The Christmas Lectures: extending the experience outside the lecture theatre

Little, Hannah; Fogg-Rogers, Laura; Sardo, Ana Margarida

Abstract

Traditionally, the Royal Institution’s Christmas Lectures have always adopted a deficit model for communication, with one or two invited scientists giving lectures to an audience present at the Royal Institution (Ri) and, since 1936, an audience watching the lectures on television at home. As trends in public engagement have tended towards more dialogue or participatory models, the Ri has made efforts to create a programme of events around the lectures: extending the experience outside of the lecture theatre and giving audiences more opportunities to experience live events and participate in discourse. In this paper, we explore data collected as part of an 18 month evaluation of the Christmas Lectures and their associated events. We focus on data collected at events designed to create live and interactive experiences beyond the lectures and evaluate these participatory approaches. The paper shares this learning to enhance the extension of traditional science communication towards science participation.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 6, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 28, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 13, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Science Communication
• Electronic ISSN: 1824-2049
• Publisher: Sissa Medialab
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: A01
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22323/2.21020201
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/8539240