News
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Artistic methods bring miners’ perspectives to the fore: The Gold Matters project
The Gold Matters project explores whether a transformative approach towards sustainability can arise in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) on which an estimated 16 million people in low and lower-middle income countries are dependent as a livelihood.The project includes collaboration with artists, among which the painter Christophe Sawadogo from Burkina Faso and the photographer Nii Obodai from Ghana. Christophe’s images were inspired by the daily movement of people, using paper to collect footprints, tyre tracks and other markings, and adding from the goldfield mine dust of many hues, stones and carbon for impression.
These artistic collaborations aim to bring to the fore the perspectives of miners and to reflect on sustainability issues in small-scale gold mining. In fact, ASGM is associated with negative environmental, social, labour and health impacts, which generate critical barriers to sustainability. The research uses a multi-actor and trans-regional approach, with comparative analysis across sites in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Follow the project through the website and Twitter
The project is supported by the New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe (NORFACE), a collaborative partnership of national research funding agencies from 20 European countries dedicated to leading and developing opportunities for scientists in the area of social and behavioural sciences, and by the Belmont forum, a partnership of funding organizations, international science councils and regional consortia committed to the advancement of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary science.
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The next generation of ‘Science for the People’
Science for the People is a science-activist organization dedicated to building a radical political movement in science and society. Members consist of STEM scientists, workers, educators, students and activists committed to the democratic practice of science for the benefit of humanity and the planet. Science for the People engages in research and science communications for the betterment of society, ecological improvement and environmental protection to serve human needs.The organisation had its roots in the anti-war culture of the United States in the late 1960s and lasted until the end of 1980s. In 2014, it was revived by the collaboration between the old and the new generation of members and reopened the discussion around topics of health care, climate change, social justice and science education, among others. Nowadays, there are a number of working groups dealing with topics such as biology and society, climate change, reproductive justice, science education and social responsibility, technology and others and the organisation has many local chapters with representatives, mainly from the US.
As a result of recent interest, the Science for the People Magazine, previously published from 1969 to 1989, has been relaunched online in May 2019 thanks to a fundraising campaign. View the magazine.
Read more about Science for the People mission and activities on the website
Watch the mini documentary on YouTube, to be premiered Saturday July 28, 6:30 p.m. at Caveat, 21A Clinton Street, Manhattan, New York City.
Source: Science for the People and Wikipedia
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Zooniverse: Understanding Urban Wildlife
Urbanization poses many threats to wildlife such as loss of habitat, fragmentation of habitat, roads and traffic, poisons and toxins, people, and domestic animals. The Science Literacy project Zooniverse is striving to collect information that can be used by city planners to help them make educated decisions about wildlife when planning future developments.As an initial activity a camera project in Los Angeles has been initiated to better understand what wildlife species are present and identify spatial and long-term patterns of wildlife. Cameras have been placed in urban and rural parks, golf courses, and undeveloped strips of land where permission could be obtained to mount cameras.
Background
The City of Los Angeles is working to preserve biodiversity and are in need of wildlife occurrence information to assist with their city planning. Data from this project will help fill in some areas where there is little known information about local wildlife and help the city make educated decision in future planning.
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Media, new technologies and development in Latin America: political, social and economic perspectives
A two-day conference 4/5 th July taking place at the University of London.In an age of increasing media concentration and commercialisation, how can media in development have a role for democracy? How can networked communications be better used by social movements, civil society and other marginalized groups who encounter difficulties in having a voice in the public sphere? How can ICTs (information and communication technologies) be used for development? How are feminist NGOs and women’s groups at present making use of communication tools and technologies to shape policy and pursue social change at a global and local level? What are some of the theoretical frameworks on communications and social change that we need to revisit? What are the more appropriate methodologies to study communication for social change (CSC) in the digital era?
These are some of the many questions that these workshops, which will be held at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) and at City, University of London, ahead of the 2019 IAMCR (International Association in Media and Communication Research) conference in Spain, seek to address.
