We’re excited to announce that Katie Weeks has joined Sciencewise as our new programme director.
Katie joins Sciencewise after nearly two decades in public engagement and science communication, having previously led public engagement at the Royal Society.
We caught up with her to find out all about her background and motivation for joining Sciencewise. Read more below!
- Welcome to Sciencewise! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional background?
I’ve spent almost two decades in public engagement and science communication, advocating for dialogue between the public and scientists. I was Public Engagement Manager at the Royal Society for seven years, running events such as their annual Summer Science Exhibition and also working on delivering the culture change necessary to ensure public engagement, including dialogues, is valued and supported. Before that I developed my engagement knowledge whilst working at university and research labs, helping researchers develop activities and skills, as well as producing communications for several EU and UK research projects.
Since the beginning of this year I’ve been freelance which has been an exciting new chapter in my career, not least because it has led me to Sciencewise!
- Can you tell us about how you first heard about Sciencewise?
I first came across Sciencewise during my time at the Royal Society. A key pillar of the public engagement strategy was listening to the public on emerging technologies, and during my time there I worked closely with policy colleagues to shape dialogues and use the results to guide our own programme of public activities.
- What attracted you to the role of programme director at Sciencewise?
It’s a privilege to lead a well-respected programme like Sciencewise. The breadth of areas covered and the impact it can have on policy making, research and society is exciting. Just as I joined, the BBC reported that several babies have been born free of hereditary disease using genetic material from three people – a technique made legal back in 2015 in part because a Sciencewise dialogue enabled honest discussion and conversation of a controversial topic.
(Read more about this BBC story here!)
- Why do you believe that public dialogue is important in science and technology?
From smart phones and AI to electric cars and healthcare, science and technology impact almost all aspects of everyone’s lives and yet many people still associate it with only negative news or school lessons and think it’s not for them.
But it is, and it’s so important to get those voices in the room and really listen to them – it’s not enough to inform people about science, it’s vital for the research and science communities to listen to the views of everyone. The more diverse views that discuss a topic, the better and more equitable the policy making decisions around it will be.
- What are you most looking forward to in the coming months?
I’m looking forward in more ways than one to horizon scanning! The timeline for getting a dialogue up and running can be quite long, so it’s crucial to look forwards to what technologies and research areas are being developed that may benefit from that early conversation with the public.
