Lecturer in Engineering Management | Developing Open Engineering | Researching Innovation Process, Strategic Management, Systems Design and Futures Literacy
//I was delighted to contribute to the Edinburgh University’s Teaching Matters blog again, writing about using research as a tool for teaching and learning co-creation.
//I have been invited to deliver a series of knowledge exchange and outreach events for Orkney International Science Festival (OISF) between 6th-12th September 2018. This is my third appearance at OISF, having visited the 2015 and 2017 editions of the festival.
I am particularly excited that though some of the events I will deliver will be held on Orkney mainland I will yet again also visit some of the more remote islands in the archipelago.
Hence, on 8th and 9th September I will be visiting the islands of North Ronalsday and Sanday, where I will speak to the local community about going From Standing Stones to Blasting Rockets: Scotland is Off to Space!
The talk is based on my extensive ESRC-funded doctoral research of the development of (“New”) Space Industry in Scotland, in particular examining emerging networks, innovation intermediaries and changes to new product development processes. With the recent announcement of UK Government investment into the creation of vertical launch capability in the North of Scotland, this is a particularly topical contribution to the discussion in many communities.
Furthermore, I have also been invited to present some thoughts on the deep connections between scientific research, arts and society as explored through my participation in the recent Social Dimensions of Outer Space network’s Edinburgh Futures Institute project. I will outline the main points from my essay on the topic in a talk entitled Universe: The Love Story, as part of the skyranMoon exhibition in Stromness on 11th September (7pm).
Finally, in partnership with a young team of rocket engineers from Spacelink Institute, we will have a plenary discussion about the future of small-scale spaceflight in an event called Make it, Fire it Into Orbit! in King Street Halls in Kirkwall (Wednesday, 12th September, 11.30am). Details and tickets here.
As is my practice with such visits, I will also speak to pupils of local schools, both on Sanday as well as at Kirkwall Grammar School, to discuss a variety of opportunities to engage in science, technology and innovation, including studying it form a social-scientific perspective.
As such, I am delighted to be yet again complementing a variety of colleagues form the College of Science and Engineering, including Prof Peter Higgs, who will support the festival with a host of other events and activities.
I am very grateful for the generous support of my OISF 2018 visit provided by the festival, as well as Science, Technology and Innovation Studies Group at the University of Edinburgh.
//Matjaz and Pippa’s CoDI show ‘Outer Space – The Next Empire?’ is on at 1.50pm, Saturday 5th August at the New Town Theatre (Fringe Venue 7).
Tickets: bit.ly/OuterSpaceEmpire
Tell us a bit about yourselves
Matjaz Vidmar – research student in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies Space Exploration and Industry in Scotland at The University of Edinburgh; science communicator at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and elsewhere; occasional blogger and writer; involved in many “out-there” ideas, including a project proposing a geostationary space station.
Pippa Goldschmidt – a “recovering Astronomer” with a PhD from The University of Edinburgh/Royal Observatory Edinburgh; worked on Outer Space policy in the UK Government, including puzzling questions such as “What is Outer Space and where does it start?”; now an acclaimed writer about science in fiction. Winner of 2016 Suffrage Science award (for women in science). Author of novels, short stories, poems and essays.
How does your CoDI show fit in with your research?
The exciting CoDI show we are hatching together fits perfectly with Matjaz’s work in trying to use arts to understand the role and importance of Space Exploration and Industry for society at large and Pippa’s creative work on how science and technology inspires and informs artistic expression.
Why is the topic ‘dangerous’?
The topic dares ask a question about what are we humans doing in and to Outer Space? In the not very distant future, humans will for the first time visit another planet (Mars). Later on we will likely establish some interplanetary outposts.
What does this mean for society down here on Earth? By reaching so far away from our planet, are we taking enough care over the possible harm we might cause to other planetary environment and life, and the possible harm we might do to ourselves?
Are Outer Space resources ours for the taking? Even if they are – who are “we”? Will it be whoever first plants the flag or do we come to a broader agreement on sharing?
How do we make sure we don’t choke our own planet in Space Debris, which is bits of disused space craft and rockets already swarming around the Earth and possibly increasing exponentially in the next few years?
Does it rightly have this label? Is the topic unjustly controversial?
If Space Debris starts raining down on Earth, as outlined in one of Pippa’s stories, it will get pretty dangerous pretty quickly! And that is only one of the topics we will explore in the show! It may also get very dangerous for Space Dodos (whatever they are)!
The severity of danger is really in the eyes of the beholder, but we think we need to have an inspired and inspiring conversation about the scientific, technological and societal implications of exploration of Outer Space and how it touches upon other aspects of the everyday life of us Earthlings (as well as Martians!).
Describe your show in three words
Serious Space Fun
Why should the unenlightened Fringe-goer attend your show? What will they learn?
They will learn a bit about what we are up to in Outer Space and what possible futures await us.
There will be examples of how Scotland is “reaching for the stars” and how it contributes to more space waste. We will discuss whether humans are ready for space travel and if so, where you should buy your ticket!
We will talk about science, technology, ethics, politics, achievements, beliefs and imagination, mix them all together and throw in a big measure of drama and humour.
We will read some short stories and see if we can disentangle facts about Outer Space from Science Fiction.
To sum up, we will have some serious fun with some serious issues – and all in the name of science!
