COALESCE had a strong presence at the ESOF2024 conference in Katowice, Poland, held two weeks ago. Our highlight was a press conference where we presented our latest policy brief, on excellent science communication for urgent societal challenges – you can read the press release below. We also had a booth crewed by members of the COALESCE team and ran two sessions at the conference (reports below). Huge thanks to everyone who attended our sessions or spoke with the team at the booth.
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre published a report earlier this month, on “Trustworthy Public Communications”. One of the key recommendations is: “New challenges require new skills, competences and centres of expertise to support public communication professionals.” COALESCE is proud to be working towards this recommendation, as we co-create the European Competence Centre for Science Communication. Our website for the Competence Centre is now live: scicommcentre.eu.
Our next newsletter will be out in September. But don’t forget that you can follow us on social media to keep up with COALESCE – we post regularly on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn. Have a lovely summer!
The COALESCE consortium, funded by the European Commission, has published a policy brief with recommendations for how science communication can more effectively address urgent societal challenges such as climate science and the rapid development of artificial intelligence. The policy brief was presented this afternoon at the 2024 EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), taking place in Katowice, Poland, and can be found online at zenodo.org/records/11082053.
The uncertain and interrelated nature of urgent societal issues emphasises the importance and relevance of science communication. In an era of misinformation and polarisation, it is challenging to support constructive dialogue between different types of knowledge and expertise while maintaining trust. This COALESCE policy brief summarises the outcomes from a series of interviews and topic-based workshops that investigated how science communication can contribute to navigating complex, urgent societal issues.
Together with multiple-field experts, COALESCE issues a call to support the field of science communication in reaching its full potential as a mediator in science-society and science-policy interactions, as well as public discussions on science, which can strengthen the future of European democracies. In the document, the following recommendations to policymakers and science funders are addressed:
Nurture resilience: Support science communication as a field that nurtures resilience in navigating misinformation and establishing trustworthy relationships
Facilitate constructive exchange: Support science communication as a field in facilitating constructive exchange and strengthening public discussions about science
The policy brief addresses societal crises in four areas: 1) climate emergency, 2) water, oceans and soils, 3) health and vaccines, and 4) artificial intelligence and digital transformation. These topics were prioritised considering major global challenges, the European Commission’s priorities, the EU Missions’ support in Europe’s transformation, and the role science communication can play in multiple-stakeholder interfaces to promote co-creation and citizen engagement and increase trust in science.
The policy brief also highlights the differing needs of various actors in science communication, from science-communication professionals, journalists and academics to policymakers and citizens, including training and coordinated actions amongst them.
Note to the editors: This policy brief is the first in a series of three, capturing the first phase of the process set out to address the role of science communication in societal challenges, namely exploration and agenda setting. The next two policy briefs will address (1) the experimenting and reflecting phase and (2) the iterating and validating phase of the process.
During ESOF2024, members of COALESCE facilitated a workshop to present and discuss the first version of the Crisis Navigator, a living guidebook that offers ideas and suggestions for reflective best practice to increase trust in science, tackle misinformation and assist citizens in making sense of crises. It aimed at gathering the specific challenges, needs and opportunities of different stakeholders involved in the communication of scientific information, to shape the next iterations of the guidebook.
The workshop was attended by around 20 participants from three distinct backgrounds: (1) science communicators and journalists, (2) researchers and (3) professionals involved in policy-making. After being presented with the Crisis Navigator, they were asked what they could do in their different roles and capacities to promote an effective flow of good-quality information before, during and after emergencies such as epidemics, earthquakes, flooding, but also long-term crises such as climate change.
Among other aspects, participants discussed the role of influencers: scientists, writers, politicians and artists who become communication beacons both on social media and in traditional media. While they can help convey important messages to the non-expert audiences, promoting vaccines during COVID-19, for example, participants noted that influencers may also disseminate incorrect information, create controversies and confusion, especially when they are not experts in the scientific fields relevant to the crisis.
Other points for discussion included the necessity for better clarity of roles, especially between politicians and scientists, when a crisis is underway; the available channels for communication to consider, which should not be only the media but also schools, libraries and in general places people attend and are familiar with; ensuring that public engagement in science and technology is seen as a duty for all researchers; and training journalists on statistics, so that they can interpret and communicate scientific data in a better way.
