[attach id=254128 size="medium"]Malcolm Love, senior BBC producer for features and documentaries. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier[/attach]
The number of European children opting out of science studies could rise unless scientists’ communication skills were improved, a lecturer and former BBC producer has warned.
“When scientists express themselves in a way that engages society, it provides a lifeline for fields which, in the western world, are falling out of favour,” Malcolm Love, senior BBC producer for features and documentaries, said.
Mr Love, a science communication lecturer at the University of West England, is chief trainer at Fame Lab, an international competition aimed at encouraging scientists to become better communicators.
He will be here tomorrow for a preliminary round of Malta’s first edition of the competition, which was inspired by musical talent show Fame Academy.
Mr Love said the use of specialised language had scared laymen and potential investors away.
“Decision-makers don’t normally have a scientific background,” he said, referring to the low number of scientists in UK executive positions.
Scientists are not nerds who can’t get girlfriends
A 2011 EU-wide study by business lobby group, BusinessEurope, found that the number of students undertaking science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies had fallen to below 20 per cent.
None of the UK’s 23 Cabinet ministers had degrees in science, he noted.
Mr Love dismissed the idea that scientists were “nerds who can’t get girlfriends”, insisting they were ordinary people.
He hoped the subject could ride on the wave of a pro-science “geek chic” fashion trend, which, he said, could raise its street credibility.
Social media services such as Facebook and Twitter offered scientists a new platform to engage with the public, he added.
“Stephen Hawking’s tweets and Facebook updates are read by over a million people. This is a perfect example of how accessible scientists can be,” Mr Love said.
“The golden age of Encyclopaedia Britannica was over,” he said, adding that “old standards” had made way for open content sites such as Wikipedia.
“If I write nonsense on Wikipedia, someone will read it and put it right.
“There’s no reason why we can’t apply this principle to science and make science more accessible,” he said.
Twenty-three Maltese contestants participated in the preliminary round. The finalists are: Claude Bajada, Anthony Debono, Sarah Dimech, Owen Falzon, Kristina Farrugia, Estelle Fenech Imbroll, Alexander Hili, Denise Hili, Gabriella Mifsud, Michelle Muscat and Faisal Sadegh.
They will compete with a three-minute, attention-grabbing talk everyone can enjoy at the Manoel Theatre, in Valletta. The winner will represent Malta at the UK Cheltenham Science Festival in June.
Ecologist Sandro Lanfranco, writer Malcolm Galea and Kenneth Scerri will sit on the panel of judges.