Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 18;14(7):e0219983. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219983. eCollection 2019.
The Pint of Science festival is the biggest annual international science festival. In May 2017, we coordinated the first Pint of Science festival in Thailand and reported our initial reflections. Building on this work, we set out to evaluate more systematically events conducted in 2018.
In 2018, we conducted Pint of Science events at four different locations in Bangkok. Overall, there were 18 talks held over six event-days in 2018. We administered 180 self-reported questionnaires as well as conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with audience members and speakers.
Of the 180 questionnaires handed out, 125 attendees completed the questionnaire. The majority of attendees came because they were interested in science (68.0%), to learn something new (46.4%) and to enjoy themselves (44.8%). Our qualitative results confirm the quantitative findings. In addition, speakers viewed that they benefited by improving their communication skills and having the opportunity to network with scientists and non-scientists. Speakers also mentioned that such events were a good means to engage with the public, can improve the visibility of their work and potentially attract more funding. To improve the Pint of Science activities, audience members suggested to include a more diverse range of topics, more collaborations with other local research institutions and to hold the event at larger venues.
We conclude that Pint of Science was well received in Bangkok with recommendations to improve minor issues related to practicalities and logistics.
品脱科学节是最大的年度国际科学节。2017 年 5 月，我们在泰国协调了第一届品脱科学节，并报告了我们的初步反思。在此基础上，我们着手更系统地评估 2018 年举办的活动。
2018 年，我们在曼谷的四个不同地点举办了品脱科学活动。总的来说，2018 年有 18 次演讲在六个活动日进行。我们共发放了 180 份自我报告的问卷，并对观众和演讲者进行了 11 次半结构化访谈和焦点小组讨论。
在发放的 180 份问卷中，有 125 名与会者完成了问卷。大多数与会者来参加是因为他们对科学感兴趣（68.0%），为了学习新东西（46.4%），为了享受乐趣（44.8%）。我们的定性结果证实了定量发现。此外，演讲者认为他们通过提高沟通技巧和与科学家和非科学家建立联系而受益。演讲者还提到，这样的活动是与公众接触的好方法，可以提高他们工作的知名度，并有可能吸引更多的资金。为了改进品脱科学活动，观众建议增加更多不同主题的内容，更多与当地其他研究机构的合作，并在更大的场地举办活动。
我们的结论是，品脱科学在曼谷受到了欢迎，并提出了一些建议，以改进与实际情况和后勤有关的小问题。
