An introduction to community engagement within science – supporting the human infrastructure for collaboration
Speaker
Lou Woodley
Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement
Lou Woodley is Director of the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE) – a research and training center to support community-building in STEM. Lou is a trained molecular biologist with research experience at Cambridge University, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, and the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. Since leaving the bench, she’s gained extensive experience in on- and offline community engagement.
During her career so far, Lou spent 5 years at Nature Publishing Group trialing new online tools for scientists and organizing community-led events focused on the intersection of science, technology and communication. Subsequently, at AAAS, she supported the development of Trellis, an online communication and collaboration platform for scientists, as well as working on diversity and inclusion projects funded by the National Science Foundation.
Most recently, as CSCCE director, Lou leads the Community Engagement Fellows Program to train and support scientific community managers, the human infrastructure for collaboration in STEM. She also conducts research and training in scientific community engagement.
Lou explores the intersection of people, science and technology on her blog, Social in Silico, and you can also follow her on Twitter, where she’s @LouWoodley.