Llorente C – PCST Network

Author: Carolina Llorente – Communication and Society Studies Centre, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Co-authors:

Mar Carrió – Group of Educational Research in Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Júlia Alessandra Garcia Chillida – Communication and Society Studies Centre, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Gema Revuelta – Communication and Society Studies Centre, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

The increasing perception that public communication in science and technology is an important tool to create a knowledge society is encouraging numerous public engagement activities. In Spain, every two years, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) analyzes the relationships between science, technology and society through a survey. However, little is known about scientists’ understanding of the perceptions of the public regarding scientists’ role in the research, development and innovation process or on Spanish scientists’ actual understanding of the public. If we want to establish an effective dialogue between science and society, we need to be aware of the opinions and perceptions that both parties have of each other. In this study, we address this issue by focusing on 1022 responses to a survey conducted among scientists in Spain to discover their views of the public, and we then compare these responses with data from national surveys on the public’s understanding of science.

The results show that approximately 75% of Spanish scientists think that the general public has a serious lack of knowledge and understanding of scientific reasoning, although scientists do recognize that science interests the public (73%). Scientists believe that the public values the scientific profession to a lesser extent than suggested by public surveys: on a scale of 1-5, survey respondents rate their valuation of the scientific profession at 4.22, whereas scientists rate the public’s valuation of the profession at 3.12, on average. Significant differences were detected between scientists’ perceptions of how citizens are informed about science and what citizens report in surveys. The challenge for the future is to narrow this gap in order to help scientists gain a better understanding of the public and their interests and to make public engagement activities more effective.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Visual presentation
Theme: Time

Author: Carolina Llorente – Communication and Society Studies Centre, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain

Co-authors:
Mar Carrió – Pompeu Fabra University
Gema Revuelta – Communication and Society Studies Centre, Pompeu Fabra University

The social relevance of scientific research has led to evaluate the utility of including society in the research process, also in order to design adequate strategies. The active participation of different actors in solving a given problem fosters a vision of a shared future and helps the better acceptance of the scientific and technological limitations.

Establishing dialogues that bring together scientists and different stakeholders provides the opportunity to jointly understand and analyze global issues and make decisions accordingly. Often platforms and associations are consulted or engaged in studies as representatives of diverse societal views and concerns.

The main objective of our study was to diagnose the current state of the participation of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Third Sector associations throughout the R&D&I process. We want to identify what their current role is and what they consider this role should be. To this aim, we interviewed 30 CSOs managers and representatives based in Spain.

From these interviews, we conclude that patient and environmental associations have a more active role in R&D&I process than other CSOs. They especially contribute as subjects of study, funders, providing data or in field work. CSOs representatives generally view a clear positive relationship between their participation in research and the main activity of the organization. However, most of them consider this association useful only in social science research.

On the other hand, the great majority of CSOs representatives do not want research’s main tasks to be done inside their organization. Instead, they prefer to associate with universities or research centres in some way. For instance, through agreements to develop doctoral or master’s theses in the framework of their activity, or as part of advisory boards.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Building a theoretical basis for science communication

Scientists’ opinions and attitudes towards citizens’ understanding of science and their role in public engagement activities

Social participation in science: The perspective of third sector organizations

Contact

Connect

Join

Discuss

Partners