Investigating diversity in European audiences for public engagement with research: Who attends European Researchers’ Night in Ireland, the UK and Malta?

Abstract

European Researchers’ Night is an annual pan-European synchronized event devoted to public engagement with research. It was first held in 2005 and now occurs in over 400 cities across Europe, with the aim of bringing researchers closer to the general public. To investigate social inclusion in these events, we conducted survey research across three national contexts (Ireland, Malta and the UK) and events in seven cities between 2016 and 2019 (n = 1590). The results from this exploratory descriptive study confirmed one hypothesis, namely that event attendees had substantially higher levels of university qualification than the national publics. This is in line with wider patterns of unequal participation in public engagement with research activities based on socio-economic status. However, we also found mixed evidence on the prevalence of ethnic minority representation among event attendees compared to the general population, thus failing to uphold the second hypothesis that predicted an over-representation of white majority participants. This second finding diverges from existing research findings about ethnic diversity amongst science communication audiences, raising the possibility that some public engagement events are over-performing on this dimension of social inclusion. Overall, the findings demonstrate that European Researchers’ Night has potential for addressing the critical goal of enhancing the diversity of audiences for public engagement with research, even as it falls short on the key metric of socio-economic diversity.

How does moving public engagement with research online change audience diversity? Comparing inclusion indicators for 2019 & 2020 European Researchers’ night events

“…For example, on the day of the event, adult attendees were approached by data collection volunteers and asked if they were willing to provide answers to a few questions on-site and then respond to a follow-up questionnaire sent by email after the event. The 2019 iteration used a systematic on-site 'intercept' sampling approach to mimic random selection to the extent feasible when the audience research setting is face-to-face events [10,23].…”

“…With an emphasis on younger audiences, the European Commission suggests a range of activities including handson experiments, science shows, simulations, debates, games, competitions, and quizzes. Many event organizers include arts-themed activities such as performances, theatre, stand-up comedy, short stories, and art installations [9,10,17]. These events were free of charge to all attendees in both 2019 and 2020.…”

“…By exploring indicators of social inclusion among those who engage with and benefit from research [20], and given the high educational qualification levels among ERN audiences [9,10,21,22], coupled with the digital inequities [11][12][13][14] caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the following hypotheses were formulated:…”

“…Although a range of socioeconomic dimensions are not regularly measured among science festival audiences, studies have shown that visitors tend to be already comfortable in such environments due to being privileged in their educational attainment and socioeconomic status [8]. Likewise, studies of ERN have found high educational qualification levels among audiences [9,10]. Additionally, the digital divide discourse has consistently shown contributions, such as education and income, to inequalities in who accesses and benefits from the digital landscape [11][12][13][14].…”

Taking Stock and Re-Examining the Role of Science Communication

“…This builds on two decades of scholars in the field highlighting the need for empirical research and resources to help improve and support science communication (Treise and Weigold, 2002;Nisbet and Scheufele, 2009;Trench and Bucchi, 2010;Fischhoff & Scheufele, 2013). The potential research agenda for science communication has included advocates for better evaluation of science communication (Jensen, 2014) and large-scale public engagement projects (Roche et al, 2017;Jensen et al, 2021), improved strategic communication (Besley, 2020), and the need to find synergies between science communication, science education, public engagement, citizen science, and related research fields (Stilgoe, Lock, and Wilsdon, 2014;Baram-Tsabari and Osborne, 2015;Roche et al, 2020).…”