Astronomy Advocacy and Engagement
| Main Authors: | Ouellette, Nathalie, Bolduc-Duval, Julie, Doyon, Rene, Rana, Zaid, Rogerson, Jesse, Thacker, Rob, Caiazzo, Ilaria, Mader, Marianne, Mazrouei, Sara, Spencer, Locke |
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| Format: | Report Journal |
| Terbitan: |
, 2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/3825128 |
Daftar Isi:
- Education and public outreach plays a larger role than ever before in science and astronomy. Canada’s 2017 Fundamental Science Review revealed that Canadians hold a mostly favourable opinion towards science, yet there is a fundamental divide between who they perceive as scientists and non-scientists. While Canadians like science, they do not feel engaged in the scientific process or community. Furthermore, our community is grappling with often unreliable sources of funding and the absence of a process which allows the granting of funding to big science projects. This is resulting in several missed opportunities in terms of Canadian-lead projects that are dying on the vine or having to bow out of collaborations with international partners. In this white paper, we present a number of past advocacy and engagement initiatives that have attempted to increase and improve our visibility with the public which include the explosion of science communication initiatives in Canada and the lobbying activities of the Coalition for Canadian Astronomy. With the increasing presence and awareness of “fake news” and the like in the media, we believe that it is the perfect time to strike and push for more stable astronomy funding (including for EPO-specific programs), greater visibility for both our science and our scientists, and a better relationship with the Canadian public. To improve the landscape of astronomy culture in Canada, we have the following recommendations to present to the LRP2020 Committee: We recommend that CASCA hire a paid Press Officer that can assist CASCA members in disseminating their scientific results to the public and the media and help connect astronomers to science journalists across Canada and internationally. This position could be a part-time task folded into a full-time position that encompasses other duties (national EPO activities, administration, etc.) and would require increasing CASCA membership fees and/or exploring alternate means of funding (philanthropy, donations, fundraising, etc.). The duties of such a Press/EPO Officer could include the development resources such as workshops and cheat sheets that would enable astronomers to become better science communicators and advocates for Canadian astronomy and its societal benefits. We recommend that physics and astronomy departments across Canada incorporate “soft skills” such as science communication and public speaking into their graduate curricula. We recommend that the Coalition for Canadian Astronomy work closely with CASCA to develop and deliver a broader suite of astronomy advocacy and lobbying events on Parliament Hill. We recommend that CASCA and its Board work on more deliberate collaborations between CASCA and science centres as well as between CASCA and student astronomy clubs. This would include sending one or several CASCA members to the Canadian Association of Science Centres' annual conference, and inviting science centre professionals and members of astronomy student clubs to the EPO session of CASCA's annual meeting. We recommend that federal funding agencies such as NSERC and CFI include EPO activities in their evaluation metrics and allow a portion of awarded funding to be used for EPO and communication activities.
- White paper identifier W045