Any questions? Inside the event ‘I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out of Here’
16 June 2011. By Chrissie Giles
On 14 March 2011, malaria researcher Dr Julian Rayner sat down at his desk in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and flexed his fingers. The questions started to appear on the screen. "What’s your favourite made-up movie chemical?" "How much paperwork does being a scientist involve?" "Do all types of mosquitoes carry malaria?"
Over two weeks, Julian answered these and 250 other questions, as one of the 30 contestants in the latest ‘I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here’ event. 'I'm a Scientist' was piloted in 2008, supported by a Wellcome Trust People Award. Produced by Gallomanor, it's an offshoot of 'I'm a Councillor, Get Me out of Here', which was launched to engage teenagers with local politics by allowing them to talk directly to councillors. The pilot of the science version was a hit, and the team has run events every March and June since 2009.
The events are not just about attracting students to study and launch careers in science, but also to equip all involved with ways to think scientifically and help them become responsible citizens. "They'll all have votes to cast, goods to buy, decisions to make," says project director Sophia Collins, writing on the Wellcome Trust blog. "I want them to be doing that with some ability to think about the issues surrounding science."
Julian heard about the competition through a colleague in the Sanger Institute's Public Engagement team, applied, and was assigned to the 'Argon zone' with a cell biologist, a soil scientist, a PhD student working on vitamins and a rocket engineer. Every day for two weeks, they tackled students' questions online and participated in at least one live 30-minute chat session.
"It was quite a jump from taking questions from a small audience of students at the end of a presentation," says Julian. "The chat sessions were great though: you can't prepare for them, and when they're done, they're done," Julian says. "There's a need to explore instant messaging more as a tool to engage busy scientists."
Were there any recurring themes? "The students wanted to know what it's like to be a scientist - what I do on a day-to-day basis, what exams I took. It seems that they know that 'scientist' is a career, but they never get to talk to a career scientist."
It’s not just the students that learn a lot: "Students ask great questions that can help scientists see their work differently, or think about things they'd never considered. Scientists get lots of practice talking about their work and explaining science."
The students vote out scientists from each zone one by one. The last scientist standing in the Argon zone was Julian. He plans to use the £500 prize money to cover the travel expenses of schools visiting the Sanger Institute, which already welcomes some 2000 students a year. What was the secret to victory? "Winning or losing was a random process as far as I could tell," Julian laughs. "But I’d certainly recommend taking part to anyone!"
- You can check out Julian’s answers here.
- The June 'I'm A Scientist…' event is currently underway, but it's not too late for teachers or scientists to apply to take part in the 2012 events - see more on how to do this.
