The Annual Ecsite Conference: An Engagement and Education Forum for Science Museums

ABSTRACT

The annual Ecsite conference is the largest conference in Europe for people working in science museums, science centers and other science engagement organizations. In 2017, the 28th Ecsite conference was held in Porto, Portugal, from the 15th–17th of June. This review includes a short history of Ecsite and its annual conference as well as critical reflections on the 2017 conference from the perspective of museum educators working in the area of science engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Ecsite annual conference
• science museums
• science engagement
• informal learning
• museum educators

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editorial board of the journal for their constructive feedback and advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

About the authors

Joseph Roche is an astrophysicist and Assistant Professor in Science Education at Trinity College Dublin. He teaches Science & Society and Communicating Science on a Master in Science Education program and is course coordinator of a Postgraduate Certificate in 21st Century Teaching and Learning. His research areas include informal science education, citizen science and evaluating public engagement in science.

Nicola Davis is a President’s Ph.D. Scholar at Imperial College London where she researches neurodegeneration. She has a B.Sc. in Human Health & Disease from Trinity College Dublin and an MRes in Experimental Neuroscience from Imperial College London. She has developed and coordinated national and European-funded public engagement events for the School of Education at Trinity College.

Jessica Stanley is Learning Project Manager at Makerversity Amsterdam, a co-working/making space for professional makers, where she coordinates making and design thinking programs. She previously worked for Science Gallery Dublin, as an exhibitions researcher, and as coordinator of MAKESHOP. She holds an M.Sc. in Experimental Physics from Utrecht University, and a BA in Theoretical Physics from Trinity College Dublin.

Mairéad Hurley is Education & Learning Manager and European Projects Coordinator at Science Gallery Dublin. She is a qualified secondary-school teacher and has taught in both Ireland and Australia. She holds a B.Sc. in Physics & Astronomy from the National University of Galway, a Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Dublin City University and a Professional Diploma in Education from University College Dublin.

ORCID

Joseph Roche http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9981-1502

Notes

1. Ecsite, “History of Ecsite.”

2. Beetlestone, “The Science Center Movement”; Lipardi, “The Evolution and Worldwide Expansion of Science Centres.”

3. The earliest Ecsite meetings are described in the essay “Ecsite: How Did it Start? Some (Good) Memories of the Exciting Early Days” by Coutant.

4. www.ecsite.eu.

5. Both keynote talks are available to watch online in their entirety: https://goo.gl/1uvhTH and https://goo.gl/5k4kFH.

6. Kinsley, “Inclusion in Museums.”

7. Roche and Davis, “Should the Science Communication Community Play a Role in Political Activism?”

8. Bell et al., Learning Science in Informal Environments; Toon, “Solitude and Reflection in Science Centers.”

9. Bunten and Arvizu, “Turning Visitors into Citizens”; Whiteley et al., “‘The House’ as a Framing Device for Public Engagement in STEM Museums.”

10. Tran, “Teaching Science in Museums.”

11. Bevan and Xanthoudaki, “Professional Development for Museum Educators.”

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the following projects and funding schemes for helping them to attend the 2017 Ecsite conference: the Irish Research Council’s New Foundations program [Grant Number RPAMS 8258], the Wellcome Trust through its Science Learning+ initiative, the Hypatia project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 framework program under the call H2020-GERI-2014 (Grant Agreement No. 665566) and European Researchers’ Night also funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 framework program under the call H2020-MSCA-NIGHT-2016 (Grant Agreement No. 722628).