International science and society comparisons
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Education
Educational activities are a stated priority for all but two of the 18 countries, with activities ranging from prizes for children to annual holidays with a scientific theme in France. Countries such as Ireland and Australia encourage linkages with the science centre community: in Ireland continuing visits to the science centre (across both parts of the island) is a statutory requirement of successful completion of schools programmes engaging both the primary and secondary sectors.
The Irish F1 (Formula 1) in Schools programme is a private initiative sponsored by organisations such as Honda, Dell and the Irish Computer Society to name a few. The programme is targeted at secondary level pupils, and involves building a 1/20th-scale F1 racing car capable of travelling at over 110km/hr - using advanced 3D design software, automated manufacturing technology
Public engagement
Festivals: Out of 18 countries, 16 have well-publicised festivals with at least some element of Government funding. 9 of them had a publicly organised week long festival, while 5 had day long events (including science picnic days in Poland and Christmas science concerts in Korea) devoted to celebrating science. Singapore's festival lasts for a month. In the US, where there doesn't appear to be a federally-arranged festival, there are significant regional festivals in place. Regionally organised and/or private festivals were apparent in 9 countries, including those without a nationally arranged festival.
Other science campaigns, such as The German 'Land of Ideas' campaign, for instance, enabled close linkages with interest in the 2006 World Cup. Getting the 'science message' across has been attempted by a science barge in Germany, and by the Danish commissioning Galathea 3, a boat which circumnavigated the globe drawing attention to scientific discoveries. In South Africa, university students demonstrate scientific advances in shopping malls.
Awards & Competitions: 14 of the countries had some kind of award system in place, while a further 6 had awards resulting from competition activities aimed purely at school children. Awards were presented for communicating science and teaching of science (3 countries). Dedicated Prime Minister or Science Minister Awards exist in two countries, while South Korea offers awards for those involved in provision of online science content, and for those producing scientific literature. There is a similar aim in New Zealand, where there is a dedicated programme to support links between science and the arts.
Competitions for school children tended to be of the 'Olympiad' variety, with China, for example, focusing on mathematics, and the US offering a Department for Energy-sponsored national Science Bowl.
Public Dialogue: Public Dialogue activities are not featured that highly on websites etc. At a national level, some form of dialogue/engagement seemed to be promoted by 5 countries.
Support for Media Initiatives: 6 Governments have defined links with news networks and the wider media, with Italy, for example, reportedly having a contract with the TV network to provide a dedicated science channel.
Public confidence
Concepts associated with tasks to build public confidence in science did not feature highly - only two countries were recorded as having conducted public attitude surveys, for example. However, increasing scientific literacy and building connections with different elements of society was approached in other formats - for example through Italy's Science Citizenship programme, Japan's Science & Technology in Society Forum and South Korea's Science for Leaders programme, the last two of which involve building linkages between scientists and other elements of public society to foster greater understanding.
Science workforce
Ten of the countries seemed to have some clearly-defined mechanism in place for encouraging young people and those already at University to pursue careers in science. Methods include awards for various subject areas, to the Sci-Fest On the Road programme in South Africa. Enhancing the abilities of those involved in teaching science is also a consideration in four countries, with training and purchase of equipment being supported. Role model activity, such as the use of Ambassadors akin to the SEA programme, was mentioned by Korea only, although this should not be taken to indicate that this type of activity is not ongoing in other countries.
Increasing diversity
4 countries had policies in place to promote science to women, with 2 organisations similar to the UK Resource Centre for Women in SET (UKRC) in place and other initiatives including a Science Prize for Women (South Africa) and a National Girls Day (Germany). China and South Africa both have programmes in place to promote science to rural and agricultural communities, which may be geographically and educationally isolated.
