Plain and simply good news from a citizen point of view. With thanks to INVOLVE and NIHR colleagues for making this happen, Plain English summaries in National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded research. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is committed to making sure that each research study it funds has a clear … Continue reading NIHR makes plain English summaries a requirement of funding via @NIHRINVOLVE
British Library
Vote in the People’s Choice Award for best plain English summary of a science paper #A2Ucomp
I am delighted to announce that, as part of the Europe PubMed Central/British Library Access to Understanding competition, we are asking the public to vote in a People's Choice award for the best summary of a scientific paper written for a public audience. The 10 best summaries out of a field of hundreds has already been selected by myself … Continue reading Vote in the People’s Choice Award for best plain English summary of a science paper #A2Ucomp
Pens and PCs to the ready: 2014 Access to Understanding science writing competition is launched
One of my highlights of last year was judging the 'Access to Understanding' science writing competition. And I didn't event win it! Well, the good news is that it's happening again and the 2014 competition was launched this morning. The less good news perhaps - from the point of view of entrants anyway - is … Continue reading Pens and PCs to the ready: 2014 Access to Understanding science writing competition is launched
The lay summary is dead, long live the lay summary (#A2UComp)
'They can't write for toffee.' 'They' being scientists of course. But like most generalisations, this statement is utter tosh. You only had to be at the 'Access to Understanding' awards (#A2UComp) at the British Library on Monday night to realise that. The lay summaries that I and my fellow judges had been asked to review … Continue reading The lay summary is dead, long live the lay summary (#A2UComp)
Roll-up, roll-up, for the British Library ‘Access to Understanding’ awards event
Next week sees the awards ceremony for the first ever Access to Understanding Europe PMC science-writing competition. You can still get tickets for the awards event here which will take place at the British Library on Monday 11th March from 6.30 to 8.30pm. At the event, there will be a few words from each of the judging panel, … Continue reading Roll-up, roll-up, for the British Library ‘Access to Understanding’ awards event
Writing competition open for entries – win an iPad and article in eLife #A2UComp
And if you already have one you can always re-gift it (to me)! This is a new science writing competition for researchers and I shall be one of the judges I am delighted to say. The 'Access to Understanding' writing competition for bioscience researchers has been launched by Europe PubMed Central and The British Library … Continue reading Writing competition open for entries – win an iPad and article in eLife #A2UComp
Whatever happened to Science and Society? Why UK science could do with a chief listening officer.
Just occasionally the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Science and Society website pages show a flicker of light like a far-off dieing star. This evening I returned from the TalkScience event at the British Library and noticed that an update from the 'Science for All' advisory group set up many moons ago, had been … Continue reading Whatever happened to Science and Society? Why UK science could do with a chief listening officer.
TalkScience@BL is the hot event of the night – see you there.
Looking forward to the TalkScience@BL event at the British Library tonight even if I'll have to leave a little early. Tracey Brown from Sense about Science is a great speaker and it won't be long before ITV will be doing 'an audience with' as opposed to 'discussion with' her, plus the Patients Participate! project partners - … Continue reading TalkScience@BL is the hot event of the night – see you there.
Democratising research
So I thought you might be interested in my thoughts on innovation and public involvement that I shared with the audience at the PatientsParticipate! conference at the British Library on Friday afternoon. The real star of the show thought was patient advocate, Graham Steele, who gave us an absorbing tour of social media and public … Continue reading Democratising research
Science and the budget, peer review and a spot of crowd-sourcing
Tomorrow is Budget day. Having just finished AMRC's own budget and business plan for 2011-2012 all I can say is: George you know where I am if you want to crunch some last minute numbers? The Financial Times is reporting today that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce a £100million cash injection for capital … Continue reading Science and the budget, peer review and a spot of crowd-sourcing
Simon Denegri's Lay Review 