“Things should be made as simple as possible.  But not any simpler”.  Albert Einstein  

It’s increasingly the way of our world: we want simplicity; we get complexity.  And so end up feeling perplexed.  Many people are now bewildered by the breadth and pace of technological advances.   The gap between scientific understanding and public appreciation grows ever larger.  And reports in the media frequently over-simplify or exaggerate, bombarding core facts with unstable adjectives and unsubstantiated assertions until they mutate into scare stories or fantasies….radiating confusion about what science can realistically deliver.

This event explores and explains how improved science communication can solve these problems. Running alongside the Edinburgh International Science Festival and linking in with its programme and speakers, it will look at ways to strengthen the essential connections which the media makes between scientists and the general public.   All too often journalists bemoan scientists’ inabilities to clearly explain their work, while scientists argue what they do is caricatured by journalists.  Over four days leading UK scientists, journalists and science communicators will take part in talks, workshops and exercises offering practical ways to correct such breakdowns of communication which erode public interest, undermine scientific credibility, and threaten future research.

Sessions will be emphatically interactive; built on dialogue, exchanges of ideas, and comparisons of existing practices.  The scope will range from broader issues such as the responsibilities of science reporting and the role of improved science communication among scientists down to the detailed anatomy of individual science stories: what makes something newsworthy, and how it can be better publicised, explained and reported.