Welcome to sip2019.com

About this site

sip2019.com is a small informational site. Its purpose is to give visitors a clear, uncluttered place to begin and a simple route to whatever they came looking for.

The design keeps things spare: a dark header, warm cream pages, and a single gold accent used for buttons and small highlights. Content is organised into short sections so each idea stands on its own.

Science in Public is an annual gathering for people who care about how research reaches the wider world. It brings together researchers, communicators, and practitioners from across the country and beyond to think carefully about the relationship between science and the many publics it serves. Over several days, attendees share ideas, compare approaches, and reflect on what good engagement looks like in practice. The programme is built around conversation rather than spectacle, giving people room to ask questions, test assumptions, and leave with a clearer sense of how their own work fits into a much larger picture.

The theme at the heart of this year's meeting is the intersection of science and publics, and what happens where the two meet. Engagement is rarely a one-way transfer of knowledge; it is a negotiation of trust, meaning, and relevance. Sessions explore how researchers can work with communities rather than simply speaking to them, and how institutions can become more open about uncertainty, disagreement, and the limits of what is known. The aim is not to settle these questions but to hold them honestly, and to give attendees practical ways of carrying the conversation back to their own organisations.

The city of Manchester provides a fitting backdrop for these discussions. Known for its history of industry, innovation, and social change, it has long been a place where ideas and people meet. Attendees are encouraged to explore the streets, markets, and cultural venues around the conference locations, and to treat the city itself as part of the experience. Local organisers have arranged a range of activities that connect the programme to the surrounding area, from evening socials to informal walks, so that the sense of place becomes part of the thinking rather than mere scenery.

The programme is deliberately varied, mixing talks with interactive formats that invite participation. Rather than a schedule of passive listening, the days include workshops, discussion groups, and hands-on sessions where attendees can try out approaches and share their own experience. Creative and interdisciplinary contributions are welcome, reflecting the reality that science communication draws on design, storytelling, performance, and the arts as much as on research itself. There are also quieter spaces for reflection and informal conversation, recognising that some of the most useful exchanges happen outside the formal sessions.

A recurring concern for many attendees is inclusion: who gets to speak about science, who is heard, and who is left out. The programme gives attention to access, representation, and the barriers that can keep people from feeling welcome in conversations about research. Sessions consider how language, format, and setting shape participation, and how organisers of events can be more thoughtful about whose voices are centred. These discussions are not treated as an afterthought but as part of the substance of good communication, connecting directly to questions of trust and legitimacy in public life.

The conference also looks outward, to the global context in which science communication happens. Practitioners from different countries bring perspectives that challenge assumptions and broaden the range of approaches on offer. Discussions touch on how engagement is shaped by culture, politics, and local priorities, and on what can be learned by comparing experiences across borders. This international dimension reminds attendees that public engagement is not a single method to be exported but a set of practices that must be adapted to context, and that listening across difference is itself a core skill.

Sustainability and responsibility run quietly through much of the programme. Attendees are invited to think about the environmental and social footprint of the events they run, and about how to make gatherings more accessible and less wasteful without losing their energy. Organisers have tried to model these values in the way the meeting itself is arranged, from travel options to the choices made around food and materials. The hope is that these considerations become a normal part of planning rather than a special effort, embedded in the everyday decisions that shape how science meets the public.

Above all, Science in Public is a chance to meet others doing similar work and to feel part of a wider community. Many attendees return year after year, and newcomers are welcomed into a network that spans institutions, disciplines, and career stages. Between sessions there is time to talk, to compare notes, and to build the kind of relationships that sustain people through the quieter stretches of their work. Whether someone is new to engagement or has been practising for years, the meeting aims to send them home with fresh ideas, useful connections, and a renewed sense of purpose.