Outreach – rebranding is not enough

“Is that a bouncy castle?” asked every single child when their parents suggested going to an event called the Big Bounce. The answer turned out to be no – it’s actually, err, a physics festival. Science! Yeah... I’ll pass, thanks. I’ve got TV to watch.

The Big Bounce was a physics festival in disguise. The idea was to reach out to people “from areas of high socioeconomic deprivation” – the most academic turn of phrase I have ever heard to squirm out of using the word poor – by ditching physics from the name, switching venue to the east end of Glasgow, and throwing in a free bag of crisps. Were the people of Haghill and Dalmarnock fooled into thinking that the world of hadron colliders and gravitational waves suddenly belonged to them? No, of course they weren’t. Barely anybody showed up, and those that did were the sort of people you’d expect to see at a science festival – kids who play with Lego and have parents who work as acoustic engineers.

“Rebranding the Festival of Physics as an outreach event wasn’t enough to make it one.”

Don’t get me wrong: physics has a diversity problem, I think we should be working to fix it, and I’m glad the Institute of Physics (IOP) is starting to make an effort. I just feel that rebranding the Festival of Physics as an outreach event wasn’t enough to make it one. The rest was pretty much the same as ever: a bunch of university students sitting behind posters explaining how awesome they find quantum mechanics to whoever dares to come near; a show in which some people dressed as aliens mix things together and make some loud bangs; and a workshop for kids to take stuff to pieces. All good fun – for people who had a reason to come. Festivals weren’t really designed with outreach in mind; they are about bringing likeminded people together to celebrate something. The IOP’s Festival of Physics used to be a joyous occasion. The atmosphere at Dynamic Earth (if you don’t know what that is, go – it never gets old) was vibrant, the queue was out the door and it genuinely felt like being at a festival. But of course the kids came from the leafy suburbs of Edinburgh and already knew their times tables, because only parents who already value science would take their children to an event like that.

If we are serious about doing outreach, we have to listen. If people in the East End aren’t interested in science, we need to ask them why not, find out what they do care about, and understand who they trust. Barging into their community spaces and shouting loudly about how much we love science is not going to cut it. Calling an event that has absolutely nothing to do with bouncing the Big Bounce isn’t going to magically persuade a whole new demographic that science shows are how they want to spend the October holidays. Did the IOP even consider whether the parents they were targeting would necessarily be able to afford to take the week off when they scheduled the event for a Wednesday?

Here is what I suggest. Firstly, showcase diversity at science festivals through the people that exhibit and perform at them. Instead of defaulting to people like me (I’m a white, straight, privately educated male who got a gig at the festival through sheer privilege), actively seek out people who represent the future we want to see. Secondly, stop trying to force feed “old format” science festivals to people who have been systemically let down by the education system and have no existing interest in science. The chances are, they aren’t going to come. These big, shiny events are great for the in-crowd to celebrate but intimidating to newcomers. Finally, it is time to start interacting with under-represented groups on their terms, not ours. In practice, that means going to settings where they feel comfortable, whether that be shopping centres, football stadiums, schools, pubs, or skate parks and allowing them to lead the conversation. In a proper science outreach event, the only people who feel out of place should be the scientists.

Harry (he/him) studied physics before starting a PhD in remote sensing of tropical forests. Views expressed in this article are his own.