{"id":1883,"date":"2019-10-08T11:42:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T10:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/?p=1883"},"modified":"2019-10-08T12:02:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T11:02:27","slug":"evaluating-the-iconic-royal-institution-christmas-lectures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/evaluating-the-iconic-royal-institution-christmas-lectures\/","title":{"rendered":"Modernising the iconic Royal Institution Christmas Lectures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A team of Science Communication Unit<\/a> researchers was selected by the Royal Institution (Ri)<\/a> to explore ways to continue modernising the Christmas Lectures, an iconic series that has run since 1825. Margarida Sardo<\/a>, Hannah Little<\/a> and Laura Fogg Rogers<\/a> conducted research to explore strengths and opportunities for improving the series, created for children and televised annually for the past 50 years fronted by presenters including David Attenborough and Carl Sagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A centrepiece of the\nnational conversation about the place of science in our lives, the lectures\nwere started by scientist Michael Faraday in 1825 and are now designed to be\nengaging and mind-expanding viewing for people of all ages but particularly\nchildren. A series of three on a single topic, the lectures are filmed in\nLondon in mid-December every year then broadcast on three consecutive days\nduring the Christmas period. In 2018, biological anthropologist, author and TV\npresenter Alice Roberts and genetics expert Aoife McLysaght brought the\nevolutionary story to life in a series called ‘Who Am I?’<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aoife McLysaght and Alice Roberts. Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Following interviews\nwith children attending the 2017 and 2018 events, a social media analysis of\nthe 2018 broadcasts and survey of science enthusiasts, researchers found the\nlectures were cherished by audiences of all ages but format changes could help\nbroaden their appeal among young people, as well as older audiences. They\nrecommended exploring ways that the channel and time of the broadcasts\n(currently BBC4 at 8pm) could be made more suitable for a younger audience,\nincluding cutting the lectures down into short clips for social media to\nreflect changing viewing habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson Photography<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The research team noted\nthat some adult viewers believed the lectures were so focused on a younger\naudience that they lacked appeal for older viewers. To continue to attract a\nsignificant adult audience, they recommended creating a companion lecture aimed\nat older science fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson Photography<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Researchers also found\naudience members enjoyed the live shows, particularly the engaging, interactive\nand high-quality demonstrations. TV viewers valued the televised shows and many\nremarked that watching with relatives had become a family tradition. But some\nscience enthusiasts suggested the Ri needed to re-evaluate its target audience\nand questioned whether the needs of a live lecture and a TV programme were\nbeing confused. Viewers were roundly supportive of female scientists presenting\nthe show, with particular praise reserved for the performance of Alice Roberts\nand Aoife McLysaght in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Christmas Lectures branding includes the prestigious Christmas\nLectures broadcast on BBC, as well as live shows, a Schools Conference, the Ri\nAdvent Calendar and \u201cI\u2019m a Scientist\u2026 get me out of here\u201d \u2013 most of which were\ncovered by the evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full evaluation\nreport can be accessed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: Paul Wilkinson Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of Science Communication Unit researchers was selected by the Royal Institution (Ri) to explore ways to continue modernising the Christmas Lectures, an iconic series that has run since 1825. Margarida Sardo, Hannah Little and Laura Fogg Rogers conducted research to explore strengths and opportunities for improving the series, created for children and televised annually for … Continue reading “Modernising the iconic Royal Institution Christmas Lectures”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11,3,4],"tags":[325,437,36,441,440,248,439,80,442,92,110,114,436,144,438],"class_list":["post-1883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-of-health-and-applied-sciences","category-informal-formal-learning","category-science-communication","category-science-communication-unit","tag-alice-roberts","tag-aoife-mclysaght","tag-bbc","tag-biological-anthropologist","tag-carl-sagan","tag-christmas-lectures","tag-david-attenborough","tag-evaluation","tag-genetics","tag-hannah-little","tag-laura-fogg-rogers","tag-margarida-sardo","tag-ri","tag-royal-institution","tag-who-am-i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1883"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1908,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1883\/revisions\/1908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/science-communication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}