Promoting the Large Hadron Collider

Guardian leader – 27 MarchIn praise of ... Cern

Buried deep in granite under the border between France and Switzerland, the biggest and most expensive scientific experiment on earth is nearing completion. Working at temperatures colder than deep space, the 27km-long Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will, when it is first fired up next year, reshape what is known about the origins of the universe. The flagship project of Cern, the international particle physics laboratory whose expertise is so wide-ranging that it invented the world wide web as a sideline and gave it away free, the LHC is an uplifting example of international cooperation achieving what no single country could manage … it brings together 6,400 scientists from around the globe. … The aim is to find and explore dark matter, the unknown type of matter which dominates the universe. Cern's scientists talk of finding new dimensions. The specialism is so extraordinary that the consequences are near impossible for non-experts to comprehend: but what is found at Cern in the next few years could change the world.

Steering Group

Mike Green (Science and Society Panel) – ChairGraham Farmelo (Science and Society Panel) – Dep. ChairTim Greenshaw (Science and Society Panel)John Womersley (Head of PPD, RAL)James Gillies (Head of Communications, CERN)Brian Cox (Science communicator)Simon Singh (Broadcaster, writer)A N Other (GridPP events officer)David Evans (ALICE)Val Gibson (LHCb)Helen Heath (CMS)Pete Watkins (ATLAS)

PPARC staff

Peter Barrett (Head of Communications)

Robin Clegg (Head of Science and Society Programme)

Nathan Hill (Industrial Coordinator)

Julia Maddock (Community Press Officer)

Lindsay Mercer (Particle Physics Division)

Andrew Morrison (Schools Officer)

Anna Starkey (Particle Physics Outreach Officer)

Strategy for promotion of the LHC

• Group with communications experts and UK LHC experiment representatives set up by the Science and Society Panel in 2005 to define a strategy

• Presented to the Panel and Council in February 2006 and given strong backing

• Strategy document at http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Ed/LHCCom.asp

• Details now need to be developed and actions put in place

Key audiences

• Public: all sections (20% declare themselves interested in new scientific and technical developments)

• Students: emphasis on 14 – 16 but also gifted 12 – 14 and those 16 – 18

• Policy makers and opinion formers (MPs, House of Lords, government policy makers, …)

Key messages

• LHC is one of the biggest projects in the history of science

• It addresses fundamental questions about our knowledge of the universe

• It is an international collaborative venture with the UK having a major role

• There are valuable technological spin-offs• We wish the public to share the excitement we feel• Young people can be a part of activities such as these if

they study physics• British industry benefits• For reasonable public investment we will learn much

about how the universe works

Key elements

• TV and radio coverage– Aim for two major terrestrial and three non-terrestrial

TV programmes – News and daytime TV and radio coverage as results

are announced

• Annual updating meetings for journalists• National schools programme

– Briefings and support material for teachers– Local visits to schools by particle physicists– Lectures tour (IoP or IEEE)

Key elements

• Major exhibitions• Public events around the country

– Use science centres/Cafés Scientifiques– Ensure they get high media profile

• Receptions for VIPs and opinion formers– One in 2007 (turn on of LHC)– One in each of 2008 and 2009 to mark achievements

• Continually updated website based on ParticlePhysicsUK

In progress

• Advertisement for a half-time co-ordinator for two years is now out

• Engagement with the Science Museum to mount a six-month exhibition in 2007 that will then tour four other UK locations

• Focus groups (general public and teachers) to help with detailed planning

• Press support (PPARC press office)– Guided tours of LHC for media people– Professional photographs of UK equipment– Television footage– Engaging TV producers and commissioning editors

• Media training for particle physicists

Legacy

• A new generation of particle physicists trained to work with the media and schools

• A larger group of journalists aware and supportive of particle physics and willing to write about it

• Increased political support for particle physics

• Increased awareness in UK industry of the commercial opportunities at CERN