By Sally Sara: Well, how do you spend your Friday nights? Out with friends or maybe at home? Not many people would choose to spend the evening in a classroom learning about science. But what if you were down at the pub with a drink in hand and you had the opportunity to hear from some of Australia’s most celebrated scientists and ask them questions? Well, that’s exactly what a growing number of people in South Australia and across the country are doing. Sarah Maunder reports.
Sarah Maunder: The local watering hole has long been a place for robust conversations. But what happens when 150 people are gathered to talk about science?
Pallave Dasari : I think we’ve presented nearly 100 events in our time.
Sarah Maunder: That’s Pallave Dasari. She’s a committee member of Science in the Pub Adelaide and has been a part of the organisation for 10 years. Science in the Pub Adelaide was founded in 2014 by scientists Andrew and Emily Flies. Andrew is currently the head of the Science in the Pub Adelaide and is currently at the University of Tasmania, where he’s an associate professor of immunology at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. He says having in-person conversations about scientific topics seems to be better than online.
Andrew Flies : When people see that, especially in person, especially with a beer in their hand and some of their friends around, it’s a lot different experience than listening to some stuffy professor talk on TV or in a classroom that you may or may not want to be in.
Sarah Maunder: Over the past decade, the Science in the Pub concept has grown in popularity in Australia. There’s also a global organisation called A Pint of Science that hosts similar events around the world. Science in the Pub Adelaide now hosts a regular session on the last Friday night of each month. Dr Pallave Dasari says it’s always popular.
Pallave Dasari : At the end of every Science in the Pub event, when we start packing up, the speakers are always the last people to leave because the audience normally bombards them, rushes up to them after the Q&A and just bombards them with questions and all kinds of queries.
Sarah Maunder: Karina Dambergs is a founding member of a group in Launceston, Tasmania called The STEMinists. It hosts casual events to discuss science and to encourage women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. She’s found that laid back events, including Science in the Pub and A Pint of Science sessions have been a great way to find new members and inspire young women.
Karina Dambergs: And the other thing we find by having a relaxed environment is I know a lot of people who come along, myself included, sometimes we work in science fields that can be very male dominated and you can feel really isolated. So I know a lot of the people who attend our events attend because they just feel really supported and heard while talking about the things that they’re really passionate as well.
Sarah Maunder: Back in South Australia, Science in the Pub is going regional. JeffBowey is a member of Port Augusta Coast Care in the upper Spencer Gulf region of the state. The group is hosting its first Science in the Pub session later this month to help educate people about their environment.
Jeff Bowey : Everyone knows about the Great Barrier Reef, but not a lot of people know about what we call the Great Southern Reef. There’s a number of Science in the Pubs that happen around Australia. So what we thought was we thought, well, we had nothing like that up here in Port Augusta, really, so we thought, well, we should get on board. And it’s just a really unique way and sort of informal way to get information out into the community and get people to understand exactly what we do have here.
Sally Sara: That’s Jeff Bowey from Port Augusta Coast Care ending that report from Sarah Maunder.
