Latest news

Take a  look at the latest jobs posted:

CEO - Techniquest, Cardiff

Fundraising Manager - Techniquest, Cardiff

Head of Learning & Participation - National Media Museum, Bradford

Science Communicator (weekends only) - Glasgow Science Centre

To find out more, go to http://big.uk.com/jobs  

Andy is Chair in Science Communication & Future Media in the School of Environment & Life Sciences at University of Salford. Andy is renowned for his research into bioethics and emerging technologies and was recently a Google Glass explorer. Now developing virtual reality art installations and drone documentaries, Andy has published in such places as TIME, Wired, and regularly appears in the media, offering commentaries on new discoveries. His research has taken him to over 50 countries and spans such areas as genetics, nanotechnology, neuroscience, mobile health, wearable technologies, and digital innovations. He is particularly interested around the possibility of bringing creative digital media skills to the field of science communication and published one of the first articles to address the potential of digital media to create new kinds of public engagement with science possibilities. He is also part of the European City of Science steering group, set up to create a programme for Greater Manchester, as it hosts the European Science Forum in 2016.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be this year’s Josh award winner, not least because the BIG event happens in my home city of Norwich... I got into communicating science as a PhD student, trained myself on building websites and doing all I could to make academic discoveries reach more people and this work continues. I am passionate about open knowledge initiatives and believe firmly that there is no expertise that can’t be cultivated by anyone. I am really excited about the trend towards citizen science and in my own production of science communication programmes, I want to enable more people to find a way into nurturing their own scientific expertise. Programmes like the maker movement, FameLab, and hackathons do so much to make science and technology meaningful to people again, in a world where it can become even more difficult to grasp. Having worked in Manchester now for just 8 months, I’ve been amazed by the spirit of collaboration in the city and region, and the ambition of the people around here.”

“Over the last year, I’ve been working a lot with drones, experimenting with their creative possibilities, working with scientists to explore their potential as data capture tools. It’s an area that is completely exploding now and I’m not sure the world is ready for it. I’ve always been attracted to that kind of problem. Whether it’s genetic modification, stem cell technology, or wearable devices, what interests me is the ethical dilemmas they create and what they say about our future. Science communication through ethical debate has been a hallmark of my work and I’d love to foreground this during my year as Josh Award winner.”  

Many BIG members are freelance show presenters, workshop providers, exhibit developers and builders, trainers, coaches, evaluators, project managers, facilitators, consultants.

Whatever we call ourselves, freelancers are the people who generally get paid on a daily or sessional rate. We are working on adding new pages to the site to support freelancers.

See what we've done so far - click here

BIG is offering 3-4 bursary places to attend the BIG Event 2015, taking place in Norwich between 22-24 July.

The bursary covers conference registration fees and gives limited travel and accommodation support. This is open to BIG members who are in the first five years of their professional career and have not attended a previous BIG Event.

To apply for a conference place through the bursary, please download the form and guidelines here BIG Event 2015.

Deadline for application: 5pm on Wednesday 29th April 2015. Late applications will not be considered.

Submission of a review article of around 200 words for BIG’s enewsletter related to your conference attendance is a requirement of the bursary scheme and expenses will be issued on receipt of the article. We also hope you will be willing to give a hand at the conference where required; this gives you a great opportunity to create links with other delegates.

Early Bird registration for the BIG Event 2015 – with £50 off the standard conference fee – closes on 5 April 2015. Of course, you can still register for the BIG Event right up to the week before, but why not save some pennies by planning ahead? To view the latest draft of the programme, find out more and register, click here

Registration is now open to join more than 150 STEM engagement professionals at the BIG Event 22-24 July 2015 at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.

Find out more and register here

Do you know an amazing science communicator? The application process has opened for the Josh Award 2015. The award aims to recognise one outstanding contributor to science communication each year by means of a defining moment in their career. BIG is working jointly with Manchester Science Festival and you can find out more here.

A BIG Skills-day

Working in University Outreach – Skills for STEM Engagement

20-21 April, Edinburgh University.

£45 for BIG members. Click here for more information or to book.

In or around Edinburgh with not nearly enough friends and contacts in science communication?

Get along to the Hemma Bar, 75 Holyrood House, Edinburgh EH8 8AE

Mon 26 Jan 2015

7pm onwards

Friendly BIG member Fiona Ross can tell you more if you need it.

The BIG Event is delighted to be supported and hosted in 2015 by the John Innes Centre in Norwich on Wed 22 - Fri 24 July.

Get more information about the BIG Event generally here

Your session ideas can be put forward now until around the end of January on the BIG Event session site www.bigevent.info

Bring a show, a workshop, something needing tweaking, something you think is fab; bring your skills in evaluating, managing, developing, presenting, fettling; bring your planetarium, your STEM tap-routine, your busks, your… well, your stuff. But make it hands-on, make it collaborative, make it a truly sharing contribution. BIG members really don’t like to be spouted at – we like to have a go at a thing so bring the thing, not a picture of the thing.

The John Innes Centre will be fab, but different for BIG. It has a fantastic theatre for shows (pretty much perfect for the kind of work we do), lots of outdoor space, plenty of other breakout spaces – big meeting rooms, wee nooks and this year we will be offering the chance to book your overnight accommodation (at UEA across the road) through BIG’s website.

As a research facility, what the centre doesn’t have is a public area – a collection or an exhibition – so this year we’d like to change things around a little so we create something of a temporary exhibition ourselves during the three days. But what it does have is research and as such offers BIG members a chance to reflect on injecting current science into our daily bread-and-butter work and make new acquaintances to help do that together.

Right now, we particularly welcome offers to bring along shows and ideas to contribute to making a temporary exhibition. There’s lots of space for this; please get in touch with me if you’d like to have a chat about what might work.

Rachel Mason

BIG – STEM Communicators Network

event@big.uk.com