The Center for Public Engagement with Science (PEWS) is excited to announce the official release of the first Element in the Cambridge University Press series Elements in Public Engagement with Science! Written by PEWS Founder and Center Director Angela Potochnik and PEWS Curriculum and Pedagogy Director Melissa Jacquart, this first Element sets the stage for the rest of the series.
Elements in Public Engagement with Science
Researchers and practitioners widely appreciate the need for improved efforts in public engagement with science: to promote science literacy; to strengthen trust in scientific institutions; to usher in science-informed policies and practices; and to improve the responsiveness of scientific research to public interest. Academic scientists are also increasingly called upon to engage in public outreach, including finding employment in public-facing careers.
Elements in Public Engagement with Science is an interdisciplinary exploration of academic research and professional expertise related to interfaces between science and the public. Its aim is to make accessible to a broader audience of academics and public engagement professionals (1) specialized knowledge bearing on public engagement with science, and (2) ground-breaking research in areas of public engagement with science. Public engagement with science is an umbrella term that includes science communication, formal and informal science education, community participation in scientific research, science policy, and any other interfaces between science and the public. This series anticipates that treating these topics alongside one another in an interdisciplinary forum will advance both theory and practice of public engagement with science.
Explore the Elements in Public Engagement With Science Series online, or watch the video below for an introduction to the series!
Editors-in-chief:
Angela Potochnik is a Professor of philosophy and Director of the Center for Public Engagement with Science at the University of Cincinnati. Her research addresses the nature of science and its successes, the relationships between science and the public, and methods in population biology. She is the author of Idealization and the Aims of Science (Chicago, 2017), Science and the Public (Cambridge 2024) and coauthor of  Recipes for Science (Routledge, 2018), an introduction to scientific methods and reasoning.
Melissa Jacquart is an Assistant Professor of philosophy and Curriculum & Pedagogy Director for the Center for Public Engagement with Science at the University of Cincinnati. Her research focuses on epistemological issues in the philosophy of science, philosophy of astrophysics, feminist philosophy, philosophy and education, and public engagement with science. She is a 2022-2023 Whiting Public Engagement Fellow.
Public Engagement with Science: Defining the Project
‘Public engagement with science’ is gaining currency as the framing for outreach activities related to science. However, knowledge bearing on the topic is siloed in a variety of disciplines, and public engagement activities often are conducted without support from relevant theory or familiarity with related activities. This first Element in the Public Engagement with Science series sets the stage for the series by delineating the target of investigation, establishing the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration and community partnerships for effective public engagement with science, examining the roles public engagement with science plays in academic institutions, and providing initial resources about the theory and practice of public engagement with science. Useful to academics who would like to conduct or study public engagement with science, but also to public engagement practitioners as a window into relevant academic knowledge and cultures. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Learn more about the Element from the authors themselves in the video abstract below!
Check out Public Engagement with Science: Defining the Project, and be on the lookout for new Elements in the Public Engagement with Science series!
