April 2015

All about you

IN DEPTH

All about you - Content personalisation by Nathalie Caplet

LOOKOUT

Small is beautiful by Julie Becker

COLUMN

Welcome to digital Spokes by Rosalia Vargas & Maarten Okkersen

From the Ecsite Office

Ecsite Conference

Good reads and resources

Opportunities

From Ecsite European collaborations

From Ecsite members

Spokes is the monthly magazine of Ecsite, the European network of science centres and museums. Hear the latest news from European science engagement, go further with in depth features and make the most of the good reads, events and opportunities shared by Ecsite members.
Sign up here to receive the magazine each month.

All about you - An insight into content personalisation in science centres

In depth

Can personalised contents help science centres and museums cater for the needs of their different audiences? Is it really as great as it sounds? Take a look at real life examples.

All about you

Nathalie Caplet

Small is beautiful

Lookout

Far from the multi-million flagship science centres that sprung around Europe in the past 20 years, thousands of science engagement professionals work for small - sometimes tiny - organisations. Hear of their strategies to turn small resources into big impacts and meditate their one piece of advice to large organisations.

Small is beautiful

Bert Nagel

Michael Bradke

Marie Doneda

Paul Irbins

Julie Becker

2015 Touring Exhibitions Meeting Istanbul

Welcome to digital Spokes

Column

Spokes has become monthly and digital, to be enjoyed and shared without moderation!

Welcome to digital Spokes

Rosalia Vargas

Maarten Okkersen

Ecsite Conference

Register now and enjoy the Ecsite conference programme with daily hot lunches, coffee breaks, a seated Gala Dinner, an exciting Nocturne evening and other surprises. Fees will go up after 23 April. Get a glimpse of Trento with this onsite photo-reportage by the Ecsite team.

MUSE - Museo delle Scienze, Trento, Ecsite Annual conference 2015, science centres

Entrance to MUSE

Cooking the conference#5 – MaartenTaborsky

Read our latest behind the scenes portrait with Maarten Taborsky, Project Director at Dutch exhibition manufacturer Bruns and faithful exhibitor at the Ecsite conference.

MaartenTaborsky, Project Director at Bruns

Ecsite Jazz Band seeks musicians

The Ecsite Jazz Band will be performing at the Nocturne on 12 June. The band is actively looking for a drummer and would welcome any other musical contribution. Get in touch with Michael Bradke.

From the Ecsite office

Save the date - Ecsite Directors Forum

The Directors Forum will be taking place on 18-20 November 2015 at the Techmania science centre (Pilsen, Czech Republic). The theme is "Industrial heritage and Corporate Social Responsibility". More information soon!

Proud to launch the Ecsite Awards for science engagement

All members can enter a submission for the Ecsite Creativity Award. Apply by the end of 14 May. Prizes will be handed in on 12 June in Trento during the Ecsite conference’s Gala Dinner.

Catherine Franche to sit on Scientific Committee of MNHN

The Ecsite Executive Director will contribute to the governance of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (Paris, France).

From Ecsite European collaborations

New EU project: Sea Change

The project started on 1 March and aims to bring about a fundamental “Sea Change” in the way European citizens view their relationship with the sea. A call for Third Parties will be launched soon - Ecsite members, stay tuned.

Two new Ecsite Project Managers joining soon

With a number of recent good news from EU project proposals, the Ecsite team needed two new Project Managers - we are now in the final recruitment stage.

SeeingNano moving forward

The key target groups of the project have been defined and are being profiled with focus groups and interview running at five Ecsite members. The project website is due in a few months - stay tuned!

Good reads and resources

Selected science engagement reads

This month's selection of science engagement papers, features, reports and news. Read tales of inverted planetaria, museums in 2020 and synthetic biology.

Looking for a brilliant speaker?

The new speakezee.org website lists hundreds of vibrant speakers - a "sort of facebook for public engagement". Browse for speakers - and invite "experts" you know to sign up!

Opportunities

International science engagement conferences and courses

Each month, Ecsite lists upcoming international conferences, calls for papers and courses in science engagement. Send your event's information to communications@ecsite.eu if you want to appear in this monthly pick.

