Academic Research Fellowship Report - Joseph Roche
Joseph Roche is an Associate Professor in Science Education at the School of Education and was one of last year's recipients of a TRiSS Academic Research Fellowships. Joseph used the funds to cover some of the costs of undertaking a Visiting Scholarship at Harvard University.
"Without the TRiSS Academic Research Fellowship I would have been unable to take up a Visiting Scholarship at Harvard in 2023. I was originally supposed to visit Harvard for six months in 2020/21 but the pandemic put those plans on hold. When the opportunity arose to undertake a more condensed visiting scholarship for three months in 2023 I successfully applied for the scholarship but needed the support of the TRiSS Academic Research Fellowship to make it happen.
"The impact of the scholarship is that it allowed me to have first-hand experience of the programme on Science, Technology, and Society (STS) at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. This facilitated the development of a Trinity research centre proposal for the Science & Society Research Group to become a Trinity Science & Society Research Centre. It also coincided with a successful Horizon Europe proposal to the Widening Excellence in the European Research Area pillar of the current funding programme to fund a "A European competence centre for science communication."
Science & Society Research Group
Joseph leads the Science & Society Research Group at Trinity College which coordinates international research projects on science communication, informal learning, citizen science, public engagement, and higher education science. He is the Principal Investigator of GlobalSCAPE, a European Commission funded research project exploring the global state of science communication, and is the author of the textbook Essential Skills for Early Career Researchers.
"My research in Harvard was focused on examining the question: 'How can a university research centre best support the public engagement requirements of Horizon Europe research funding applications?' It might seem odd to go to the United States to try to answer a question so entwined with European funding, but universities like Harvard do an amazing job of bringing together sociologists, scientists, and researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds in Science, Technology, & Society (STS) Centres.
"Such a centre in Trinity would not only bring together researchers from across the College and raise the profile of the arts, humanities, and social sciences, it would allow for researchers to have a central hub to tackle the European Commission's latest funding programme requirements of addressing specific cross-cutting topics such as citizen, civil society, and end-user engagement, all the while cultivating a more inclusive and resilient relationship between science and society."
Background
Joseph has focused his efforts on exploring the relationship between science and society for almost a decade. Since joining the School of Education in October 2014, he has worked as an educator, communicator, and a social science researcher tasked with assessing and evaluating the impact of science engagement. This has become more important in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the climate crisis, and the energy crisis, with understanding of, and trust in, science and scientists becoming ever more critical to public and environmental health.
"I try to bring together complementary areas of research. So I will combine informal science learning, which could involve assessing the science education that happens outside the classroom at museums, festivals, or zoos, together with my work in higher education research, where I try to empower early career scientists to fulfil their academic potential and recognise their societal responsibilities. Or I might start with science communication and its models of engaging public audiences in meaningful ways, and move to citizen science which could involve facilitating public audiences to participate in scientific research."