The discussions from the workshop – facilitated by Paola Rodari (SISSA Medialab, Italy), Giulia Bonelli (Formicablu, Italy), Kaelin DeLong (Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Joana Magalhães (Science for Change, Spain) and Jason Pridmore (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands) – will feed the next versions of the guidebook, which will be made available via the European Competence Centre for Science Communication.
How can we communicate science more effectively to help address challenges such as antibiotic resistance and pandemics? It’s a question that gets to the heart of what the new European Competence Centre for Science Communication is setting out to achieve and also formed the focal point at a debate at ESOF2024, held in Katowice, Poland.
The debate, organised by members of COALESCE, was attended by policymakers, journalists, representatives of NGOs and other stakeholders to discuss some of the thorny challenges that stand in the way of effective science–society relations at times when they are needed most. The session, which took place on the first day of the conference, also provided an opportunity to showcase the way that COALESCE is working – bringing together insights from several large research projects to provide guidance and inspiration on effective science communication.
During the debate, the participants heard from RETHINK, TRESCA and ENJOI, three research projects funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, which are feeding into the fledgling Competence Centre.
From RETHINK, Dr Andy Ridgway, based at the University of the West of England, UK, presented research into people’s “sensemaking practices” about science during the pandemic. It showed how people used social media, their own values as well as opinions of friends and family to inform their decisions when COVID-19 was spreading across Europe.
Giulia Bonelli from Formicablu, Italy, spoke on behalf of ENJOI, which found that engagement increases audiences’ trust in science and that diversity should be applied as a guiding principle in journalism, supporting efforts to fight polarisation and discrimination. Dr Jason Pridmore from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, discussed TRESCA, which demonstrated the power of openness, vulnerability, transparency and accessibility when communicating science.
Ideas from participants on how to address challenges to effective science communication at times of crisis included fact-check scores beneath online science articles, introducing consequences for disinformation and peer curation of scientific information. The session finished with examples of innovative approaches to science communication highlighted in the Horizon 2020 projects such as the video created within TRESCA in conjunction with Kurzgesagt and new approaches to reaching underserved audiences from RETHINK.
The video by TRESCA and Kurzgesagt
Excellent science communication for urgent societal challenges
This policy brief summarises the outcomes from a series of individual interviews and topic-based workshops that investigated how science communication can contribute to navigating complex, urgent societal issues in four topic areas: 1) climate emergency, 2) water, oceans and soils, 3) health and vaccines, and 4) artificial intelligence and digital transformation.
SciComm Conversations is COALESCE’s official podcast. In our first season, we are chatting with experts on the topic of science communication in the age of artificial intelligence.
Episode 2
In our second episode, we hear from Professor Jennifer Edmond from Trinity College Dublin on the subject of engaging the public on artificial intelligence. Jennifer has been involved in a number of projects that use theatre and interactive installations to engage people with AI.
You can also listen to the episode, with a full transcript, on our website.
Episode 3
In our third episode of the season, Mohamed Elsonbaty tells us about his experience training science journalists and science communicators in using generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT.
You can also listen to the episode, with a full transcript, on our website.
Upcoming events
PCST 2025 – Call for Abstracts “The global PCST Network is a professional networking and career development space for researchers, students, and practitioners who are involved in exploring or doing public communication of science. We invite science and technology communication researchers and practitioners to submit proposals for this conference.”
Symposium Science Communication 2024 “This mini-symposium is for researchers and practitioners who are interested in learning about and sharing insights and experiences on the dynamics around science communication, science journalism and citizen science.”
BIG Event “The BIG Event is a three day get-together every summer to share skills and experiences, develop professional links and keep up-to-date with the STEM engagement field. This is the place to hone your skills and recharge your professional batteries, pick up great ideas and show off your talents to peers.”
UK Conference of Science Journalists 2024 “The ABSW's premier biennial event that enables science journalism and communication professionals to discuss and debate contemporary issues in science journalism, to promote professional development and to link with colleagues, encouraging journalistic entrepreneurship.”
Communicating Discovery Science “The symposium aims to deepen understanding of effective public engagement around Discovery Science, also known as basic or foundational science, by exploring ways to improve the practice of communicating Discovery Science, share insights and create a supportive community for scientists and science communication practitioners focused on basic science.”
