How The Royal Institution Brings Science To Life

We recently had a (virtual) sit-down with Martin Davies, Public Programme Manager at the Royal Institution.  He talked us through how they bring science to life through events, keep increasing attendance and tips for others running educational events for the public.

There’s a lot of talk about the decline in people opting to formally study maths and science in the UK, yet it is vital for us to continue succeeding as an economy.  Do you feel The Royal Institution has a role to play in helping educate people from all generations on the importance of science?

Yes! The Ri’s mission is to encourage the public to think more deeply about the wonders and applications of science.

However, I think ‘educate’ is a loaded and problematic term. I believe that young people (especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds) should be given every opportunity to experience, engage with and explore the world around them and see how science has developed ways of explaining so much of what happens in nature.

To achieve this, the Ri runs live schools’ shows, day-long laboratory workshops at the L’Oréal Young Scientist Centre and a nationwide network of Masterclasses in mathematics, engineering and computer science. Not all of these young people are going to go on to become professional scientists or engineers, but if they take a piece of knowledge, a sense of wonder or an appreciation of science from a visit, then we’re doing our job!

In the adult public events programme, for which I am responsible, I am even less concerned about ‘educating’ people. Coming to a talk at the Ri has been part of the London social scene for over two centuries, and I still see our programme as a part of a range of cultural activities enjoyed in the capital; from a dance performance at Sadler’s Wells, to a tour at the National Gallery.

With this in mind, I care much more about our audience enjoying, being challenged by, debating the impact of and shaping the future of science, than them being ‘educated’.

In a digital world, where you can learn so much about science through YouTube and other online channels, why do you think live events like your science programmes still resonate?

Across all cultural activities, from music festivals to science lectures, attendance increases every year showing that audiences are placing an ever growing emphasis on ‘being there’, as opposed to watching on a screen.

Our average attendance has increased every year that I have worked at the Ri. It is currently at almost double what it was when I started. I would say the two main reasons are the opportunity to meet and question science ‘stars’ like Brian Cox and Jim Al-Khalili, and the opportunity to fully concentrate for 90 minutes on fascinating science from a leading expert, in the world’s most famous science lecture theatre, without any distractions like electronic gadgets or family!

However, the rise of digital technology has been a fantastic tool allowing people who live a long way from London to experience the magic of a Royal Institution event. Our YouTube channel has 90,000 subscribers and our most popular event film has over half a million views! Our famous theatre holds 440, so we would have had to run that event thousands of times if everyone were to have seen it live.

How important is it to allow people access to leading thinkers in order to keep it connected to ‘the man or woman on the street’?

The most basic reason is democratic, because much scientific research is carried out using public money.

Obviously, very famous researchers will be unable to deal with the volume of correspondence, but I have found that most scientists have easy-to-find email addresses and will take time to discuss their work with anyone who asks.

I would say at least 85% of people I ask to speak say yes, and most of those that refuse do so due to scheduling rather than unwillingness.

Does the live experience benefit science and scientists as well at the audience?

Absolutely! For researchers who may have spent years focussing in on a very specialised topic it can be invaluable to take a step back and try to explain the work they’re doing, why it’s important and what benefits it could have, all in easy-to-understand everyday language.

In fact, for some of our events, scientists have used the live audience to gather feedback and evidence, which has fed into published research papers.

How do you reach your audience to promote your events?

We produce a printed ‘What’s on’ guide every four months, which gets distributed to all our members and across town via London Calling.

We also have email, Facebook and Twitter accounts all with around 30K addresses/followers/likes, which are invaluable for getting the word out.

We list ourselves on all the major sites like Time Out, Lecture List etc and invite journalists and bloggers to attend and review our events.

Do you think working with Eventbrite has helped to drive attendance?

We certainly noticed an uptick in event attendance when we switched to Eventbrite.

It has so many advantages over our old system; from easier payment procedure to e-tickets on smartphones, it’s a much more professional system. I had always suspected that we used to lose about 10% of potential sales from people trying and failing to book a seat easily using our old site.

What are your top tip(s) for others running educational events for the public?

Know what your audience likes, and try to keep a mix of events that will satisfy your core (in our case particle physics and brain science are always hugely popular) but don’t be afraid to try other areas if you know they will be of high-quality.

Also, it’s sad but true that if someone has a media profile they’ll likely sell a lot of tickets but, by pairing them up with someone up-and-coming, you can keep things new and exciting.

And your ‘brand’ is important, so in our case we are known for scientific accuracy and rigour, therefore it’s important that we don’t book programme speakers with dubious scientific credentials.

Where can people go to learn more about your upcoming events?

Go to rigb.org/events or look at our Eventbrite page: theri.eventbrite.co.uk. You can catch up on past events on the Ri Channel www.richannel.org.

All photo credits to Tim Mitchell.

Do you run classes, public educational programmes or lectures?  If so, see how Eventbrite can improve your attendance.