By Cecile Bruil

“My stepdad told me that astronomy is actually like romance,” Wiegert Kaal, an astronomy bachelor graduate, explains. Seeing the intrigue on my face, he elaborates, “A lot of people start this bachelor’s program to learn more about the beyond, the universe, and many people drop out because they realise it’s calculus, more calculus and quantum mechanics… Yet, space remains to have an attractive power over people.”

There is no denying that people are attracted to space. No matter their educational background or age, people are intrigued by what is out there in the sky, among the moon, the stars and beyond. “Especially nowadays,” Wiegert said, “when travelling to space is becoming more important and more popular.”

It is that popularity that could act as a gateway to educate people more about astronomy. This is especially needed when the link to society can be harder to find. “That’s a ‘problem’ in astronomy, as many things don’t have a lot to do with the world around you.” To bridge the gap between astronomy and society, the fascination of people can be seen as a window of opportunity to educate the public on space matters.

But why is it important to connect with people and educate them on science? Wiegert explains that even if things do not seem to impact our daily lives directly, it is still important to understand and be aware of what is happening beyond our atmosphere. “You can’t just stand there and watch people go to the moon, you want to be able to form an opinion and prevent people from doing sketchy things in space that you actually don’t want them to do,” he says.

Finding those gateway aspects of astronomy, and of other sciences, in daily life and trying to communicate science is what students do in Science Education and Communication. This master’s programme, which Wiegert chose to do after his bachelor’s, is open to all Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) students.

Wiegert first became aware of the science communication field after an elective course in his minor. He learned that this field is focused on communicating science to the general audience and discussing science with them, rather than writing jargon-filled papers for an academic audience only. “Honestly, science communication just seemed really fun, and research seemed a lot less fun,” Wiegert admits with a faint smile.

Because all FSE students can enter this master’s, there is a mix of biology, physics, maths, chemistry, and astronomy students. “It’s incredibly interesting to learn more about other disciplines and to discuss this with your fellow students,” Wiegert tells me. “People who choose to go into science communication have a very broad worldview and are interested in many different things, which is why I find the people in science communication just really fun!”

Of course, this is a specific career path, one that might suit you perfectly or may not be your thing at all. Either way, Wiegert believes people should try to learn at least a little on how to communicate science to the world, “I think it’s important and useful for everyone to know how to talk to people about your research, even if you don’t want to do an entire master’s,” he explains. 

This need for communication applies to all sciences, and astrophysics is no exception. “In astronomy, when the connection between people and the beyond might not always be so clear, there is always a link to be made, to make people realize the importance of space,” Wiegert explains. He even reasons that astronomers are very well suited for this task: “That romantic aspect of astronomy can also be seen in science communication, where you want to share the beautiful parts of the world and science with people.”

If you are interested in what students of this programme create during the master’s, check out bridgingscience.org and see some of their works.