BU Research Blog

This is part of our series on using online environments and platforms in engaging public audiences with research. You can read more about how BU has adapted to online engagement over the past year in a previous post.

Café Scientifique is an international event format that hosts a talk from a researcher followed by plenty of time for questions and discussion, all in an informal and friendly environment.

For several years, Café Scientifique has been held in Boscombe’s Café Boscanova, a cosy café capable of holding 20 to 40 people at a push. Holding events in this space, privately opened for the evening and offering food and drink, encourages a laid-back and conversational atmosphere.

This posed a challenge when restrictions meant that gatherings and cafes were both off-limits. Since September 2020 we have held these events online, which has demonstrated the positives and negatives of online public engagement.

We’ve kept familiarity where possible, sticking to the same schedule of events held on the evening of the first Tuesday of every month (bar August and December). The events are hosted and promoted under the banner of BU, following the same format and with our regular host Dr Sharon Docherty.

We hold these events over Zoom allowing Sharon, our guest speaker and the audience to all see each other on video, and for the speaker to be able to present slides. Using the standard meeting platform does mean enforced muting of the audience though, to minimise additional noise.

With the ability to join from anywhere, and without the audience limit of a physical space, we’ve seen much higher attendance for our online events. Despite marketing these events only within the UK, we’ve welcomed attendees from around the world to hear about BU research and pose questions to our academics.

Our speaker for December 2020, Dr Sarah Elliott, shares some thoughts on the experience;

“I recently participated in Café Scientifique which, because of the current pandemic, has moved on-line. I think this is a great opportunity to be involved in and for viewers across the country to engage in scientific research.

Academics spend a lot of time presenting their research to each other and publishing their data, but through Café Sci as a platform you are able to reach a wider audience and facilitate discussions about your research in an informal and friendly environment.

The event had a good turn out and very positive feedback, the questions asked in the discussion were all thought provoking and important points were highlighted upon which I could expand my explanations. Academics always have so much to say, and not enough time to say it, so the ample time given for discussion at a Café Sci event provides a real opportunity to focus on the aspects of the talk which the public were most interested in.”

 

You can read more about Sarah’s experience in this blog post.

Hosting these events online has also made them easy to record, where guest academics chose to do so, and so we are able to share past events through our YouTube channel.

Catch up on other Café Scientifique events.

Translating Café Scientifique online didn’t all go as expected, though. To begin with, we tried as much as possible to encourage the same convivial, conversational atmosphere as in-person events, inviting audience members to chat amongst themselves in the chat section and ask their questions live over video. However, we soon found that attendees were generally reluctant to talk on video in front of a large virtual audience and asked instead that questions be posted in the chat, where host Sharon could read them to our speaker.

This encapsulates the importance of challenging your assumptions about engaging online and being willing to adapt. While there are certainly advantages to be had in audience size, diversity and types of accessibility, it can be difficult to foster a sense of interpersonal connection. Whether this is a relevant factor will vary between projects.

Despite the advantages we’ve seen with holding Café Scientifique online, we plan to resume in-person events when possible, as the café atmosphere and surroundings are the essence of what makes the format special. However, the experience of holding these events online has been, and will continue to be valuable in advising on activities that thrive in an online environment.