The second day of the 8th Science Communicators' Meet held on 5th January, 2015 witnessed an equivalent enthusiastic turnout as the first day. The meet commenced with the technical session (Theme: Innovations in Technology : A Must for Human Development). Dr. Rohini Sivabalan, Retired Head, Department of Biological Sciences, Ruia College, Mumbai and Dr. Gauhar Raza, NISCAIR - CSIR, New Delhi, being the chaired the session for oral presentations and Mr.Suhas B Naik-Satam, General Secretary, National Centre for Science and Communicators and Programme Coordinator (Scientific), Nehru Planetarium and Dr. Biman Basu, Former Editor, Science Reporter, New Delhi chaired the session for poster presentations. The coordinators were Mrs. Ujjwala Tirkey, DST, New Delhi for poster presentations and Dr. Indrani Banerjee, Academy of Clinical Excellence, Mumbai for oral presentations.
Dr. Rohini gave her credible inputs and suggestions on the presentations of the participants stating the need to bridge the gap between the young and the old.
Dr. Raza remarked that science communication is a cultural, political and social activity besides being a scientific activity particularly when it is being communicated to the public and pressed on the point that science by intrinsic character keeps on changing and that the ways of communicating the facts are as important as the facts communicated.
The technical session was concluded by felicitation of Dr. Raza and Dr. Sivabalan by Dr. Banerjee and of Dr. Naik-Satam and Dr. Basu by Mrs. Tirkey. The technical session was proceeded by interesting and intriguing lectures on various facets ranging from 'use of online tools' to 'mass communication' to 'the Mars Orbiter Mission' by the invited speakers.
Mr. Charusudan Kasturi, Assistant Editor, The Telegraph, New Delhi, was the first to come to address the gathering after a brief introduction by Dr. B. P. Singh. He spoke on 'The Untapped Possibilities for Indian Science Communication using Online Tools' talking primarily about the key challenges that a science communicator faces and the complications involved in handling them and the need to decode technical terminologies and simplifying complex concepts without diluting the scientific content or oversimplifying the researcher's work.
The stage was then taken over by Mr. Hans Desale, Associate Scientist II, Receptors Inc, USA, who elucidated on Mass communication and its effects on Scientific Innovation and the dangers which hover when science meets media exemplifying it with the anti-vaccination movement that took place in the UK.
It was Mr. Srinivas Laxman's speech on The Indian Mars Orbiters Mission that kept the audience hooked to their seats. Mr. Laxman, a Space Journalist, Formerly with the Times of India, Mumbai stated the challenges which were encountered while communicating the record breaking accomplishment of MOM to the public as it had to be conveyed in a way which would trigger curiosity and interest among them, particularly among school children. He concluded by saying that the success of MOM which involved risk of first order, can be well attributed to a policy of transparency adopted by ISRO throughout the mission. The first half was concluded by felicitation of the invited speakers by the chairpersons before breaking in for lunch.
Dr. Anuradha Majumdar was the coordinator for the invited lectures in the post lunch session. Chairperson Dr. Gauhar Raza introduced Mr. S. K. Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai, who spoke on Role of Communication in Managing Public Perception about Atomic Energy. Dr. Asad Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai cited the importance of Science Communication for Conservation using a few case studies. He remarked on the various means of communication that BNHS uses and whole strata of the society that it targets. He also tagged Dr. Kalam as perhaps Indias's best communicator.
Dr. Raza introduced Dr. Rohit Srivastava, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering Group, IIT, Mumbai. In his phenomenal presentation on Affordable Point of Care Diagnostics he gave a terse introduction to the various technologies developed at IIT - Bombay, particularly mentioning about U - chek and Su - chek devices. The lecture series was concluded with a Q&A session and was succeeded by felicitation of the speakers by the chairpersons.
The valedictory session of the meet was graced by the presence Nobel Laureate, 2013 (Physiology and Medicine) and the Guest of Honour, Dr. Randy Schekman who threw light on the dissemination of scientific research through publication in journals. He was of the view that mere publication of a research paper in a journal of a high impact factor doesn't indicate the quality of the research. Moreover there are elements of artificial barriers that the publishers impose to restrict the number of publications. He preferred the online journals to the printed ones as these reduce time in publication and are optimally accessible to the readers.
