''Soapbox Science'' is a public outreach platform that promotes women working in science and the research that they do. The events turns public spaces into an area for learning and debate, in the spirit of Hyde Park's

Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech public speaking, open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London, England. Histor ...

. Soapbox Science encourages scientists to explain their research to members of the public using non-traditional methods (for example, there is no use of a projector or slides). Speakers typically make props at home to explain the processes behind their research. Soapbox Science launched in London in 2011, where it was led by Seirian Sumner and Nathalie Pettorelli. It aims to showcase eminent female scientists across the world. Youmna Mouhamad Soapbox science

Dr Mina Bizic performing street science in Berlin city centre 2020

History

Soapbox Science launched in London in 2011, led by Seirian Sumner and Nathalie Pettorelli and funded by L'Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science Scheme,

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

and the Science & Technology Facilities Council. Soapbox Science formed a partnership with Speakezee in 2016. The first three annual events 2011-2013 ran in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, in 2014 events ran in London, Bristol, Dublin, and Swansea. In 2015 more cities joined including Exeter, Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast and Glasgow, all in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2016, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Galway, Reading and Brisbane, Australia, ran events. The first Soapbox Science event in Canada was organized in Toronto, by then, Dean of Science, Imogen Coe of

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

(formerly

Ryerson University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District in downtown Toronto, although i ...

). By 2021, there were 45 events in 15 countries worldwide.

Impact

Soapbox Science was established to complement other initiatives such as

Athena SWAN Athena SWAN (Scientific Women's Academic Network) is an equality charter mark framework and accreditation scheme established and managed by the UK Equality Challenge Unit (now part of Advance HE) in 2005 that recognises and celebrates good pra ...

that tackle the under-representation and low numbers of women employed in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

) in the UK.

Awards and honours

Serian Sumner and Nathalie Pettorelli were awarded a Point of Light Award in 2015 from the UK Prime Minister, a Silver Medal from the

in 2016, presented by

Sir John Beddington Sir John Rex Beddington (born 13 October 1945) is a British population biologist and Senior Adviser at the Oxford Martin School, and was previously Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College London, and the UK Government Chief ...

, and an Equality & Diversity Champion Award from the

British Ecological Society The British Ecological Society is a learned society in the field of ecology that was founded in 1913. It is the oldest ecological society in the world. The Society's original objective was "to promote and foster the study of Ecology in its widest ...

in 2017, in recognition of their work on the Soapbox Science initiative.

Notable alumni

* Imogen Coe *

Athene Donald Dame Athene Margaret Donald (née Griffith; born 15 May 1953) is a British physicist. She was Professor Emerita of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge, and former Master of Churchill College, Cambridge. Outside the university, ...

* Sue Black OBE * Julie Williams * Hilary Lappin-Scott * Karen Holford *

Sunetra Gupta Sunetra Gupta (born 15 March 1965) is an Indian-born British infectious disease epidemiologist and a professor of theoretical epidemiology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. She has performed research on the transmission dynamic ...

Georgina Mace Dame Georgina Mary Mace, One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (12 July 1953 – 19 September 2020) was a British ecologist and conservation scientist. She was Professor of Biodivers ...

* Lesley Yellowlees *

Maggie Aderin-Pocock Dame Margaret Ebunoluwa Aderin-Pocock (; born 9 March 1968) is a British space scientist and science educator. She is an honorary research associate of University College London's Department of Physics and Astronomy, and has been the chancello ...

* Victoria Foster * Goedele De Clerck * Siwan Davies *

Farah Bhatti Farah Bhatti FRCS FLSW is a British cardiac surgeon who is an honorary professor at the Swansea University Medical School. She serves as Chair of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Women in Surgery Forum. She was appointed an Order of th ...

Mina Bizic Mina Bizic is an environmental microbiology, environmental microbiologist with particular interest in aquatic systems. She is mostly known for her work on organic matter particles and oxic methane production. Since July 2024, she is a Full Profess ...

References

External links

* {{official, http://soapboxscience.org/ Science communication