Biotext

Science communication in India

In December I attended the 11th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST-2010) in New Delhi. I had wanted to visit India for a long, long time so this was a chance to combine a trip to that country with some professional development and networking. It was the second PCST conference that I have attended, so it was also nice to reconnect with some of the people I met in 2006 in Seoul.

After a day of sightseeing in New Delhi with my husband (who then departed for a study tour of some schools in Rajasthan) and a rather challenging taxi ride, I arrived at my accommodation in the ‘International Guest House’ at the National Agricultural Science Complex, which was the venue for the conference. At night, and after a tiring day, the place looked very gloomy. However, in the sunlight of the following morning, although my accommodation was undeniably ‘basic’, the venue looked great and the conference was soon underway amid much Indian ceremony.

So how are things in the world of science communication? It’s difficult to tell – but I have a strong sense that a crossroads has been reached. Over the past 20 years or so, the profession has developed in a fairly unstructured way, which has generated a lot of energy and excitement around all the new ideas and approaches that have come along. There has also been considerable development of curricula for teaching science communication at undergraduate and masters levels. An increasing number of people are now also completing sci comm PhDs. However, some of the earlier energy and excitement has now been replaced by reflection on what it all means; what the core principles, methods and theories might be; and whether these can be formalised into a ‘discipline’ of science communication. For me, this feels a bit like trying to pin down a sunbeam – whenever it seems that you have it firmly within your grasp, another speaker introduces a different perspective and it escapes again!

More in my next blog…