//As part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, I am teaming up with an ex-astronomer and acclaimed science fiction author, Pippa Goldschmidt, to debate the future of human activity beyond the Earth in a show titled: Outer Space – The Next Empire?
Pippa is a Royal Observatory Edinburgh graduate and has later worked both at Imperial College, London, as well as in civil service, including on outer space policy. She has since been writing fiction about science and scientists, including a novel about an astronomer who discovers the Universe and loses her mind, ‘The Falling Sky’ and a collection of short stories ‘The need for Better Regulation of Outer Space’. Pippa has been writer in residence in several science and social science research centres and is currently Visiting Fellow at the Science, Technology and Innovation Studies Group (my “home” department) at the University of Edinburgh.
In an hour of literary drama, comedy and engaging discussion with the audience, Pippa and I will be exploring big questions such as: Who does outer space belong to, and are humans its only intelligent tenants/owner-occupiers? Will colonising space soon become our business-as-usual, and should we be doing it at all? Can we cause any harm to whoever else might be out there or are we likely to be harmed ourselves?
The event is part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas series, which is a joint Beltane Public Engagement Network and Fair Pley production, successfully taking science to the Fringe for the fifth time in 2017. You might even remember that I have done another Cabaret show last year, called “Let Big Brother Watch!”
Hence, I am delighted to be returning to the Fringe with this show, as we are planning to make it as exciting for the audience as any of the big Fringe productions, but with more discussion and engagement. Pippa is an amazing story-teller and I am so honoured to be working with her to create this very special event.
Though we will intertwine fact with fiction to set the scene, we are looking forward to talking about the scientific and social impact of space exploration, whilst also questioning some of the accepted norms and challenging pre-conceptions. Arts, and especially literature, is great in enabling an open and frank discussion about not only the present, but also the future of scientific and technological development.
This is very well illustrated in this review (by Iain Maloney) of Pippa’s collection of short stories, ‘The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space’: “Science is a tool for understanding the universe, but in Pippa Goldschmidt’s hands it is also a metaphor through which we can better understand ourselves.”
Outer Space – The Next Empire? is on 5th August, 1.50pm, at the New Town Theatre in George Street.
Tickets can be bought via the Fringe Box Office or on-line: bit.ly/OuterSpaceEmpire
//
I will be running an interactive show at Edinburgh Fringe 2016 Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas challenging what people think about satellite images and the ability or will of “others” to spy on your back yard…
In 1984 George Orwell wrote:
By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient. […]
Part of the reason for this was that in the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the process further. With the development of television, and the technical advance which made it possible to receive and transmit simultaneously on the same instrument, private life came to an end. Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda, with all other channels of communication closed. The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time.
By the Orwellian account above, advancing technology is, if left unchecked, a very real threat to human rights and democracy. As mentioned in my Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas show brief (bit.ly/CoDI-Satellites), satellite images now cover every inch of the world. Which leads me to the question, is this an invasion of privacy and
a major challenge to human rights, or is Big Brother really still quite controlled and tame? Is it fair to say that the majority of satellite images benefit our daily lives more than they intrude? And what is the scale and shape of their intrusion?
People’s concerns regarding the intrusive “eyes in the sky” turning to “spy” on our back yards, is what interest me. The event will explore these concerns. I hope to explain some of the technical set up of satellite observation of the Earth and the way data from “Earth Observation” is used. Such usage includes various applications related to management of the environment, natural resources, energy generation and consumption, public transport networks.
We will look into both the current cutting edge developments in Space Science, as well as technological applications and the impact they are generating in various contexts of our daily lives. Here, I will draw heavily on my research of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Space Sector. This relates scientific endeavour, technological prowess and entrepreneurial spirit, to generate an advanced Space-enabled economy for the future.
Though I am a Physicist by training, specialising in Astronomical Instrumentation, I am a postgraduate (PhD) student in Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (stis.ed.ac.uk). I now primarily research innovation and business incubation in Space Technologies. Examples include satellites and ground-based telescopes. My research is centred on how knowledge is passed from basic research (i.e. science and engineering) into small firms all around Scotland. These firms, in turn, provide products and services to make space technology. They then use the data generated to make our lives that bit easier and richer.
Fear not! CoDI’s wonderful compère, comedian Susan Morrison, will be sure to keep the entertainment coming. We may even have special surprise in store for you – a special guest of sorts!
Furthermore I am no stranger to a bit of fun. I have done some similarly interesting stuff before! I have previously performed stand up in Bright Club (bit.ly/Bright-Club-First-Degree). Additionally I am a science communicator at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh Visitor Centre. Here I am speaking to a variety of audiences about Astronomy and the emerging technologies. I assist in the running of the Particle Physics for Scottish Schools (PP4SS, UoE); assist with the delivery of Sci-Fun (UoE), Physics in the Field and Lab in a Lorry projects (IOP); and organise one off events (e.g. Falkirk and Borders Science Festivals). Additionally, I regularly deliver talks to Astronomy societies across Scotland.
The show takes place on Monday 15th August, Stand in the Square (Venue 372), 3-4pm, £8 (£6)
Purchase tickets at: bit.ly/CoDI-LBBW-Tickets
This event is part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas series (codi.beltanenetwork.org). It is a Beltane Network, Fair Play and Stand co-production for Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016. Special thanks to Graduate School of the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh and the Institute of Physics in Scotland (iopscotland.org) for financially supporting this show.
This is from a special blog about my CoDI show, which can also be found here: 25 Days of CoDI: Day 12
