As the rate of scientific and technological change increases, some of the most fundamental aspects of our lives - the ways we communicate, our working practices, our diet, leisure activities, environment and healthcare - are changing with bewildering speed.

These changes affect every sector of society and all its functions, including the social, moral and legal protocols by which we order and harmonise our existence together. It is therefore advantageous that they are mediated through as many people as possible - that the potential consequences of new technologies are considered and debated by people from every branch of society - to ensure that they are assimilated into our lives with appropriate checks and balances. This in essence is what drives the public engagement activities of organisations such as the Wellcome Trust and the Science Museum - and is the raison d'être for the Dana Centre, a relaxed and informal cafe bar opening in November 2003.

The Dana Centre will be housed in the new Wellcome Wolfson Building on Queen’s Gate (see box below), and will be run by the Science Museum in collaboration with the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) and the European Dana Alliance for the Brain (EDAB). These three organisations will collaborate closely with other groups to deliver a programme of debates, performances, TV and web broadcasts, and other activities and events that will inform the public about science and stimulate thought and debate about its wider ramifications.

Tackling issues

To achieve its aim of ‘engaging’ the public in science, the Dana Centre needs its audiences to be interested and actively involved, something that is most likely to happen if people are enjoying themselves, and if they can see a direct relevance to their own lives. However, while many people are exceedingly well informed and have much to offer at consultations and debates, for others, relevance and enjoyment are not concepts traditionally associated with science. Instead, science is seen as difficult or boring - the intimidating territory of experts or the sterile laboratory of ‘the boffin’.

One of the best ways to engage with an audience is to talk about something that already interests them. “The Dana Centre is a resource for the public, and we want to make sure we are dealing with the issues that concern them,” says Karen Davies, Science Museum project manager for the Dana Centre. “Focus groups show that people are keen to discuss things that are in the media, like cloning, designer babies and GM foods, and things that are controversial - which is why they were in the media in the first place.

“We can’t do that in the Science Museum because it’s a family-oriented space, where people bring their children. But the Dana Centre is targeting a different age group of 18-45-year-olds, so we’ll be able to push back the boundaries and address more unsettling or complicated issues.” The subjects planned for the Dana Centre’s ‘Naked Science’ programme of debate, for example, include the moral and ethical issues relating to euthanasia and the plausibility of UFO sightings in the UK.

These in-depth debates will be complemented by the ‘Antenna’ programme - a rapid-response mechanism that will use experts, objects and demonstrations to unpick the science behind the headlines. “If a big news story hits the headlines, the team will quickly prepare an event getting at the heart of the issues. We want to convey to people that science isn’t something static and dry they learned about in school – it’s dynamic, it’s changing all the time and it’s directly affecting everyone’s lives. We want people to say, ‘this story has hit, let’s go to the Dana Centre’, or they can log on to our website which will allow people to take part in events wherever they are or view archived events.”

Relevance to people’s lives is also an important factor in drawing minority or ethnic groups into the debate. “Disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups don’t come to these events, partly because they feel intimidated, and partly because they feel events don’t deal with the issues that affect their lives,” explains Karen. To counteract this, the Dana Centre is planning a series of events that will be directly relevant to these groups. On World AIDS Day in December, for example, health workers will watch Ek Pal, a Bollywood film tackling AIDS and extra-marital affairs. Afterwards they will meet the director, Karamjeet Ballagan, and discuss how to use the film to help tackle these taboo subjects in Asian communities. Uniquely, events at the Dana Centre will be audience-led, giving visitors the chance to have a say in the programming in the Centre.

Breaking down barriers

The spectre of ‘intimidation’ also has to be tackled if the public are to play an active role in debate. “We want to break down barriers and help people overcome their fears of speaking up in public or feeling too intimidated to ask a question,” says Karen. Simply creating an informal atmosphere and introducing a bit of fun can make a huge difference.

The Dana Centre will be exploring the possibilities offered by comedy, drama and dance to engage people in science in humorous, moving or spectacular ways. Comedian Rob Simpson, part of the Science Museum’s Explainer team, demonstrated that science could be funny at a comedy gig at BierRex in Putney last August, where he blew up balloons with carbon dioxide and hit obliging members of the audience lying under planks with a hammer to demonstrate the distribution of force. “The science went down really well,” he recalls. “Students from Roehampton University make up the core audience at BierRex, and word got round the university about the gig. When I went back next time, several people came up to me and said they'd come to see the science.” The Dana Centre aims to capitalise on this enthusiasm for scientific comedy with monthly ‘Punk Science’ evenings - a term coined by Rob about his BierRex gig. “I had a mohawk at the time,” he offers by way of explanation.

Engaging with anything new is nearly always a question of stepping stones. Comedy and the other performance arts offer an accessible point of entry to science, which can then prompt people to venture further. “If people find they have enjoyed themselves - and effortlessly learnt something at the same time – they’re more likely to attend other events with a scientific theme,” says Karen. “They might attend something more serious or challenging next time, perhaps go to an event they would otherwise have shunned.”

And learning is, of course, a two-way process. The Dana Centre is also somewhere where scientists and clinicians will discover new perspectives. One medical student commented, after attending an event about sickle-cell research at the Science Museum, “It was enlightening to see how diseases affect people on a personal level. Being a medical student, I am not really taught to appreciate this.”

However, if these public perspectives are to help shape the ways in which new technologies are integrated into society, they need to be heard. “There’s no point getting people to tell us what they think if it all just falls into a vacuum,” says Karen. “We’ll be taking the outcomes of these events to opinion formers, trend-setters, leading lights in the media and policy - and where possible we'll invite these people to attend and hear it all first hand and join in.”

E-mail: k.davies@nmsi.ac.uk

External links

• Dana Centre in the Wellcome Wolfson Building run by the Science Museum (Press release - Further information and contact details)
• British Association (Details on the Dana Centre)
• European Dana Alliance for the Brain
• Brain Awareness Week organised by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives