Thursday 14 September, University of Birmingham

Have you worked on an outreach, public engagement or science communication project based on the physical sciences? Are you looking to share your learning, celebrate your success and help others avoid your mistakes? If so then the Interact symposium is for you!

We are looking for all sorts of people to put forward sessions and share their experiences of working on outreach, public engagement or science communication projects. This includes community partners, outreach officers, freelance science communicators, the museum sector, creative producers, the arts community, media, and informal educators as well as researchers with public engagement experience.

Whether it’s a project that engaged a new audience, or an innovative way you raised science capital in schools, a new demonstration that encapsulates all the excitement of your latest research, a tested method of measuring impact or even that project that went so horrifically wrong; this is your opportunity to share!

The conference is targeted at physicists and physical scientists looking to share best practice, exchange ideas and meet some new colleagues for potential future projects. This conference gives them time for them to get out of the lab and think about the public and how to engage with them. The content for the workshop will be decided by those attending.

The STFC, IOP and SEPnet are co-hosting the event around the following themes:

• Evaluation and impact.
• Reaching traditionally hard-to-engage / underserved audiences.
• Schools outreach.
• Sharing both good practice and past mistakes.

There will be two different formats for sharing your experience:

• Parallel session / workshop. We have many breakout rooms of different sizes that need filling with you and your knowledge! Do you know a few other people who have worked on a similar area? Invite them along and put on a session together. We really want as much variety as possible! We are open to all sorts of formats, lengths of time and audience numbers, at this stage simply let us know! Please submit your session ideas here.
• An exhibition space. There will also be an exhibition space for you to demonstrate your activities in the marketplace. Here is your opportunity to show off your demonstration or that shiny exciting bit of kit throughout the day. If you would like to bring along your activity, please fill submit this form.

Deadline for applications will be Friday 30 June. If you are applying for a session, please do also register for the conference here.

Applicants will be told if their session and exhibition space has been successful by the end of July.

We are looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Neville Hollingworth (STFC)
Hannah Renshall (IOP)
Dominic Galliano (SEPnet)