A few years ago, I saw an ad saying that Prof. Alan Trounson, a well known stem cell researcher, was giving a public talk at Monash University. I was interested in attending, but for those of you who don't know Melbourne, Monash is in the south-eastern suburbs. I live in the inner city. The prospect of driving across town through peak hour traffic on a cold wet night was too much for me, and I didn't go. Instead of bemoaning my fate, I decided to do something about it and organise something over my side of town. This was the beginning of the idea to set up Science Issues Cafe.

I am a lay person with an interest in science. The first thing I did was to make a list of topics which interested me. About a dozen topics came immediately to mind. Then I set about looking for speakers. I looked at university websites, which now all list staff members and their research interests. I chose people who seemed appropriate and emailed them. At first I was not sure whether they would require speakers fees, so I asked them about this as well as whether they would be willing to speak. No-one has wanted a fee. I have been pleasantly surprised at how willing our scientists are to give their time and speak to the community, even on a small scale. Maybe a couple of people have not replied, but so far no-one has said no. So I had a list of topics and speakers who had in principle agreed to speak. Next I needed a venue. I considered the options. I had attended a "Philosophy Cafe" which was at first held in a pub (Australian slang for a bar in a public hotel). The venue was free, and members could buy their own drinks at the bar. However, it was very noisy and crowded, and we could hardly hear each other speak. So we relocated to a Council of Adult Education classroom. The tutor brought along some glasses and wine. "Philosophy in a classroom" doesn't sound as sexy but it worked better. An important issue was cost. I was doing this entirely on my own initiative, so I didn't want to have to pay a lot for a venue. Pubs and restaurants have free function rooms, but participants are expected to buy drinks and meals, which some people might find prohibitive. I was discussing the idea with a neighbour who runs a cabaret and theatre group at a local community centre. She said they were thinking about holding a Friday night discussion group in one of their class rooms. So I went along to a committee meeting and put forward my proposal - a monthly discussion group open to the public, in which a scientist would be invited to come and talk about his or her field and lead the discussion. By that time I had plenty of speakers and topics already lined up, so the committee were delighted to take Science Issues Cafe on board as a project. The venue was not free, but the room hire fee was between $35 and  $50, depending on which room we used. I calculated that I could cover the cost of the hire plus a couple of casks of wine and biscuits by asking participants for a small donation. $5 has become the standard amount. This covers the meeting costs. Another participant and I have paid for the cost of the website hosting and domain name out of our own pockets.

A word on our name: Science because our topics and speakers represent some field of scientific endeavour; Issues because as well as getting the scientific background, we always end up discussing a broad range of political. philosophical and policy issues; and Cafe because although I decided not to literally locate the meeting in a cafe, I wanted to retain the glass of wine and informal atmosphere that the word "cafe" suggests.

So by this time, early 2005, all we needed were participants. I roped in as many friends and people who were contacted by word of mouth as I could, so that I would not be embarrassed on the first night. I also put an ad in the daily newspaper, The Age, which has a free listing of events. This attracted three people. Our first meeting, a talk by Geoff Taylor, the head of Physics at Melbourne University, was attended by about 12 to 15 people. Geoff talked about the state of physics, in the light of the centenary of Einstein's 1905 publications. Since then we have continued to meet monthly, and we are starting our fourth year. We still have plenty of topics to cover and willing speakers. I will be trying to increase the attendance by getting articles in the local papers and also by doing leaflet drops in the local area.

If you want to have a look at the topics and speakers we have had, and those I have organised for 2008, check out Meetings.

I guess the way I would describe Science Issues Cafe is that it is a completely grass roots effort, supported by the community with no institutional backing or funding. The meetings have been a blast, and we have yet to have a "dud" speaker.

Kaye Hargreaves

Convenor