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Abstract Detail



Plenary Address

Thompson, Ken [1].

Botany is cool; so why doesn’t the public know that?

The general public rarely think about plants, and how important they are. They think about botany even less. It’s easy to assume that this doesn’t really matter, and to just get on with the job. But it does matter, firstly because we depend on the public’s willingness to support botanical research through their taxes. A willingness that will be greater if they are engaged with, and enthusiastic about, plants and botany. And secondly because bright young people need to be enthused about botany if the subject is to thrive in the future. So who is going to persuade the public that botany is exciting, vital and, above all, cool? The answer, probably to an even greater extent than with other sciences, is that no-one is going to do this, unless we do it ourselves. Here I present just a few examples of how we might do that, taken from my own experience of smuggling botany into the hearts and minds of the public.


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1 - University of Sheffield, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Sheffield , Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Special Presentation
Session: S01
Location: Hall A/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Sunday, July 26th, 2015
Time: 7:30 PM
Number: S01001
Abstract ID:1369
Candidate for Awards:None


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