[ASC-list] Perth: Mark your diaries! UWA Science Communication Seminars begin August 3rd.

[Sophia Bickford]

UWA Program in Science Communication
Seminars run every Friday during teaching
weeks from 4.00 pm at the UWA Centre for
Learning Technology.  No RSVP required,
snacks and drinks provided.

The desire to see good science make a
difference motivates many science
communicators.  Our first three seminars
will examine how people - our ideologies
and our very mental machinery – can make it
difficult for good science to stick.

3 August: BOOK CLUB on 'Merchants of Doubt'
by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

Oreskes and Conway reveal how a handful of
scientists fuelled public debate over
issues such as the health effects of
smoking, the viability of nuclear
deterrents and anthropogenic climate
change.  Some of these scientists were
highly accomplished in their fields. What
motivated them? How was debate perpetuated
for decades, in spite of scientific
consensus, and at the expense of people and
the environment? We will discuss the book
over snacks and drinks, and generate some
questions for the first author – who joins
us the following week!

10 August: Internationally renowned author
Naomi Oreskes will join us to discuss some
of her strategies for researching and
writing about scientific controversy and to
reflect on her career in geology and the
history of science.

Dr. Oreskes is a Professor of History and
Science Studies at the University of
California, San Diego and an Adjunct
Professor of Geosciences for Scripps
Institution of Oceanography.  We are
fortunate to occupy a Friday afternoon
during her time as a visiting scholar for
the UWA Institute of Advanced Studies.  You
can view Professor Oreskes’ faculty
profile, including her impressive
interdisciplinary CV at:
http://history.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/ores
kes-naomi.html

17 August: Professor Stephan Lewandowsky
will ask 'Why do people reject science?' –
and suggest some answers based on his
research in cognitive science.

Many science communicators will be familiar
the Debunking Handbook he co-authored with
John Cook. Professor Lewandowsky also runs
an online forum for science-informed
discussion of climate, energy and other
natural resource issues
(http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/)  He
contributes regularly to public discussions
of science through popular media such as
The Drum on ABC.  Recipient of a 2011
Discovery Outstanding Research Award from
the Australian Research Council, he also
finds time to make significant
contributions to the field of cognitive
science.  For more see his faculty profile
at http://www.cogsciwa.com/.


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Graduate School of Education (M428)
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, WA 6009
Tel. +61 8 6488 1899