This is the 5th in a series of highly successful seminars looking at science communication, directed by Quentin Cooper, and running alongside the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

This event will explore ways to be creative in science communication without misrepresenting the science. It will look at how the complexities, uncertainties and risks of science are communicated across different media in reliable and innovative ways, and how such techniques can benefit science, the media and the wider world, enabling all of us to make informed decisions about the many ways science shapes our lives.

Closely linked to the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the seminar combines workshops, practical exercises, interactive sessions and talks with highlights from the Festival programme. Also covered is a whole spectrum of ways in which science can be made more engaging and involving, together with ways that scientists and journalists can better understand each other.

Sessions will be intensely interactive – and fun – built on exchanges of ideas, collective brainstorming, and comparisons of different practices worldwide. Issues include how leading scientists have learned to use different media effectively, the practicalities of being interviewed, and detailed anatomy of individual science stories. Over the five days, leading scientists, journalists and science communicators will take part in the sessions, plus there will also be an emphasis on the expertise and experience brought by the participants. The programme is flexible enough to take on specific interests and concerns and allow time to explore Edinburgh and the Science Festival.