From the microbiome to pre-victorian railways: An interview with Leamington’s Café Scientifique

St. Patrick’s Irish Club. A deceptively large building overlooking the river in everybody’s favourite student town. A place to watch rugby, learn Irish dancing, and catch any number of touring tribute bands. And, since 2004, home to Leamington’s Café Scientifique.

Café Scientifique did not begin in Leamington Spa, of course. The first was held in 1998 in Leeds, a scientific sister to the earlier Café Philosophique. For those unfamiliar, these cafés are opportunities for science communication – where a researcher, typically from a local university, is invited to present their work and discuss it with people from the community. The organisation does not make a profit. Donations are requested during the event to cover venue costs, the speaker’s travel, and sometimes to donate to a charity which funds research in the area being presented on.

Every time I’ve been, it’s felt full to the brim

While Café Scientifique is the umbrella term for these events, there’s no central oversight or funding. The Leamington Café Scientifique is, for all intents and purposes, independent. There isn’t even a local organising committee. It’s all done (aside from Andy Burnley’s vital work on their website) by one man: John Holroyde. And, before that, Jan Gillett. I sat down with them both.

Jan has a degree in geology and has enjoyed a long career in business. He got involved early on, around the turn of the millennium, citing an “astonishing networker” named Barbara as the driving force of the café back then. He met John, a chemist by training, when playing golf in 2019, and passed the organisation role on to him shortly after.

The usual crowd at Leamington’s ‘Café Sci’ (as the pair refer to it) is generally older, with many attendees enjoying their retirement. They joke that talks about illness go down especially well because of this, although Jan is firm that any aspect of science is welcome. In the past few months, Leamington Café Scientifique has had Professor Meera Unnikrishnan (University of Warwick) present on the microbiome, Dhara Patel (National Space Centre) discuss findings of the James Webb Space Telescope, and Jan himself speak about science on the pre-Victorian railway. Leamington’s Café Scientifique takes quite an inclusive view of the word ‘science’ itself. Far broader than people in white coats, Jan describes the applicability of the scientific method as “utterly universal”, and the Café has previously hosted speakers from the social sciences and beyond.

We’re very grateful to the University of Warwick and the people who work there

John Holdroyde, Leamington Café Scientifique organiser

With ten exceptionally well-received sessions each year, the pair were hard-pressed to name a specific presentation they enjoyed the most. In fact, it was the small handful of subpar presentations which stuck out more. People reading rigidly from cards, or attempting to speak for over double the 30–35 minutes the format is built around, which was also a major attraction to Jan getting involved in the Café in the first place. By the way, don’t feel bad about zoning out half-way through that one-hour lecture, folks. Jan shares that the consensus in pedagogical research is that people simply cannot focus for that long, even people generationally removed from the influences of short-form video on our attention spans.

While the Café’s home for the past 20+ years is technically a members’ club, and a flight of stairs renders the Café Sci meeting space inaccessible to some, I’m told “being able to get a drink is essential”, and that there are no plans to move. And to be fair, the space is warm and inviting, with a shape that lends itself well to the Café Sci-owned projection equipment. Every time I’ve been, it’s felt full to the brim – 40–50 people on average, according to John, and they would be happy to have more. When I express shock that more people would even fit in the venue space, John reveals that the tables are deliberately arranged to make the room appear even fuller than it is, and that they’ve previously hosted upwards of 80 people. Their current attendance is exceptionally healthy, especially considering we are still only a few years out from the Covid-19 lockdowns which Jan reflects probably marked the end of many sister Cafés, while the Leamington branch persisted through with online sessions.

When asked for one thing they wanted the Warwick student body to know, John responded instantly: “That they’re welcome”

While John has presented at the Café Scientifique before, his attraction to these kinds of events has always been hearing others speak. He recalls a particular experience getting to see Professor Sir George Porter – a Nobel-prize winning chemist – present on flash photolysis, a novel technique at the time. He believes the opportunity to hear about the latest scientific research is highly valuable, and that this is one of the few ways for this demographic to still do this. The evidence seems to agree, as so many of the dozens of attendees show up month after month. Back in the day when the mailing list used to occasionally fail, the pair tell me that some would show up on the third Monday of the month like clockwork, even without any communication that a Café Sci event was being held. Having been raised on headlines about a geriatric epidemic of loneliness, I am keen to ask about their perceptions of the value of the social aspect as well. This is not a problem that Café Sci attendees seem to struggle with, although John does consider (more so than simply the turnout, or even whether the speaker kept to time!) how much people chat during the interval to be a marker of a successful event.

Many of the attendees have science backgrounds and are not shy about challenging the speakers. Jan describes the Café Sci audience as “friendly but demanding”, and having attended a few sessions this year, I’m inclined to agree. The pair suggest this is an essential part of a research career, and that the events might be a helpful avenue for feedback before presenting work at a scarier, more formal academic conference.

Despite the benefits, presenters aren’t always easy to recruit, even for a town surrounded by Midlands universities. Speaking on this, John emphasised that “we’re very grateful to the University of Warwick and the people who work there”, and that he always aims to “give them an audience to justify the trip!”.

When asked for one thing they wanted the Warwick student body to know, John responded instantly: “That they’re welcome.”

The pair are in agreement that an influx of young people to the events would be no bad thing. In fact, they’ve even been reaching out to local sixth forms. They tell me that Leamington Spa is home to around 5,000 university students – the most in any UK town that doesn’t actually have its own university – and that any of us would be encouraged to come along to listen and learn (and maybe drink). You can sign up for their mailing list here or just roll up on the third Monday of the month (except when that’s St. Patrick’s day) at 7pm.

There’s no need to register to attend, but if you (or your lecturers or supervisors – spread the word!) are interested in presenting or even in helping John organise it for a year or so, you can get in touch via their website.

And hey, maybe I’ll see you there.