Dr. Anuradha Ghosh Majumdar felicitated Dr. Schekman and the Chief Guest of the valedictory session, Hon'ble Shri Vinod Tawde, Minister for School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Higher and Technical Education, Medical Education, Marathi Bhasha and Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra State. The convener, Dr. Majumdar summarized the two day meet. The Chief Guest then addressed the audience by pressing the point that propagation of science is the most imperative, so that it reaches the common man from the lab to land.
The meet thus came to the tail end with a Vote of Thanks by the Convener and acknowledged all the people who extended their support and helped the event become a grand success.
Dr. Rohini gave her credible inputs and suggestions on the presentations of the participants stating the need to bridge the gap between the young and the old.
Dr. Raza remarked that science communication is a cultural, political and social activity besides being a scientific activity particularly when it is being communicated to the public and pressed on the point that science by intrinsic character keeps on changing and that the ways of communicating the facts are as important as the facts communicated.
The technical session was concluded by felicitation of Dr. Raza and Dr. Sivabalan by Dr. Banerjee and of Dr. Naik-Satam and Dr. Basu by Mrs. Tirkey. The technical session was proceeded by interesting and intriguing lectures on various facets ranging from 'use of online tools' to 'mass communication' to 'the Mars Orbiter Mission' by the invited speakers.
Mr. Charusudan Kasturi, Assistant Editor, The Telegraph, New Delhi, was the first to come to address the gathering after a brief introduction by Dr. B. P. Singh. He spoke on 'The Untapped Possibilities for Indian Science Communication using Online Tools' talking primarily about the key challenges that a science communicator faces and the complications involved in handling them and the need to decode technical terminologies and simplifying complex concepts without diluting the scientific content or oversimplifying the researcher's work.
The stage was then taken over by Mr. Hans Desale, Associate Scientist II, Receptors Inc, USA, who elucidated on Mass communication and its effects on Scientific Innovation and the dangers which hover when science meets media exemplifying it with the anti-vaccination movement that took place in the UK.
It was Mr. Srinivas Laxman's speech on The Indian Mars Orbiters Mission that kept the audience hooked to their seats. Mr. Laxman, a Space Journalist, Formerly with the Times of India, Mumbai stated the challenges which were encountered while communicating the record breaking accomplishment of MOM to the public as it had to be conveyed in a way which would trigger curiosity and interest among them, particularly among school children. He concluded by saying that the success of MOM which involved risk of first order, can be well attributed to a policy of transparency adopted by ISRO throughout the mission. The first half was concluded by felicitation of the invited speakers by the chairpersons before breaking in for lunch.
Dr. Anuradha Majumdar was the coordinator for the invited lectures in the post lunch session. Chairperson Dr. Gauhar Raza introduced Mr. S. K. Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, Department of Atomic Energy, Mumbai, who spoke on Role of Communication in Managing Public Perception about Atomic Energy. Dr. Asad Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai cited the importance of Science Communication for Conservation using a few case studies. He remarked on the various means of communication that BNHS uses and whole strata of the society that it targets. He also tagged Dr. Kalam as perhaps Indias's best communicator.
Dr. Raza introduced Dr. Rohit Srivastava, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering Group, IIT, Mumbai. In his phenomenal presentation on Affordable Point of Care Diagnostics he gave a terse introduction to the various technologies developed at IIT - Bombay, particularly mentioning about U - chek and Su - chek devices. The lecture series was concluded with a Q&A session and was succeeded by felicitation of the speakers by the chairpersons.
The valedictory session of the meet was graced by the presence Nobel Laureate, 2013 (Physiology and Medicine) and the Guest of Honour, Dr. Randy Schekman who threw light on the dissemination of scientific research through publication in journals. He was of the view that mere publication of a research paper in a journal of a high impact factor doesn't indicate the quality of the research. Moreover there are elements of artificial barriers that the publishers impose to restrict the number of publications. He preferred the online journals to the printed ones as these reduce time in publication and are optimally accessible to the readers.
Dr. Anuradha Ghosh Majumdar felicitated Dr. Schekman and the Chief Guest of the valedictory session, Hon'ble Shri Vinod Tawde, Minister for School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, Higher and Technical Education, Medical Education, Marathi Bhasha and Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra State. The convener, Dr. Majumdar summarized the two day meet. The Chief Guest then addressed the audience by pressing the point that propagation of science is the most imperative, so that it reaches the common man from the lab to land.
The meet thus came to the tail end with a Vote of Thanks by the Convener and acknowledged all the people who extended their support and helped the event become a grand success.
