BONUS STSNewsRoom 1 Jasmine Chakravarty investigates vaccine hesitancy | WeAreSTS
Release Date: 12/04/2021
#15 Gemma Milne on SMOKE AND MIRRORS in conversation with Jack Stilgoe | WeAreSTS
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Will robots steal my job? Will gene editing cure my cancer? HYPE is a fundamental part of science communication, the development of new technologies, and the crucially important interface between business, investment, and new technology. How does HYPE work? Can it be used for good? In this conversation at the 2022 STS1Book celebration at University College London, Gemma Milne discusses her book, SMOKE AND MIRRORS, with Jack Stilgoe. They discuss her interest in HYPE as an ever-present phenomenon in our society, and how it affects thinking about technology today. Gemma and Jack reflect on the...
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#14 Period policies: Exploring the debate on menstrual leave | WeAreSTS
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As someone who prides herself on being interested in women’s health and progress related to it, Sofia Sancho still had no idea what “menstrual leave” was when it suddenly was all over the news earlier this spring. Menstruation is a regular physiological phenomenon, happening to the vast majority of people with uteruses. Many people manage their periods just fine, but for some they can be extremely debilitating. For them, being able to take some extra days off work every month to manage symptoms can be a big relief. However, the policies have received a lot of critique. They can be...
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#13 BBC Wildlife Documentaries in the Age of Attenborough | WeAreSTS
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Natural history documentaries are hugely popular on British television. They offer great examples of science communication, and they have a long history, stretching back to the early days of broadcasting by the BBC, and more. As luck would have it, here in STS, we have an expert in these programmes and the people who create them. Dr Jean-Baptiste Gouyon is Associate Professor of Science Communication in the department. He teaches science journalism, sociology of science, and lots more. He also is co-director of our new MSc in Science Communication. A few years ago, Jean-Baptiste published a...
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#12 Top Marks for Philosophy of Science and Medicine in REF Impact | WeAreSTS
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Professor Sarah Edwards and Professor Phyllis Illari discuss their contributions the STS’s impact in philosophy of science and medicine. They were lead contributors to two top-rated “impact cases” in UCL’s 2021 entry to the REF assessment, the UK’s research excellence framework. That’s a national review of university research productivity. Sarah’s project involves policy-making about emerging diseases. Phyllis’s project involves policy-making when evidence in conflicting and incomplete. Simply put, “impact” is a measure of how much a influence an academic university...
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BONUS Scientific Research for Development, a seminar from Dr Michel Wahome | WeAreSTS
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Dr Michel Wahome presents a wide-ranging critique of the “research for development” (R4D) model in science and technology policy, with emphasis on its assumptions about innovation and progress. The deepest concerns we should have with this widely used model is its deep faith the science alone to solve social problems. The over-emphasis on science and technology alone is misguided. Alternatives - grounded in meaningful engagement, transdisciplinarity and decolonial practice - offer positive replacements.
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BONUS Pale, Male and Stale? Scientists on Netflix and Disney+ | WeAreSTS
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The lack of representation on screen is a politic issue on everybody’s lips. I investigate how popular streaming platforms, Netflix and Disney+, portray scientists in terms of gender, race, sexuality, neurodivergency, and socio-economic background. Is representation of the scientist moving away from being presented as white, straight, and male? If not, why do big corporations like Netflix and Disney+ continue to present this image of scientists, and what can we do to improve representation as individuals?
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BONUS “What is STS”? Three Ordinary Examples | WeAreSTS
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“What is STS?” This is a question STS students are asked on a regular basis by fiends and family. I studied it at UCL. In this episode, I explore what Science and Technology Studies (STS) is really all about. I interview three of my tutors about three ordinary things: the fruit fly Drosophila, the car and the idea of standard time. Each tells fascinating stories. Each also displays STS as a research skill. When we ask the right questions, we get underneath the subjects and engage fundamental questions.
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#11 UCL’s Warning Research Centre and Disaster Preparedness with Dr Carina Fearnley | WeAreSTS
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Dr Carina Fearnley, Associate Professor of Science Communication, talks about warning research and disaster preparedness. Carina is an expert in disaster warning and public engagement. Her research focuses on ways to improve the effectiveness of warning systems. She’s contributed a lot to communication around warning in the pandemic. Her long-term research focuses on volcano and tsunami warning systems. This is real world, life-saving public engagement. She is Director of UCL’s Warning Research Centre.
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#10 Help From UCL Careers Service | WeAreSTS
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Today, we’re talking CAREERS. In STS, careers thinking is at the core of our degrees. To help us learn more, I talk with Catherine Casale, our Careers Counsellor in UCL Careers Service. Catherine has massive experience listening to students talk about how they see the future. She knows how to help people see the possibilities ahead, then start deciding on what needs to be done to reach those goals. This episode is part 1 of our conversation. We’ll have part 2 of our conversation in a few weeks.
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#9 Introducing UCL’s new Master’s in Science Communication (MSc) | WeAreSTS
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Dr. Melanie Smallman and Dr. Jean-Baptiste Gouyon about UCL’s new Master’s in Science Communication (MSc). They discuss the philosophy behind the degree, some of its key modules, and how it is designed to balance practical skill development with foundational theory in communications. There also is discussion about how they plan to give this degree global relevance, careers thinking, and how activities in the degree will tie into other activities around UCL and around London.
info_outlineAs of November 2021, more than 46.4 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the biggest mass-immunization programme the country has ever run. Most of us rushed to book our appointments as soon as we received a message, keen to protect ourselves from the virus. However, not everyone has been quite so confident in the vaccine.
In this episode, Jasmine Chakravarty speaks to four UCL academics to learn more about vaccine hesitancy and the evolution of public messaging. She wants to know:
- what it is,
- which groups are hesitant and why,
- and how this hesitancy can best be approached
Listen to leading researchers from the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and other UCL departments who talk about hesitancy as a process and who try to better understand how engagement around this topic should work.
Jasmine would like to thank her fantastic guests Professor Helen Bedford @HelenEBedford, Dr Stephen Hughes @stephenhues, Dr Katherine Woolf, and Professor Sarah Edwards.
For more information on vaccine hesitancy visit:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/immunisation-vaccines/vaccine-hesitancy
For more advice on how to talk to those who are hesitant, see:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/16/1032001/how-to-talk-to-unvaccinated-people
To read Dr Katherine Woolf’s research paper ‘Dispel myths and build trust to combat vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority health workers’, follow the link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776221001575?via%3Dihub
Find out more about vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups in the UK:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-vaccines-f-%20idUSKBN2A925Q
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n513
To learn more about the ‘COVID-19 Wellbeing Study’ with which Professor Sarah Edwards is involved, follow:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/1/e043418.long
For more information about UCL’s Master’s in Science Communication (MSc)
We also mentioned our annual newsletter, STS Alchemy. For your free copy, visit:
Featuring
Interviewer and episode creator: Jasmine Chakravarty (UCL 2021)
Host: Professor Joe Cain, Professor in History and Philosophy of Biology <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain>
Music credits
“Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod
https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5
“Sweeter Vermouth,” by Kevin MacLeod
https://filmmusic.io/song/4450-sweeter-vermouth
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Production information
Jasmine edited and produced the main segments of this episode.
The balance of editing and post-production by Professor Joe Cain.
Podcast information
“WeAreSTS” is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, and to leave feedback about the show, visit us online:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast
STS Students and staff also can find on the website information about how to get involved with our programme.
WeAreSTS producer is Professor Joe Cain.
Twitter: @stsucl #WeAreSTS