Science Café

The Café Scientifique, or Science Café, is a term used to refer to events in informal settings, such as coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, and other public places, in which laypeople interact face-to-face with scientists. These cafés are part of a broader movement that aims to engage nonscientists in dialogues—and sometimes decision making—about science and technology developments. This movement, sometimes referred to as public engagement in science and technology (PEST), includes a variety of other engagement mechanisms, such as consensus conferences, public forums, citizen assemblies, and town halls.

The Café Scientifique was initiated in 1998 in Leeds, United Kingdom, by Duncan Dallas, who was inspired by the Café Philosophique founded in France. Since the 1990s, hundreds of Cafés Scientifiques and Science Cafés have been organized around the world, engaging thousands of laypeople and scientists. The Café Scientifique approach, in part, aims to replace older, one-way science communication models with two-way dialogues between laypeople and experts. One-way models, sometimes referred to as “deficit models,” typically assume that laypeople lack accurate scientific knowledge, and therefore scientific experts and professional science communicators should “correct” these deficits via strategic communication efforts. Engagement models, in contrast, assume that laypeople and scientists will learn more through dialogue, and that laypeople—not just scientists—have valuable knowledge, perspectives, and questions to bring to these dialogues.

While some engagement models (for example, consensus conferences) are intended to facilitate citizens' abilities to shape public decisions and policies, the Café Scientifique model has more modest goals: to simply facilitate dialogue between laypeople and scientists by providing informal, accessible settings in which they can casually converse about scientific issues. In other words, dialogue itself is the goal. Even though these dialogues are not directly linked to policy, they can slowly build capacities and motivation among laypeople to deliberate and engage with scientists, develop empathy for diverse and competing perspectives, and understand and critically analyze complex socioscientific issues.

In theory, any scientific and technological topic can be covered in a Café Scientifique, and anyone can organize one; some even refer to Cafés Scienti-fiques as “grassroots” events. Organizers and presenters generally do not make any profit from the events. Ideally, cafés are adapted to local contexts, cultures, and the interests of the communities in which they are held, and they have taken a variety of different and innovative forms throughout the world. They are usually organized outside of academic settings in comfortable and accessible community venues. In the cafés, scientists usually give a short talk about a scientific topic, followed by discussions with café attendees, often along with food and drink. Scientific experts are encouraged to use interactive presentation styles, rather than oneway lectures and PowerPoint presentations, and to use plain language that is free of scientific jargon.

In practice, Café Scientifique organizers are usually academics or public outreach specialists within research, government, or other institutions (for example, science museums) who are more likely than those outside of these institutions to know about the Café Scientifique approach and have easy access to scientists and experts and the resources and capacities to organize and facilitate the events. Organizing successful cafés requires a substantial amount of time and, more importantly, significant practical organizing knowledge and skills. The Cafés Scientifiques in the United Kingdom have received funding from the Wellcome Trust, a research funding charity, as well as organizations and institutions in the localities hosting cafés. Some Science Cafés in the United States have been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, in collaboration with private organizations and funders. Similarly, Cafés Scientifiques in Canada, generally focused on health issues, have been sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research along with other institutional and corporate cosponsors. Topics and scientists selected for the cafés, formats, venues, and types of audiences targeted are shaped by organizers' and funders' academic backgrounds, institutional resources, and perspectives.

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