“people should learn scientific knowledge to be able to discuss important topics and use science for good”

Our guest is Gabriella Ferreira, a masters student in Science Philosophy. She talks about her studies of Science Philosophy, and volunteer work at the Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência. She worked on a collection of animals. The same in which Luís Ceríaco found a previously undescribed species. Gabriella showcases the importance of historical collections for current research efforts. Work done in natural history museums can be applied to conservation purposes, and to study the evolution of species.

She further talks about the history of science. Some of the questions posed by ancient natural philosophers are still studied, today, using modern science. We also talked a bit about modern bio-ethical problems.

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Curator #1: Dr. Dennis Eckmeier

First curator for our Twitter ‘rocur’ (rotating curation) account is Dennis Eckmeier. Usually he tweets as @DennisEckmeier (and @SciForProgress) During his week he will tweet about his goals for Science for Progress, which he initiated.

Dennis is passionate about using scientific, empirical evidence for everyday decisions, big and small, personal and global. He believes that if we as people based our world views on empirical evidence, the world would be a better place.

Instead, he says, as humans we usually put our world views and ideologies first; sometimes to the point at which we deny reality. Philosophers developed the scientific method to overcome this tendency. But it is no accident that it took humanity so long to device the scientific method: it goes against our natural thinking, and common sense. It is very hard for everybody, including scientists who are trained in it, to not fool themselves. It takes patience and discipline.

With Science for Progress Dennis wants to convey to people what sciences are and what academia is. He wants the people to support basic research and to embrace the fact that it can’t promise specific outcomes. And he wants governments to first assess what the realities are, and to keep them in mind when they work out political compromises.

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In 2017, Hugo Bettencourt was finalist of the Portuguese section of the science communication competition ‘FameLab’, and appeared at the Noite Europeia dos Investigadores 2017. Here, he talks about this experience.

FameLab is an international science communication competition initiated by the British Council. Hugo explains the application process, and what is expected from the presentations. He also shares some of what he learned in the special science communication workshop for finalists. At the end he had a great experience and made some friends. And it even got him some additional gigs as a science communicator.

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On Thursday we had the first meeting of Science for Progress and it was great. Only three of us made it (there was a Science Communication Conference going on in Coimbra), but we established a couple of discussion points. Most importantly, we got to know each other.

Getting to know each other certainly is a main factor at this point. So we exchanged our expectations for the group, the social impact we hope for, and the personal growth we want to get out of it. It appears that our goals match well. 🙂

We also made some decisions. On a more practical side we decided that we need a regular meeting room (and we may already have found one!). We also would need more organizers on board.

Another point of discussion was a hypothetical program for the science convention which I consider the flagship project for this first year. We allowed ourselves to dream a bit, which was fun. It gives us something to work towards. 😉

Now we need to figure out what we can do to get as close to that goal as possible. At the next meeting we will discuss ways of attracting new members.

I think this first meeting was as productive as it could have been, and I am looking forward to the next one!

Hi,

things are moving on and we are having our first meeting on Thursday. Sadly some interested people, who coincidentally also had been co-organizers at the March for Science, preferred to attend a Science Communication Conference in Coimbra!

Anyways, I will meet some new faces. We are a small group so far, so if you’d like to come by spontaneously, shoot me an email: info@scienceforprogress.eu and I can fix you up with time and location.

I’m excited!

Dennis

This beautifully edited video and the words of Neil deGrasse Tyson capture perfectly what I aspire with this group.

A week ago I informed the other organizers and volunteers of the March for Science via an internal email newsgroup. Today I began sending out emails to publicly available email addresses of institutions, asking the recipients to forward the mail as they find appropriate.

Here is the content:

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[reposted from facebook, Aug 2017]
(this has become a long text, if you go all the way down there will be concrete action plans for you ;))

Being a continuation of the March for Science, my main goal for Science for Progress is to raise awareness for the essential role that the natural and human sciences play in modern life, and to increase support for the scientific endeavor by the public and the governments they elect.

If we’ve learned one thing from the rise of the Western world, enlightenment, industrialization, and the digital age, then that ‘science works’ as a tremendous source of power for good or evil, by providing reliable knowledge through empirical evidence and thought models to understand and use it.

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(repost from facebook, Aug 11th, 2017)

Hey, there, I made a survey for you! Just a couple of things I’m curious to know, and to figure out if there is somebody out there who wants to join our efforts! 😀

SHARE AWAY! 🙂
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(repost from facebook, Aug 9th 2017)

Hello STEM and Humanities lovers,

I’m Dennis Eckmeier and I’m a neuroscience PhD at Champalimaud Research in Lisbon, Portugal.
Since I was co-organizer at the March for Science Portugal, I’ve been thinking about what to do next to increase the support for science. I think the most powerful ally we can get are the voters, or simply: the general public!
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