Astronomers' Engagement with the Process of Astronomy Popularization in Russia

There are studies regarding public understanding of science, but no representative studies have been conducted in Russia on the scientists' participation in science popularization activities. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge about how scientists view the popularization of science and how their institutions relate to such work. The responsibility for science popularization often lies on scientists, but we know little about what scientists themselves think about the problems of such work, how it should be done, and what strategies can be most effective in popularizing science events . Of course, this research does not pretend to be nationally representative, however, to fill these important gaps, semi-structured interviews were conducted with astronomers, researchers, post-graduate students from the field of astronomy at universities and academic institutes in Russia. We will examine whether scientists participate in astronomical events, and if so, in what forms of popularization they are included. Finally, we will also try to find out what obstacles scientists face when trying to participate in astronomical events, what motivates them and what strategies scientists consider the most effective the scientific community can use to promote such efforts.