Centre for the Public Awareness of Science
Encyclopedia
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
’s Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. In March, 2000 it became an accredited Centre for the Australian National Commission for UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
.
Work of the Centre
As a UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Centre, CPAS engages with science communication
Science communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
and communicators in the Pacific region and beyond. In partnership with the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Pacific Office in Apia, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, CPAS has focused on science teaching training and communication in Pacific nations. As well as running a science journalism workshop for Pacific Island journalists in 2001, CPAS followed up in the same year with a science teacher workshop and the first Pacific Science Communication Forum. The UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
office in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
invited CPAS to join a mission to Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
to conduct a survey to identify and assess the needs of the country with respect to science education in schools and universities. Other activities include joining with UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
(Apia) to help in its aims to raise social participation in science in and around the Pacific.
CPAS also established, as a pilot project, the Register of Pacific Scientists, an online database for those involved with Pacific Science to record their details and/or search for other people with similar or complementary interests.
Other activities of CPAS include the presentation of workshops for secondary school science teachers and others in Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. A joint teaching program is being developed with the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
. In South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, CPAS helped to develop a touring hands-on science exhibition and has been invited to work in and with various South African science centres.
Teaching, Outreach and Research
With a flourishing graduate program, CPAS encourages research in all aspects of science communicationScience communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
. Degrees are offered at all tertiary levels. Outreach programs within Australia include workshops for research scientists, science teachers, science and engineering students and science centre personnel, as well as the ANU Shell Questacon Science Circus.
CPAS has a wide research program dealing with issues at the interface of science and the public. Apart from a long-standing agenda of research in science centres, CPAS is concerned with current issues in science, with the communication agendas of scientists, and with effective communication of science concepts. The research program is interdisciplinary and contributes to the emerging framework of science communication
Science communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
theory.
History
CPAS was launched by Professor Richard DawkinsRichard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
in 1996. It owes it origin to the establishment, twenty years earlier, of a modest science centre in a vacant primary school in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. This burgeoning science centre eventually grew into Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre. Questacon was the brainchild of Michael Gore, a senior lecturer in Physics at the Australian National University, who became its first director. An important part of its activities was outreach, supported from the beginning by sponsorship from Shell Australia
Shell Australia
In Australia, Royal Dutch Shell conducts a large range of activities. These include exploration for, and the production and commercialization of, oil and natural gas, the operation of two refineries, 19 terminals and 33 depots for the manufacture and distribution of oil products; and the marketing...
.
Dr Gore approached Professor Chris Bryant, then Dean of Science at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, with a proposal to set up a science circus to travel Australia, to be staffed by graduate science students enrolled in a course of science communication
Science communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
. Thus was born the Graduate Certificate in Science Communication that rapidly metamorphosed into a Graduate Diploma. This initiative proved extremely popular and it became clear that there was a hitherto undetected demand for such a course. Over the next few years, Masters and PhD courses were offered and science communication became a full-fledged graduate program.
By 1994, the demand was so great that the Faculty of Science at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
agreed to fund a Lectureship in Science Communication
Science communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
. This was the first in Australia and, possibly, the world. Dr Susan Stocklmayer was appointed to the position and immediately announced her intention of establishing a university centre for science communication
Science communication
Science communication generally refers to public media aiming to talk about science with non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists but has evolved into a professional field in its own right...
. The Centre was established in 1996, with Professor Bryant as its first, interim, Director. Dr Stocklmayer took over the position in 1998, where she remains today.
Awards
In subsequent years, the work of CPAS has been recognised by a number of awards and honours: In 1999, CPAS, Shell AustraliaShell Australia
In Australia, Royal Dutch Shell conducts a large range of activities. These include exploration for, and the production and commercialization of, oil and natural gas, the operation of two refineries, 19 terminals and 33 depots for the manufacture and distribution of oil products; and the marketing...
and Questacon jointly won the Business/Higher Education Round Table Award. The citation commends CPAS as “a university centre whose brief is to empower Australians by encouraging in them the confidence of 'ownership' of modern science. It is intended to increase science awareness in the Australian community and to improve communication skills of scientists.” In 2000, its standing was such that it was designated as the first UNESCO Centre for Science Communication.
In 2004, the triple partnership was awarded the Financial Review National Award for long term sponsorship, and in 2006 it won the Special Award for Excellence in the Prime Ministers Community Business Partnerships. The individual contributions of members of CPAS have also been widely recognised and they have received many personal accolades.