Science Communication Observatory - Teaching, Publishing and Collaborative Projects

Teaching, Publishing and Collaborative Projects

The Science Communication Observatory runs a Master in Science, Medical and Environmental Communication in Barcelona (Spain) since 1995 and a Diploma in Science Communication in Buenos Aires (Argentina) since 2008 and other courses and workshops about science communication and the popularization of science. The Science Communication Observatory also publishes Quark, a journal about “Science, Medicine, Communication and Culture”, and also carries on researches and analysis in the Science in Society field, working with other European institutions and academic groups on several European projects such as:

• PLACES - Platform of Local Authorities and Communicators Engaged in Science, a four-year European project establishing and developing the concept of the European City of Scientific Culture. The project focuses on developing and strengthening City Partnerships, bringing together 67 science centres, museums, festivals and events, each partnering with local authorities, and 10 European regional networks. The project facilitates cooperation among these alliances to structure their science communication activities, sharing tools, resources and results.

• KiiCS - Knowledge Incubation in Innovation and Creation for Science, the project aims to build bridges between arts, science and technology by giving evidence of the positive impacts of their interaction for creativity as well as for triggering interest in science. The project will stimulate co-creation processes involving creators and scientists, and nurture youth interest in science in a creative way. (KiiCS starts 15 February 2012)

• MASIS - Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in Europe, project to develop structural links and interaction between scientists, policy-makers and society at large, therefore an instrumental tool in relation to stimulating further cooperation in Europe and reducing fragmentation through the identification of common resources, common trends, common interests, and common challenges.

• ESCITY - Europe, Science and the City: promoting scientific culture at local level, an initiative to create the core of a network for the exchange of information and best practices in the area of promoting scientific culture, with two particular characteristics; focusing on local and regional action and emplacing strategies that situate the promotion of scientific culture under the umbrella of cultural policies.

• ESConet - European Science Communication Network, which brings together experienced science communication lecturers, researchers and practitioners from across Europe to train natural scientists and technologists to communicate effectively with the media, policy-makers and the general public. As well as delivering these core communication skills, ESConet workshops encourage scientists to reflect critically on the social, cultural, and ethical dimensions of their scientific work.

• E-KNOWNET - Network for ICT-enabled non-formal science learning, a project supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission to develop an innovative and viable ICT-enabled mechanism for fast and efficient sharing of new knowledge among larger non-expert segments of society, in forms suitable for non-formal learning.

• STEPE - Sensitive Technologies and European Public Ethics project is innovative in contributing to the early identification of potentially controversial technological developments and related public ethics, by systematically considering both the view of key stakeholders in technological, political and societal life and the perceptions of European citizens in 25 European member states, thereby contextualising the findings by a systematic analysis of policy developments both on national and European levels. The interdisciplinary and multi-method approach will aim at establishing an integrated European Map of Public Ethics. It is the aim to stimulate new, empirically grounded, thinking on public ethics as a contribution to wider debates and policy making on responsible technological innovation. As a key data source, the proposal is based on the triennial Eurobarometer survey on the Biotechnology and the Life Sciences.

• Benchmarking the Promotion of RTD culture and Public Understanding of Science to establish the current state of RTD culture in Member States, to provide a survey of the ongoing activities, and to recommend measures to be followed to improve the present situation. In order to clarify the meaning behind the vocabulary used in different Member States, our introduction also contains an analysis of the concepts behind “Public Understanding of Science”, “Public Understanding of Science and the Humanities (Wissenschaft)” and “Culture Scientifique”.