Written evidence submitted by Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, The University of Manchester (COM0026)
Jodrell Bank is well known as a world-leading science research site. The Observatory, which is part of the University of Manchester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, is dominated by the monumental Lovell Telescope, an icon of UK science and engineering.
A new Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre (JBDC) funded by £3million from the then NWDA and ERDF, was opened in 2011 and a new Education programme launched later that year. The Centre now attracts around 150,000 visitors per year, including 21,000 school pupils on schools visits. It is at capacity (so cannot currently build numbers further) but was awarded £12million from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2015 for a project that will engage the public with the heritage of the science of the site and provide facilities for additional visitors.
The operation of JBDC is part-funded by the University of Manchester – but is largely (around 80%) funded by income-generation activities such as entrance tickets, workshop charges, event tickets, the Cafe, shop etc. It operates as a social enterprise, with visitors paying for the ‘offer’ that the Centre provides. This keeps the Centre close to public opinion and awareness of science and ensures that its work is effectively ‘crowd-funded’ by the general public.
This need to generate income to cover the cost of activities is balanced by a guiding principle, which is that JBDC provides engagement primarily with the research carried out by astrophysicists at Jodrell Bank (although it also provides engagement with other University research – see below for details). The engagement is part of the impact of the research and JBDC works to ensure that maximum research impact is derived from its activities.
2. Routes to Engagement
The Centre has a team of around 40 staff (all paid via the Centre’s ‘business’ approach). Many of the team have first degrees in Physics and also higher degrees in Secondary Science Education, Public Engagement etc.
It has developed a number of ‘routes’ to public engagement with science that are aimed at a wide variety of audiences. It carries out a highly planned programme of evaluation and is very experienced in ensuring that engagement is both appealing and effective.
These routes include:
Exhibition : The JBDC galleries include a number of hands-on exhibits, which engage the public with Astronomy and Physics. Future galleries will also engage the public with the history and heritage of the site – which provide an opportunity to explore the fact that scientists need to have resilience and determination, as well as scientific knowledge, discipline and insight, in order to deliver major research outcomes.
Education : The Centre’s Education Programme has grown rapidly since its launch, from a standing start, in 2011. It now attracts over 21,000 school visitors per year and is now limited only by the space available in its buildings for schools sessions. At the time of writing (April 2016) it is full until the new academic year in September 2016. The programme has never been marketed, which leads the team to believe that there is a large amount of untapped potential to reach much larger audiences.
The age-range of attendees is predominantly within the primary school age-range. This is believed to be because primary schools find it easier to organise time away from school, which means that sessions are usually booked up by the time that secondary schools are able to find dates that work for them.
New developments in this area include a project to encourage ‘A’ Level students to work with ‘real’ data from the Lovell Telescope and partnerships with teachers.
JBDC is seen as a leader in the sector and is a delivery partner for a number of national science education initiatives (such as ‘Destination Space’ – an Education project for Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station, in partnership with the UK’s Association of Science and Discovery Centres and the UK Space Agency; and ‘Explore your Universe’ – a project with the UK’s Association of Science and Discovery Centres and the Science and Technology Facilities Council).
One of the strands of work within the Education programme is focused on reaching new audiences, particularly schools in disadvantaged areas, which would not typically visit cultural or scientific sites. This work is part of the University of Manchester’s Widening Participation programme, and also contributes to the University’s commitment to Social Responsibility.
Events : JBDC has a vibrant family events programme, including family-oriented ‘science shows’ during school holiday periods, hands-on activities for family groups and ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions where the public are able to meet a member of JBO research staff. Science Shows routinely attract around 600-800 attendees per day (at 4 or 5 shows) and ‘Meet the Expert’ sessions attract circa 150 attendees each.
The events programme also includes 6-8 lectures/year, for which tickets are sold in advance. These typically sell out at circa 200 attendees each.
In addition to this, the Centre has a strong strand of work oriented around increasing the number of girls and young women who choose to pursue STEM (and especially Physics) as a career. This includes its highly popular ‘Girls Night Out’ events, which routinely sell out at 150-180 attendees. These include talks by leading female astrophysics researchers, hands-on science activities delivered by (female) early-career researchers and opportunities to engage with current science research (e.g. the SKA, the transit of Mercury, Solar Flares etc).
Festivals : Jodrell Bank has pioneered the development and delivery of ‘Science-Culture’ festivals, including (in 2016), the launch of the ‘bluedot’ festival (www.discoverthebluedot.com ). This is intended to provide a motivation to bring ‘new audiences’, who would not have previously visited, to the site.
The festival has a ‘typical’ programme of music but alongside this has several strands of science engagement activities. These include a series of talks by researchers on their current work (the ‘dot talks’); family activities including science shows and collaborations with children’s TV characters; a field of ‘market stalls’ with hands-on science engagement activities delivered by University researchers; talks about astrophysics and live link-ups to international partner research sites from the festival Main Stage between headlining acts.
The music programme is designed to bring a range of audience groups, who then find that the barrier to participation in science engagement (when they are already on site because of the music) is lower than it would be if they weren’t at site.
Analysis of both postcode data and of visitor responses indicates that this is a successful way of reaching new audiences, who will travel further than typical audiences, to visit the site. Audiences also report that they have learned something about science and are more positively disposed towards science after they have participated. The science -engagement activities at the festival are also self-funding.
Media : Jodrell Bank has a strategic approach to collaboration with the media, including hosting programmes such as the BBC Stargazing Live series (which reaches the ‘already interested’ audience), news broadcasters (which reach wider, more general, audiences) and children’s broadcasters (which are targeted by age-group).
Cultural Partnerships
It is now usual for science institutions to collaborate with artists, musicians, film makers, game designers etc. Jodrell Bank has its own programme in this area, including work with visual and contemporary artists, popular musicians, writers, architects and designers. These are valuable not only because they widen engagement with science to new sections of society, but they also bring a new viewpoint to the work that we do in public engagement.
3. Increasing Diversity
The whole team at Jodrell Bank has a high level of commitment to increasing diversity in the community of people who do science, learn about science and consume science as a cultural phenomenon.
We hold a view that, in order to engage young people with science, it must be perceived as attractive. This can include those who pursue science because of a burning interest in the subject, but should also be widened to those who are interested, but may be dissuaded from pursuing this further because of issues relating to how acceptable it is as a career choice.
There is clearly a gender split in the way in which different science topics are pursued by young people – and there is also a question about access for another of other so-called minority groups, including BAME communities, disadvantaged young white males etc.
There is also a need to address the ‘leaky pipeline’ once young people choose to pursue a career in science. In particular, there is a huge loss to the UK of highly qualified and skilled scientific (typically female) researchers who take a career break for family reasons.
In the last 5 years (since the new Discovery Centre opened) there has been a steady rise both in the proportion of female visitors and the proportion of BAME visitors. We attribute this partly to strategic actions designed to appeal to these audiences, but cannot say if this is part of a general trend in society as a whole.
4. Partnerships
The Centre is proud to be a member of the UK’s Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and works closely with them on both national policy issues and national projects. The ASDC’s national projects are a crucible for exploring science engagement in the widest possible range of communities, which span all the UK’s member nations. The ASDC has the advantage of being a ‘grass roots’-based organisation, which is independent of the large centrally-funded museums and galleries situated in London and other major cities. The ASDC has an authenticity and closeness to its ‘market’ which are an essential component of the ‘ecosystem’ of public engagement with science.
April 2016