Professor Steve Miller

Courses

HPSC 2011: Science, Communication and the Citizen (Word *.doc)
HPSC 3003: Communication of Scientific Ideas (Word *.doc)

Expertise

Prof. Miller is Director of the European Science Communication Workshops (ESConet) and directed the European Network of Science Communication Teachers (ENSCOT) between 1999 and 2003, projects supported by the European Union Framework programmes. Both projects have produced modules for science communication training. (Contact Prof. Miller – s.miller@ucl.ac.uk - for further details.)

Prof. Miller is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Public Communication of Science and Technology network (PCST), and chaired the European Commission’s Expert Group Benchmarking the Promotion of RTD Culture and Public Understanding of Science, which reported in June 2002. He also spent six years as a political journalist.

Additionally, Prof. Miller is a member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCL. There he is active in research in planetary science in the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, studying the atmospheres of giant planets in our own Solar System and beyond. He was a member of the Science and Society Advisory Panel and chaired the Solar System Advisory Panel for PPARC (now STFC).

STS Research Activities

Prof. Miller's current research in Science and Technology Studies centres on issues concerning the relationship between science and society, and he is active in the development of materials for teaching in this area. He is particularly interested in the European dimension of such activities.

Other research interests include: Efforts in the public understanding of astronomy; Case studies in the popularisation of the physical sciences; Historical development of the "Two Cultures" division.  

Recent Publications

So where's the theory: On the relationship between science communication practice and research. Chapter 16 in Cheng, D., Claessens, M., Gascoigne, T., Metcalfe, J., Schiele, B., Shunke, S. (eds.) Communicating science in social contexts: new models, new practices (Springer, 2008)

Peters, H.P., Brossard, D., deCheveigny, S., Dunwoody, S., Kalfass, M., Miller, S., Tsuchida, S. Interactions with the mass media. Science 321, 204-205 (2008).

Bauer, M., Allum, N., Miller, S. What can we learn from 25 years of PUS survey research? Liberating and expanding the agenda. Public Understanding of Science 16, 79-95 (2007).

Gregory, J. and Miller, S. Science in Public: communication, culture and credibility (Plenum, 1998; Perseus Books, 2000). read "A protocol for science communication for the public understanding of science"

Administrative Duties

• Head of Department