Senior Lecturer, Science Communication Unit, Imperial College The Silences of Science project was prompted by a growing feeling that there is too much science communication – too much puff that ultimately undermines the credibility of science. Often I wish scientists would just shut up! Yet at the same time, we urgently need public discourse to be rooted in expert knowledge and for scientists to serve the public interest. I hope that this conference can help us find ways to reconcile these potentially conflicting impulses.