Job - Curator at Geneva Natural History Museum

Apply by 20 April

Job - Science Festival Director Cheltenham

Apply by 17 April

Job - FabLab Manager / Coordinator at Città della Scienza

Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

JCOM Masterclasses - special rate for Ecsite members

These science communications courses will be held in Autumn/Winter 2015-16 in Trieste (Italy).

Two part-bursaries for science communication courses

The Science Communication Unit at UWE, Bristol (United Kingdom), is offering to contribute to the tuition fees for its MSc Science Communication and PGCert in Practical Science Communication in 2015. For further information contact the Programme Leader.

Exhibit development call for tender, Italy

Turin-based environment museum Museo a come ambiente has put out a tender with total value of € 813 000. Text of the announcement is in Italian, but detailed description is in English. Request documents at info@acomeambiente.org.

Help couple on European science engagement tour

Mia and Bryan are a soon-to-be-married couple with an unusual idea of a honey moon: as they are both passionate about science engagement, they want to spend a year traveling abroad, working for science centres. Will your organisation be one of their stops?

From Ecsite members

New temporary science exhibitions

Browse through this month's pick sent by Ecsite members.

Light Pollution exhibition (Valencia, Spain)

Haus des Musik partner of new Casa de la Música Viena in Mexico

Haus der Musik is the first Austrian museum to have signed an international license agreement, enabling the creation of an interactive music museum based on the Viennese model in Puebla (Mexico), opened to the public in January 2015.

Want to see your news featured here?

Ecsite members can publish news and items directly onto the "Members share" section of the Ecsite website. Spokes features a monthly selection from this news. All you need to know about publishing news is here.

ACCIONA Producciones y Diseño wins iF Gold Award

The prize was awarded for the world's largest immersive installation at the Wu Kingdom Helv Relic Museum in China.

Immersive installation in the Wu Kingdom Helv Relic Museum in Wuxi (China) - by ACCIONA Producciones y Diseño

A window on science at Parque de las Ciencias

Universities showcase their research at the science centre.

"A window on science" at Parque de la Ciencias (Grenada, Spain)

Major donation to establish ten MakerSpaces in Norwegian science centers

The Norwegian foundation DNB Savings Bank Foundation donated more than € 375,000 towards the project.

Technopolis® presented with KEN Award

The Knowledge Economy Network (KEN) has presented Technopolis® the “Award of Excellence, among others for the organisation of the Science Centre World Summit 2014.

New permanent aluminium exhibition in Milan

Opened on 5 March at Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia 'Leonardo da Vinci'.

Aluminium exhibition

Musée des Confluences opens its doors in Lyon

Set in the heart of a monumental structure of metal and glass, the Musée des Confluences (Lyon, France) recounts the great story of human adventure from our origins to the present day, using a resolutely multi-disciplinary approach. The long-awaited museum opended its doors end of December 2014.

A tribute to Catherine Damesin

Catherine Damesin was the Director of Ecsite member Vulcania, a thematic science park based in the centre of France. Vulcania President Jean Mallot declared: "Catherine was very professional, dynamic and well-known. She embodied Vulcania's renewed success, which we had been building together since 2007. Her kindness, human approach and enthusiasm are praised by all - they were a great driving force for the park." Catherine Damesin was found dead in February in the mountains where she was regularly hiking.

New 0-7 years olds gallery at National Maritime Museum (UK)

Design of the new space draws on collections and wants to avoid childishness.

Ahoy! children's gallery National Maritime Museum Greenwich (UK)

Ecsite thanks the writers who have generously contributed to this issue of Spokes. Don't hesitate to contact communications@ecsite.eu if you'd like to submit an idea for an article.

Spokes is the monthly digital magazine of Ecsite, the European network of science centres and museums. It is put together by the Spokes Editorial Committee:

Maarten Okkersen, Head of Communication and Marketing, Museon, The Hague, Netherlands – Chairperson
Julie Becker, Communications and Events Manager, Ecsite, Brussels, Belgium – Editor
Nathalie Caplet, International relations, Cap Sciences, Bordeaux, France
Raquel da Cunha, Events and Communications Officer, Ecsite, Brussels, Belgium
Gema Revuelta, Associate Professor, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Responsible editor: Catherine Franche, Executive Director for Association européenne des expositions scientifiques, techniques et industrielles, aisbl

Frequency: monthly since April 2015 - issue 7, April 2015