Analysing public engagement through a multimodal framework: The case of a Public Science presentation

Image: Courtesy of Ana Rita Claro Rodrigues

Publication date: June 15, 2017   PM

Start: June 15, 2017   17:00 PM
End:  June 15, 2017   18:30 PM

Location: UCL Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London WC1N 3QS

The UCL Centre for Multimodal Research invites all to this meeting of the Visual and Multimodal Research Forum and the presentation by Ana Rita Claro Rodrigues (Imperial College London)

Public Science Presentations are a popular form of Public Engagement aiming at bringing out scientific concepts and procedures into the public sphere, through presentations, use of props and storytelling.

This session will focus on the analysis of video data from a public science presentation on heart conditions conducted by a team of doctors at a science festival. It will also consider some of the preliminary findings in the context of science communication. This presentation is linked to research conducted for a PhD at the Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS).

Using a multimodal social semiotic framework, the session will analyse the communication that takes place in such presentations, attending to the different modes of communication entailed, including movement, gesture, simulations and the use of props. The focus of the session is to consider a framework for the analysis in order to make visible the design of the Science Public presentation and uncover the complexity of communication in these contexts.

About the speaker

Ana Rita Claro Rodrigues is a PhD student at the Imperial College Centre for Engagement and Simulation Science (ICCESS). She has over 15 years’ experience in science communication and education, in the UK and Portugal. Prior to the PhD, she spent  6 years at the Natural History Museum, London, developing scientists’ communication skills and designing events aimed at creating opportunities for a dialogue with society about their work. Her research focus on formal and informal science learning is linked to her interest in supporting Public Science presenters.