This year鈥檚 British Science Festival features talks from two of BU鈥檚 researchers 鈥� Dr. Anna Feigenbaum and Dr. Bryce Dyer.聽 The Festival celebrates the best of British science, from archaeology to biology, engineering and physics to geography, medicine and sociology.聽 Taking place over 4 days, the Festival will play host to researchers who are shaping some of latest ideas and innovations in science.
Dr. Anna Feigenbaum鈥檚 research looks at the history of technology in struggles for social change, and she will be talking about how technologies can be designed to聽bring people together, and to pull them apart.
As Dr. Feigenbaum explains, 鈥淔rom the medical聽effects of tear gas to the importance of tea for maintaining moral on a聽picket line, I investigate聽the objects, architectures and communicative practices that give shape to political protest.
鈥淒uring the British Science Festival, I will be discussing聽how tents, communal kitchens and compost toilets bring people together in the worldwide phenomenon of聽protest camping. 聽Later on, I will deliver a lecture聽exploring聽the darker side of political聽technologies, looking at聽weapons designed to pull people apart. There I聽introduce聽the audience to聽the past聽100 years of Tear Gas and its use in policing dissent.鈥�
Participating in the British Science Festival gives an opportunity to take research beyond the university and share it with a wider audience.聽 As Dr. Feigenbaum says, 鈥淭he technologies I study have the potential to affect everyone, yet their histories are often left hidden or unexplored.鈥� Public storytelling offers me a聽chance to bring together communications and scientific聽research,聽contributing to聽a people's history of political struggle.
BU鈥檚 Dr. Bryce Dyer will be speaking about his research in the field of sports technology.聽 His particular interest is the use of equipment in sports, whether for training or competing.
鈥淚'm interested in designing it or measuring the impact of sports equipment,鈥� says Dr. Dyer, 鈥淚'm also interested in the philosophical and ethical聽discussions which surround its use too. 聽These can be controversial and I enjoy the 'tug of war'聽I go through between the technical and the philosophical.鈥�
Dr. Dyer鈥檚 talk will take audience members through the history of sports technology and then raise the question of whether they think it鈥檚 hard work and training that win medals or whether other factors, such as equipment that make the difference.聽 With only a year to go until the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, it鈥檚 a fascinating question to be asking.
Dr. Dyer explains why taking part in the Festival is important to him, 鈥淚 find public engagement is a key tool of my professional toolkit.聽聽 It allows me to road test new聽ideas and share聽my latest research.
This will be Dr Dyer's second time at the British Science Festival, having at 2013's Festival.聽
It also聽forces me to constantly evaluate and polish my presentation聽ability and public speaking, which then feeds back into my teaching when I return to BU. The British Science Festival is one of the best platforms for this in the UK and I had a great time there when I gave an award lecture there a few years back.鈥�
The full British Science Festival programme can be seen on the 聽or you can get updates by following .
