During the first half of the project, FLARECAST members have engaged In a broad spectrum of outreach activities. Find above some pictures of the highlights and an illustrated list in the Outreach Activities section of the FLARECAST Public Outreach page.
The great thing is that activities took place in all participating countries. Thank you all for doing this with so much enthusiasm!
We interacted with people between five and 90 years
- giving talks, including some involving the public interactively
- organizing observation events
- participating at science festivals
- carrying out childrens workshops
- participating at national online campaigns
- sharing on social media
- talking to the press and writing press releases
- and in many other ways.
Project outreach in different countries
Interacting with the public in different countries, there is no one-fits-all strategy. Many activities need to be carried out on an individual partner’s basis, because they depend on local cultural contexts and science communication infrastructures. As scientists, we largely depend on others to organize bigger events. Only to a limited extent can we organize our own events. While countries such as the UK and France have a long tradition in cultivating the relationship between science and society, other countries’ science communication infrastructures are less elaborated.
Despite this diversity, there is a FLARECAST public outreach strategy. It is simple:
- to take as many occasions as we can for participating in existing events, series of talks, science fairs etc;
- to cooperate with, and further expand, local networks for organizing new activities;
- to exchange ideas and materials with FLARECAST partners and find cooperation opportunities on a case to case basis.
FLARECAST outreach materials
The FLARECAST Public Outreach page contains an Outreach Resources section with materials that fit both the specific topic of solar flare forecasting and the wider topic of solar research. While some materials have been adapted from previous projects and from elsewhere, two childrens’ workshops have been particularly developed and tested for FLARECAST. All materials can be adapted to a variety of events involving scientist-public interactions. Anyone is more than welcome to use them.
FLARECAST outreach on SlideShare