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Open access and social justice driving African development, Cape Town, 2 - 6 December 2019
SPARC Africa will be hosting an Open Access Symposium in collaboration with University of Cape Town Libraries, sister institution libraries in the Western Cape, SPARC, ASSAf, WACREN, Library Publishing Coalition, the Public Knowledge Project, the National Research Foundation and the IFLA Special Interest Group: Library Publishing.A week of workshop engagements and invited papers for critical discourse to advance African open scholarship within a social justice paradigm under the theme Open access and social justice driving African development is being planned.
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Science on Stage Festival 2019
The next European Science on Stage festival will take place from 31 October to 3 November 2019 in Cascais, Portugal.As the largest European educational fair for STEM teachers around 450 primary and secondary school teachers from 33 countries come together to exchange best practice teaching concepts. They present their most innovative ideas from teachers for teachers in a fair, in workshops, and in performances.
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Media & Information Literate Citizens: "Informed, Engaged, Empowered", Gothenburg, Sweden
Registration is now open for the annual Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week FeatureConference and Youth Agenda Forum, 24 - 26 September, Gothenburg.
The official website for the conference will be published shortly.
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Toolkit for Science Literacy Impact Evaluation
The results of the desk research for the study The impact of Science Literacy delivery methods - what works? have now been synthesised and the preparation of an open online toolkit for impact evaluation across different delivery methods of science literacies is in the process of being compiled.Items of potential interest will be added to this page as they become known to us. We encourage your participation in making the toolkit as comprehensive and current as possible.
If you have content which you would like to be considered for the toolkit please contact Carol Usher
Bibliographies and individual analyses and reviews of the 5 Groups/45 Methods continue to be updated on a regular basis.
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FameLab 2019: Save the dates 3-6 June
The world’s greatest international science communication competition is reaching its climax. With only three minutes to enlighten and entertain judges and audience, the pressure is on for contestants as the UK National Final and International Semi-Finals take place in preparation for the International Final on Thursday 6th June.FameLab UK Final Mon 3 Jun 2019, 7:00pm - 8:30pm. Follow progress
The winner of the UK Final will join 25 national finalists from across the globe as they battle it out for a coveted place in the FameLab International Final
- FameLab International Semi-Final I Wed 5 Jun 2019, 10:00am - 12:00pm
- FameLab International Semi-Final II Wed 5 Jun 2019, 1:15pm - 3:15pm
Follow progress on Facebook
- FameLab International Final on Thu 6 Jun 2019, 8:30pm - 10:15pm
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#SeeGrowth: growing new opportunities through female-led climate-smart businesses
#See Growth, a programme of CAMFED (Campaign for Female
Education), gives girls in rural Africa the chance to grow their own futures
and was the inspiration for a vibrant
garden at the 2019 RHS* Chelsea Flower Show.
The garden won a Gold medal and drew attention to the urgent need to empower and educate young women in some of the world’s poorest communities most affected by climate change.“Giving Girls in Africa a Space to Grow” featured edible crops such as enriched beans, papaya and banana trees, sweet potatoes and grain crops grown in a landscape of red soil and rocks. At its heart was a rural Zimbabwean classroom, constructed in a true style of rendered concrete blockwork, concrete roof tiles and floors.
Background
Women produce much of Africa’s food, but struggle to access land, finance or training. CAMFED invests in low-income rural communities, where girls face acute disadvantage. Their Model “sees girls’ education as the starting point for social change. It shows that partnering with communities to unlock the leadership potential of groups of girls and women at the margins of society creates a multiplier effect like no other, delivering the only sustainable and scalable way of addressing the world’s problems with the urgency required”.
CAMFED enables girls in rural Africa to stay in education, develop thriving agricultural businesses, create jobs, and deliver prosperity.
*RHS Royal Horticultural Society of the UK