15-17 Nov. 2017
Programme
- Parallel Session E-3
- Co-design
- Panel
Science Centres for 2026 and Beyond.
Session Concept:
The 1st Science Centre World Summit 2014 in Mechelen (Belgium) started a new cycle of global triennial science centre community events. In 2026, science centre professionals and their partners will meet on African soil. The SCWS2026 will conclude the first round of Science Centre World Summits. What will the science centres participating in the 2026 Summit look like? Are they still called science centres? What is their role in society? Since the opening of the Exploratorium and the Ontario Science Centre in 1969 science centres evolved gradually. Since the beginning of this century society is changing ever more rapidly, is facing big challenges and is more technology driven. How will science centres develop themselves in this fast changing community? How can they better serve their audiences? In this session, experienced science centre leaders and professionals from partner organisations will formulate their ideas about these questions in a sparkling, concise way.
Moderator
- Erik Jacquemyn
- International consultant, Jacquemyn & associates
- Belgium
- Hans Gubbels
- Director, Museumplein Limburg
- Netherlands
Speaker
- Derek Fish
- Director, Unizulu Science Centre
- South Africa
- In 2026 we will meet in Africa, where Science Centres have developed behind the rest of the world by about 20 years. Will African science centres look like the others did in 2006, or will Africa have blazed a new trail?
- Michael John Gorman
- Founding Director, BIOTOPIA (Munich)
- Germany
- How should science centres be reconfigured for the “biological century”, where we face unprecedented environmental challenges and are experiencing revolutionary changes in our ability to understand and manipulate life?
- Silvia Singer
- CEO and General Director, MIDE - Museo Interactivo de Economía
- Mexico
- Challenges of inequality and today’s digital and biological revolutions are changing our lives. Science centres allow people to create new stories, envisioning possible futures in collaborative, positive ways. They may be facilitators of free and open societies.
- Anne Catherine Robert- Hauglustaine
- Professor, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/Ex General Director, ICOM
- France
- Science centres and museums can invent a new future for their communities. They are engaging audiences with approaches to change the way vital social, economic, cultural and heritage issues are addressed, as hubs for engagement by using their exhibits/collections.
- Andrès Roldán
- Executive Director, Parque Explora
- Colombia
- Museum thinking is key for transforming formal education. If science centres work with teachers and students as exhibit designers in the classroom, schools and museums will merge into the new learning labs of cities.
