Science with an armchair and a drink: Julia Boughner and Café Scientifique

Listen to all episodes of Researchers Under the Scope podcast.
Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

An associate professor of anatomy with the College of Medicine, Boughner is a biologist who specializes in evolutionary development.

On the last Tuesday of the month, she hosts Café Scientifique Saskatoon.

“It started off at Amigos,” she said. “We outgrew that, which was a great problem to have. And Winston’s has been our home ever since.”

The events began as pub nights with scientists sharing their research through informal talks, mingling with members of the public and answering questions. With overstuffed chairs and wooden tables, researchers and the audience spend the evening chatting in what Boughner describes as a “very low-key relaxed vibe."

"I think a lot of speakers enjoyed the fact they could give a podium talk with a beer,” she laughed. "Researchers welcome the opportunity to be out there with the public, to share something that they care very deeply about.”

Whether it’s a geologist, a chemist, a mathematician or a biomedical researcher, the speaker usually spends 30 minutes chatting about their research and discoveries. Members of the public then ask questions, and begin to build relationships and a sense of friendship and trust. For Boughner, it’s also about giving scientists a human face, and connecting them with members of the public.

“There’s also this sense of responsibility,” she said. “[Scidentists] appreciate that we are being funded by taxpayers dollars and we are working in a public institution.”

The concept has its origins in 'Café Philosophique' nights in post-war France. By 1998, Duncan Dallas helped the idea morph into “Café Scientifique” evenings when he deliberately started inviting scientists from the University of Leeds to pub nights.

Boughner co-founded Café Scientifique in Vancouver in 2004. She brought along the Tuesday evening tradition when she moved to Saskatoon eight years ago.

When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down most public events in 2020, she considered canceling or postponing Cafe Sci nights, then thought better of it.

“We were so sick of the same day repeating itself, that having an event to look forward to was a little bit of a lift,” Boughner said. “I am so happy to see so many of the same faces at the online events."

In this episode, Boughner shares insight on the nights that drew the biggest crowds, and how the pandemic highlights the need to build trust between research scientists and ordinary citizens.

“One of the missions of Cafe Sci is to personalize or humanize researchers,” she said. “I really hope that we get to go back into a face-to-face environment."