• Question: would any of you give some of the money to charity?

    Asked by 07coxs to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith, Vicki on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emma Carter

      Emma Carter answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      The Wellcome trust which is funding this event is a charity already and I think they specifically want the money to be spent on communicating science so I would use it as it was intended. I personally do give a lot of money to charity though which I think is very important. Through one of the charities I support, I sponsor a girl in Uganda through school. We write to each other and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up so hopefully she’ll get the chance to do that.

    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Well the rules say the money has to go towards public engagement of science, but it would be possible to donate it as a gift to the hands on science museum which is a charity or the Cafe Scientifique. Good idea!

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Not me – because of the administrative costs involved. For money directed at science education and communication, we could give it to a charity with this core aim. They would then outsource the project, to someone like me, and take a slice of the money for their administrative costs. No – I’m not going to pass the job on to someone else – I can do it!

    • Photo: Hywel Vaughan

      Hywel Vaughan answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I think with the money being aimed at delivering science engagement, winning the money (from a charity) and giving it to another charity for them to give to someone else seems a bit extreme, when any one of us could do the science engagement ourselves. It is a noble idea, but I think that some of the most effective people to promote science are the scientists studying it!

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