”Before my internship, I mainly thought of science outreach as a way to spark curiosity in the general public. Now I see it more broadly: outreach can play an important role in building science capital and making education more inclusive.” Hayley French reflects on her internship at Public & Science Sweden.
On the first day of my internship at Public & Science Sweden (Vetenskap & Allmänhet), I came across the concept of science capital for the first time. Science capital can be thought of as the sum of science-related knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and resources that a person acquires throughout their life. It includes your understanding of science and how it works, the extent to which you consume science-related content (e.g., sci-fi books or TV series), whether you know people in science-related roles, and whether you discuss science in everyday life.
Research has shown that the more science capital a young person has, the more likely they are to pursue science in the future. The concept of science capital is important because it can help us understand why science feels accessible to some young people but out of reach to others.
Although I wasn’t familiar with the concept of science capital, I immediately recognised it in my own life. As a child, I was fortunate to attend well-funded schools that regularly hosted science fairs, organised clubs, and arranged outings to museums. At home, my parents often discussed science in the news and encouraged me to enrol in a science camp. They even gifted me a microscope so that I could continue to explore my fascination with insects—this time on a micro scale! Together, we watched MythBusters and visited a palaeontology museum. By my own judgement, I would say I had (and still have) “high” science capital and that science has always felt accessible to me. Perhaps that has contributed to where I am today: a PhD student in molecular neurobiology at Karolinska Institutet.
Outreach can play an important role in building science capital and making education more inclusive.
During my time at Public & Science, I analysed survey data from a programme called Låna en forskare (“Borrow a Researcher”), which arranges classroom visits where researchers share their work and give the pupils a glimpse of what it’s like to be a researcher. Before starting my internship, I mainly thought of science outreach as a way to spark curiosity in the general public. Now I see it more broadly: outreach can play an important role in building science capital and making education more inclusive. I saw this reflected in the data, where pupils described how meeting a researcher gave them a much broader view of research. They discovered that researchers are often quite different from the stereotype of an old man in a lab coat and glasses; that research can cover almost any topic; and that simply being curious can be the first step towards becoming a researcher, regardless of where you come from.’
Public & Science Sweden helps ensure that knowledge isn’t something distant or exclusive, but something that can involve all of us.
While I have mainly focused on science here, I know that Public & Science’s mission is to promote dialogue and openness between research and society across many different fields. By creating opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with research, Public & Science Sweden helps ensure that knowledge isn’t something distant or exclusive, but something that can involve all of us. I feel grateful to have contributed, even briefly, to that mission, and I’ll carry these insights with me as I continue my own journey as a researcher.
/Hayley French, PhD student & intern at Public & Science Sweden
Hayley French is a PhD student in Molecular Neurobiology at Karolinska Institute with a focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and adolescent brain development.
Hayley’s one-month internship at Public & Science Sweden is supported by the Karolinska Institutet career service.
