December, 2006, The Daily Telegraph

The 2007 Awards Launch Article

By Martin Dawkins

WHAT is your image of a scientist? The dotty old man in a scruffy lab coat? The mad professor, hair smouldering as a result of a calamity with a bunsen burner?

Or perhaps a Frankensteinian figure, toiling in a moonlit dungeon? These potent stereotypes might catch the imagination of small children, but are a far cry from reality.

Scientists are not remote eccentrics. The opposite is true. Science could hardly be more relevant today. Nor are they old or sinister. You only have to look at winners of the last Bayer/Telegraph science writer competition to find an extraordinary group of young scientists very much in tune with the world around them, already thinking through the implications of their work, both commercial and ethical, and going out of their way to explain how science makes a better life for us all.

I know this and feel passionately about it because I work for a company for which science is our lifeblood. We love science. We use it constantly in our business, finding ever more creative ways to apply it to solving many of the great challenges of our age. And we love the people - our customers - who keep on challenging us to make their lives better.

To do all this, we need to remember one simple fact: science is done by people for people. We need to inspire the next generation of researchers, which is one reason why Bayer is supporting these awards again in 2007, as part of its education programme "Making Science Make Sense".

Each year it is part of our business to hire scores of young scientists, who help us develop and market new products in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, performance materials and many more. They also help to manufacture products more efficiently, reducing our impact on the environment. As a result of their hard work, we have lighter, safer cars, more fruitful crops, improved data storage, better medicines, happier families, better services and more fun.

But science is not always well understood and is often maligned, too. As well as helping to inspire young people to study science, we back this competition because it is crucial that as many people as possible know about what is happening in laboratories around the world and, most important, understand what is going on. Science is certainly exciting, and is undoubtedly of vital importance and, the better that it is communicated to the public, the better chance it has of evolving in the right direction.

The 16 to 28 years olds who enter this competition should not underestimate the importance of what we are asking them to do. Your writing must be enquiring, passionate, vigorous, clear and accurate. Devise a catchy introductory paragraph to draw readers of The Daily Telegraph into the remarkable worlds of science.

Pick a subject that you can be passionate about, and give it as much fire as you can. You may already have something in mind, or you may want to find a source of inspiration. Why not look at my company's website for ideas, as entrants did last year.

Assume that you are writing your 700 word entry for publication on this page.

Journalistic methods will be favoured, such as seeking an interview with a scientist (in person, by e-mail or phone), in addition to drawing on published

papers and media accounts. Follow this advice and you could see your article in print and win a cash prize. We are also offering £500 to the school that submits the best entries. Help us to bridge the gulf of understanding. Help us turn schoolkids on to science. Help us to make the most of what science has to offer. And perhaps we might kill off the enduring stereotype of the mad scientist.

Martin Dawkins is CEO of Bayer in the UK/Ireland.

See www.bayer.co.uk