects occupy the cars on “Lisebergshjulet”, the Big Wheel at Liseberg theme park. Visitors do not know which researchers or subjects they will be encountering, and the researchers do not know which visitors will be stepping on-board. The researchers have 20 minutes in which to inspire their audience, or at least attempt to raise their level of interest in science:
“It has a ‘speed dating’, or rather, ‘speed scienceing’ feel to it. I can use the time to tell people about and explain my research. If they ask a lot of questions about what I do or about research in general, I’m also happy for the time to be used for an interesting discussion. It really depends on the group that climbs on board as to which way the discussion goes,” says Björn Schröder.
Björn and the other researchers will go around in the wheel three or four times, with a new audience joining each time it goes around.
How do the researchers prepare for such off-the-cuff presentations though? Since Björn is originally from Germany, not Sweden, his main task is to learn the Swedish words he needs to be able to speak about his research in layman’s terms.
“Luckily most people here are really good at English, so I can switch to English if necessary,” Björn tells us. As we find out, he also thinks a lot about which parts of his research might be more interesting to children, and which parts adult would prefer.
“I believe, since my research is health-related, that the audience members will be interested in hearing about how diseases develop and how they can be prevented. If so, I can also explain that research on mice will not necessarily apply in the same way to humans, which is a common source of misunderstanding.”
It’s not the first time Björn Schröder has come face-to-face with the general public to talk about his research. After all, last fall he was also part of the EU Researchers’ Night initiative held at the “Sjöfartsmuseet” (maritime museum), an open event that gave members of the public the chance to chat to researchers over a coffee. Prior to that, while working as a post-doctoral researcher in Germany, he also got the chance to talk to school-aged children about his research during an open lecture.
“It was a fun experience. Children ask completely different questions to adults! It’s fun to explain to them what you do and why it’s important,” says Björn, who thinks it’s important to set aside time for activities aimed at the general public:
“Most research is funded by the taxpayer, so we researchers need to explain to the general public what we are doing with the money and why we are doing it. The better the general public understands this, the less likely they are to go along with populist opinions which, although perhaps more easy to understand, often ignore scientific evidence.”
The science roulette will be held from 17:00-18:00 on May 11, as part of a collaboration with Liseberg theme park. The roulette is just one of the 300 events members of the general public can attend at the International Science Festival in Gothenburg, which will run from May 10 through 14 this year.
A number of researchers from both Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg will be taking part in activities during the Festival. To view the program, click here: http://vetenskapsfestivalen.se/for-alla/
