How to run a mobile heritage science event
Mobile science can be a new way to reach out to the public to show them how we are preserving heritage. Our video & guide are designed to support engaging the public with science.
Evaluating and Running Engagement Events: Toolkit and Video Launch
- When: 18 May, 17:30 - 18:30
- Who: Open to all
How do we evaluate the success of public engagement events? What can we learn from the experience of activity organisers and participants? This event will present the outcomes of a year-long project that has evaluated the impact, the benefits and the drawbacks of "mobile" science engagement, meaning engagement that happens outside the usual spaces of science. This project has been conducted by SEAHA staff, students, and alumni, who reflected on the years of experience running activities with our Mobile Heritage Lab.
This hybrid event (preferably in person but also available online) will be followed by a reception with drinks and nibbles.
Every year thousands of people visit heritage sites across the UK to enjoy the connection with history, the beauty, and the stories. Behind the scenes at most of these sites, museums, and historic buildings, there is science happening to preserve our heritage and help save it from threats like climate change and deterioration so that people can continue to enjoy it for years to come.
However, much of this science is done behind closed doors and can be seen by the public as inaccessible. It’s important to share with the public this huge effort done by conservation teams and scientists to overcome the potential threats to our heritage.
We’ve created a toolkit to support museums and heritage sites running mobile science engagement events to help bring this science out into the open and to support visitor engagement with science, on-the-ground. Our toolkit covers all the essentials of why you might think about running a mobile heritage science engagement event, what to think about when planning it, and how to build in evaluation.
"the most engaging aspect of [our mobile engagement event] was one of the students who was running it, who just exuded confidence and warmth and, and would go up to people and say to them, what is stone? It’s just brilliant. I never really thought about what a stone is…" Organiser of event““the most engaging aspect of [our mobile engagement event] was one of the students who was running it, who just exuded confidence and warmth and, and would go up to people and say to them, what is stone? It’s just brilliant. I never really thought about what a stone is…” Organiser of event
Who is our toolkit for
- Museums and heritage organisations thinking about how to engage visitors with science
- Students and researchers wanting to share their research with the public
Why use our toolkit
- It’s based on our experience at SEAHA Centre for Doctoral Training of running mobile science engagement events through our lab over the past 8 years. We’ve talked to organisers, volunteers and visitors to provide the best advice on what works in mobile engagement
- It contains lots of tips about how best to communicate heritage such as aligning to ongoing projects and telling impactful heritage stories
"to be met by a knowledgeable person with a friendly smile and shown a small piece of a new world was fantastic” Visitor to mobile event