|
1. What prompted you decide to participate in the "JSPS Science Dialogue" program?
I believe it is important to bring the motivations (and possibly the results) for conducting public research back to the public. Presenting state of the art research activities should be interesting to both non-scientists and researchers as well. The former will have a more precise idea of what activities are conducted within universities and what it can do to them. The latter will need to adapt to a different public and thus adopt a different point of view on their own work. Presenting research activities in a SSH also has the advantage of exposing the students to cutting edge science. Here, they might find more motivations for studying science, possibly for later doing public research. They are also exposed to a new field of science and might, from that, grow a personal interest into it.
2. To what did you give greatest attention in preparing and giving the lecture?
I tried to keep the balance between making the science understandable by non-scientists and still showing what type of research I actually do. I also emphasized more on the motivations than on the results.
3. Did you find it difficult to give a lecture in English to Japanese students? Could you give some advice to future lecturers on how to facilitate communication with Japanese students?
I regret there was only little feedback from the students. I should maybe have left more time for questions.
4. Could you give your impression with regard to participating in this program?
I found it a difficult (though interesting) exercise to present my research field to non-scientists.
5. Was it meaningful in terms of your fellowship activities?
It was interesting to visit a Japanese high school and I believe that presenting research activities to the public is indeed part of my "fellowship activities".
6. In what ways do you think the students benefited from the program?
They were exposed to the English language spoken by a non-native English speaker leaving in Japan. They might from this experience understand the importance of being able to speak this language nowadays. English being the de facto international communication language. Secondly, they were exposed to state of the art science, see above.
|
