Life in a northern town
Science centres have a crucial role to play in the interaction between science and society. And the interactions don't come much closer than at the Centre for Life in Newcastle - the Centre's Director, Linda Conlon, points out why.
The UK science centres
The UK has around 40 science centres, and a similar number of museums and other institutions where the public can discover more about science and technology.
Science centres received a huge boost in 2000, with an injection of funds from the Millennium Commission and the Wellcome Trust. A number of new science centres were created, in locations as diverse as Dundee (Sensation), Bristol (Explore Bristol), Birmingham (Thinktank) and, of course, Newcastle. The science and discovery centres now receive some 11 million visits a year.
In collaboration with the Millennium Commission and the Wolfson Foundation, the Wellcome Trust has recently launched ReDiscover, a £33 million initiative to enable science and discovery centres to update their exhibits in line with new developments in science.
In 2001, a national network for science and discovery centres was established - ECSITE-UK (a UK affiliate of the European Collaborative for Science, Industry and Technology Exhibitions, ECSITE)
[brokenlink]
UK science centres: Includes links to the individual science centre websites
[brokenlink] ReDiscover
Wellcome News Q3 2002: Analysis article about public engagement at the Trust entitled [brokenlink] Engaging science
ECSITE-UK: National network for science and discovery centres
top