A few months ago, at a ScienceGrrl event, I met Kate Cooper: founder of "The New Optimists". This organisation asks scientists "What are you optimistic about?" and publishes their answers online and in print. Kate summarises their motivation in a few paragraphs:
Last week saw the first two meetings of the Young Optimists: one on Thursday at Yorks bakery and one on Saturday night at the Old Joint Stock. Tempted by two of my favourite things (cake, and talking about science) I battled the rain into town on Thursday evening. It was definitely worth it! There were about 12 of us there, from a wide range of disciplines and from all over the local area. After introducing ourselves, Kate encouraged us to ask questions of each other, prompting some really interesting discussions, from linking cancer and evolution to driver-less cars and behavioural change!
It's currently a project in its early stages, but the aim is to record some of these discussions, as videos or podcasts, to reach out to a wider audience. Personally, I can't wait to get the group together again - it't great to learn more about research you only catch in the news!
More details of the other young scientists involved can be found through the write-up of the events on the new optimists website: http://newoptimists.com/2014/02/09/scientists-in-the-city-the-next-generation/#more-8299.
The latest expansion to the New Optimists' activities is to create a group of "Young Optimists": scientists in the early stages of their career who are interested in spreading the word about all the great things they are discovering through their research."Science really matters. It’s taken humanity on its most enlightening, its most exciting, its most productive — and potentially the most catastrophic journey of any specie on the planet ever.The best, perhaps our only option to avert the potential catastrophes facing us is to take heed of the iconoclastic knowledge and sometimes conflicting perspectives of scientists.What we’re doing here is to create different platforms for individual scientists to tell us what they do and why it matters, and for their collective scientific endeavour to enable better informed decision-making."
Last week saw the first two meetings of the Young Optimists: one on Thursday at Yorks bakery and one on Saturday night at the Old Joint Stock. Tempted by two of my favourite things (cake, and talking about science) I battled the rain into town on Thursday evening. It was definitely worth it! There were about 12 of us there, from a wide range of disciplines and from all over the local area. After introducing ourselves, Kate encouraged us to ask questions of each other, prompting some really interesting discussions, from linking cancer and evolution to driver-less cars and behavioural change!
It's currently a project in its early stages, but the aim is to record some of these discussions, as videos or podcasts, to reach out to a wider audience. Personally, I can't wait to get the group together again - it't great to learn more about research you only catch in the news!
More details of the other young scientists involved can be found through the write-up of the events on the new optimists website: http://newoptimists.com/2014/02/09/scientists-in-the-city-the-next-generation/#more-8299.
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