The first seminar in UppTalk Weekly was broadcast on 28 April. The topic of the day then was the role of research in crises. Since then, there have been seminars on solar cells, artificial intelligence, and volcanoes among other topics.
“We often base topics on the tips we get and the purpose of the seminars, which is to showcase the broad range of research conducted in our Faculty. Then we ask the researchers the questions that we – and those who are with us live – have about the topic,” says Karin Thellenberg, one of two project managers for UppTalk Weekly. “It’s a lot of fun and a real boon to get to work with this.”
Focus on societal challenges
UppTalk Weekly is run by the Office for Science and Technology along with Upptech. Upptech is an initiative within the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology to promote development projects that address complex societal challenges where research in technical areas and technical expertise are needed. However, societal challenges often also require cooperation with researchers from other disciplinary domains and with business and industry as well as other external partners.
“Technology is part of almost everything. Just like there are other perspectives, such as biology, ethics, philosophy or medicine, in technology,” says Lina Sors Emilsson, one of the project managers for UppTalk Weekly.
Started in part as a result of the pandemic
UppTalk Weekly primarily targets alumni and an interested public.
“UppTalk Weekly started in part in response to what happened last spring when all our events were just cancelled,” says Lina Sors Emilsson. We thought about how we could continue to contribute and provide education and outreach to our alumni and an interested public in a digital context.
To date, the response from the target group has been equivalent to what we had at the physical gatherings of the past which aimed to build networks, share knowledge, and debate current issues. The big difference is that today they can offer more meetings between researchers and the general public.
“To a certain extent, it is easier to produce UppTalk Weekly because it is easier for both the researcher and the viewers to participate when they don’t have to go anywhere to do so,” says Karin Thellenberg.
Questions from the audience
UppTalk Weekly is broadcast every Tuesday from 12.00-12.30 via Zoom. Three out of four seminars are a conversation with a researcher, and every four weeks there is an hour-long panel discussion on a current topic with a number of invited researchers and external experts.
“The unique thing about UppTalk Weekly is that we focus on the audience’s questions and bring them into the conversation with the researcher,” says Lina Sors Emilsson. “The questions are important because UppTalk Weekly is intended to be a forum for the public to meet the researcher and to build bridges between research, business and industry, and the community at large.”
Keeping to time important
The ambition to raise all questions from the audience means, of course, that it becomes more difficult to keep within the set time frame.
“We just have to be good at interrupting with questions as well as to finish on time because it's important that listeners know that UppTalk Weekly doesn’t go over time,” says Lina Sors Emilsson.
Broad panel discussions
Panel discussions often include researchers from all three disciplinary domains as well as external actors.
“In the panel discussions, we try to bring together the breadth in our University, the business community, and other external actors to highlight important social issues,” says Lina Sors Emilsson.
Three-hour preparation time
On average, about three hours of preparatory work are needed for each seminar according to the project managers. This time includes time to read up on the topic, prepare questions, and discussions with the researcher before the seminar.
“But panel discussions take a little longer to prepare because there are more panel participants to meet with during the planning process,” says Lina Emilsson.