Summer 2007

From the Chair

Stempra AGM 2007

Dummies at Westminster (and some mannequins)

Science advice for government? It's in the POST

Science communication with MPs

Saving British Science; Interview with Peter Cotgreave

The BA Science Communication Conference, any good, or not?

Eurochat

Stempra newsletter

Dummies at Westminster (and some mannequins)

The Royal Society of Chemistry mannequins stunt near the palace of Westminster in early spring this year was either a success or a failure, depending upon how one evaluates the BBC website by comparison with the daily newspapers, printed or electronic. The odd picture of a group of dummies standing on College Green at the west end of the palace made the BBC website but frustratingly, despite being issued by PA, did not reach print, other than in one regional newspaper. Yet the impact was sufficiently powerful to have led to reports that at least two Government figures were miffed at the Royal Society of Chemistry having taken PR actions, from which we surmise that our target had been hit.

We had been aiming at the Government with a picture opportunity designed to call attention to the withdrawal of research funding nationally, representing yet another body blow for UK science which had been on the ropes and reeling through violent attacks by university vice-chancellors felling chemistry and physics department purely on economic grounds. It should be added that science has been on the upswing in the past year or two, partially because of the climate created by the Royal Society of Chemistry's uncompromising actions to defend its discipline. The Society had in 2004 taken off its gloves when Exeter University threw out its chemistry department (despite healthy recruitment) in order to balance its books. That set up a storm of protest that made national papers and BBC.

Then it had to fight again last year when the University of Sussex took a similar route and the wound was reopened on a grand scale, with even more headlines plus a Commons enquiry into the closures of science courses deemed to be vulnerable but of strategic importance. This time the battle was won, with the Sussex chemistry department reinstated, and the vice-chancellor announcing his retirement. That action in mid-late 2006 seemed to have turned the tide: science was being favoured and numbers of students entering university chemistry were rising, so the situation was rosier and more promising. Then, in early 2006, it was announced that cock-ups in other areas, such as Rover, meant that less research money would be available centrally, thereby threatening to eclipse the good work achieved between 2004-05. Less money meant fewer research posts. Therefore the RSC decided that a public gesture was necessary to bring attention to the problem and white coats - ironically, much-avoided as science symbols by the RSC - were chosen. The idea to put them on mannequins came after we were offered them incidentally, yet they really made the image more powerful.

The South Bank by the Eye was selected as the picture venue and a photo call issued. On the morning of the shots we had staff (five) mannequins (a lorry-load) and the backdrop of Parliament across the Thames. Unfortunately essential pre-event checks with the South Bank companies owning the land had not been performed - big lesson here - and we were politely ejected on the grounds that our stunt hardware might include a rocket-launcher. A quick migration to the North Bank and to College Green took the convoy over Westminster Bridge and past Parliament by which stood a crane from which were hanging abseiling Greenpeace demonstrators. This was not good news - two demos next to Parliament simultaneously - which organisation had the bigger PR clout? No prizes for guessing. We think that our shot, which set up before a police swoop on the stunt, was superior and more novel yet it did not make the papers.

Here's a huge lesson: dragging back to the office hot and sweaty after waving the dummies off, I got a call from a confused young Swedish woman who was ringing from near the London Eye. She was a one-week BBC website intern and did not know where the story was happening. Despite disappointment blues and a headache I invited her to Piccadilly to talk. She came, and spoke brilliant colloquial English despite not having worked in England before. A medical student in Stockholm specialising in cancer, she had wanted to see what it was like working for the BBC. She stayed an hour, dominated my time, colonised my computer and shots and sent the story to the BBC with complete self-assurance. I waved her off dejectedly, and forgot about it. Next day the BBC website featured the mannequins shot, the story and a juicy quote, all by a medical student. It saved the day, lifting the issue internationally. So, however lowly or annoying a reporter seems, he or she should be welcomed and cherished. You never know where it will lead.

Brian Emsley
Royal Society of Chemistry

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