Science Cafés are events which facilitate the public to engage in conversations about scientific topics outside of the usual academic settings. Science Cafés, also known as Café Scientifique, started in the UK in the 1990s and have now spread to over 30 countries around the world. Science Cafés offer a forum for debating issues of science and technology and aim to keep science accountable.
OUCRU started the Vietnamese Science Café movement (Café Khoa Học) in 2011 in partnership with the Youth Unions in local universities in Ho Chi Minh City Viet Nam to provide students with a forum for lively discussion about modern science and health related issues. We aim to encourage enquiry and debate for students whose traditional education system is generally more didactic.
Cafés have been held at the University of Science, Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, University Agriculture and Forestry and with the HCMC Young Scientist’s Club. Topics range from “The role of ethics in medicine”, “Health animals, happy people”, “Mangroves and the environment” and “The role of the media in the recent Hand Foot Mouth outbreak”. In 2014-15 we are running a series of Science Cafés with junior doctors at The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, HCMC.
The cafés have been funded by the Wellcome Trust.
