Science communication the other way around – How to get scientists to understand you?

Author: Leonardo de la Torre Ávila – The Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain

Co-authors:
Franco Bagnoli – Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy)
Mitsuru Kudo – Center for the Study of Co* Design – Osaka University (Japan)

Great research could start when regular people inspire science, when somebody – as explained by Norbert Steinhaus – reformulates, translates society’s questions into a language that scientists understand. One of the methodologies that emerges from communication and understanding between civil society and science is the so-called “Science Shop”. Within a Science Shop experience, universities and research centres allow citizens and civil society organizations to, raising questions, present their problems on any topic, according with the available expertise. The answer may require a simple bibliographic consultation or a specific investigation. The research is assigned to students as part of their final dissertation, under the supervision of an experienced researcher.

In a roundtable discussion, partners of InSPIRES – an ongoing project under European Commission’s Horizon 2020’s programme “Science with and for Society” – will debate on current experiences that present Science Shops as a powerful communication opportunity to trigger bottom-up, demand-driven research. People attending our interactive discussion will analyze how Science Shops and other”communicative science”experiences that InSPIRES partners and advisors are developing in Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Bolivia and Japan look for the best of the Science Shop tradition and more participative methodologies.

Some of the partners’ background in science cafés, radio transmission, blogging and involvement of the population in citizen science projects in the Science Shop framework, will be shared on a discussion based upon a debate on Science bi-directional Communication. At InSPIRES we believe it is possible is to build effective cooperation between science and society by supporting the growth of Science Shops and enabling the expansion of responsible participatory research and innovation in Europe and abroad, in order to tackle key societal challenges that affect the world population.

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

Presentation type: Roundtable discussion
Theme: Society
Area of interest: Applying science communication research to practice