Beyond science communication: museums as sites for public research

On February 9, 2017, the Copenhagen Bioscience Cluster lecture features Creative Director Ken Arnold, Medical Museion in Copenhagen, Louise Whiteley and Adam Bencard, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, who will tell you all about science communication and how university museums can be thought of as machines with which to think in public.

CONCEPT OF THE CLUSTER LECTURES

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Cluster Lectures are a series of open lectures for all researchers and other interested in and around the Copenhagen area. Every 4 weeks, on a Thursday evening, you are invited for lectures on themes with a general interest for the Novo Nordisk Foundation Research Centers. Often there will be a cross-disciplinary focus. 

MUSEUMS OFFER AN ALTERNATIVE WAY OF ENGAGING VISITORS

Scientific institutions are increasingly under pressure to communicate to public audiences, and they often do so by disseminating the outcomes of research. But museums offer an alternative way of engaging visitors with perspectives on science in personal, cultural and historical contexts.

In this session, the speakers will discuss that university museums can usefully be thought of as machines with which to think in public. This is an approach developed at Medical Museion, where the spirit of inquiry is put at the centre of our programmes of study, education and public engagement, turning all those involved (from curators to students to visitors) into investigators of sorts. As museums become ever more popular (a new ‘museum age’?), this approach responds to current trends in both public and academic spheres.

This talk will draw on Ken Arnold’s experiences of setting up and running Wellcome Collection in London (a venue now drawing ¾ million visits a year), as well as his excitement about what can be achieved at Medical Museion. It will especially highlight the type of interdisciplinary investigations that these sorts of institutions allow, the role played in them by material and visual culture, and why it makes such a difference that their enquiries are pursued in public places.

The next major exhibition at Medical Museion will be ‘Mind the Gut’, which explores scientific understandings of the ‘gut feelings’ that connect our brains, stomachs and microbiomes. Adam Bencard and Louise Whiteley will describe the innovative interdisciplinary processes used to curate the exhibition, and will invite attendees at this talk to participate in that process.

TIME AND PLACE

9 February 2017, 16:00 to 18:30 PM

Novo Nordisk Foundation
Tuborg Havnevej 19
DK-2900 Hellerup

Doors open from 15:45 PM

PROGRAMME

REGISTRATION

Registration is free of charge, but mandatory on the Novo Nordisk Foundation Eventbrite. Please also remember to unregister in case of cancellation. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about the event please contact Sophie Labrosse at sfeb@novo.dk or go to the Novo Nordisk Foundation website