Chemistry expert: art can help deliver smart science grads

UC chemistry expert believes art can help deliver smart science graduates

May 29, 2013

A University of Canterbury (UC) chemistry expert believes that art holds the future key to delivering smart science graduates.

Communication is a crucial skill that employers look for in graduates and UC researcher Dr Sarah Masters says UC science students have been collaborating with arts students for a special exhibition project.

``The ability to communicate clearly and concisely to a lay audience is a vital skill and one that is adaptable to many different employment situations.

``Our chemistry students have utilised this opportunity to hone their verbal communication skills and collaborate with a set of art students that they may not otherwise have interacted with in a professional capacity.

``Art students are also communicating in an interpretive, visual and creative manner, while the curatorial students are communicating with each other and the wider community to pull a public exhibition together,’’ Dr Masters says.

The public art exhibition, as a result of discussions between science and art students, will open at UC’s Ilam Campus Gallery on Thursday.

The exhibition, Communication Is The Key To Every Healthy Relationship, is the culmination of a new investigation by science students to engage in science communication.

The ability of science students to communicate effectively is highlighted in the Government’s recent 10 National Science Challenges.

In the challenges, New Zealand scientists it was said science communication, science literacy and the application of knowledge in public sector was crucial to the country’s future development.

The need for a greater appreciation and understanding of science was necessary for knowledge to be well diffused to the policy, private and community sectors, Dr Masters says.

ENDS

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