We live in an era when more and more of the science we watch and read appears online and there have been growing problems with misinformation and the polarisation of views. It is also a relatively small proportion of the public, in some countries, who engage with science and are involved with discussions and debates about the trajectory of science.
At the same time, the boom in the availability of opportunities to communicate science online, through the likes of social media, blogs and podcasts, has democratised who gets to communicate about the science of everything from vaccines to nuclear energy. But how do we define what is ‘good quality’ science communication? It’s not a straightforward question to answer.
A new project funded by the European Commission, COALESCE, is looking to address these challenges and questions. A consortium of 13 partners across Europe, including the Science Communication Unit (SCU), have come together to develop a European Competence Centre for Science Communication and a SciComm Academy for capacity building and training. Within the project we’ll synthesise and bring together the insights from Horizon2020 SwafS (Science with and for Society) projects and other sci com research to offer advice, expertise, resources and tools enabling new, innovative, science communication techniques to be adopted. Anyone who communicates science – from journalists, to public engagement experts, bloggers and vloggers – will have access to these resources.
The Competence Centre and Academy, which will be online, will also amplify the work of the existing science communication networks out there that are already doing fantastic work and help to share their insights into good science communication practice. Co-creation will be used to create materials within COALESCE to enable mutual learning and ensure the resources meet the needs of those who will use them. As part of the project, national and regional hubs will be created across Europe that will act as physical venues, bringing communities of practice together and ensuring that the Competence Centre’s materials and resources are relevant to and visible within national and regional contexts.
The project is led by Erasmus University Rotterdam and Science For Change, a social enterprise based in Barcelona. Several members of the Science Communication Unit (SCU) are part of the team: Andy Ridgway, Emma Weitkamp, Clare Wilkinson and Emma Brisdion. The SCU will play a key role in raising the profile of the Competence Centre and Academy and making sure science communication practitioners are aware of the resources and tools the project creates. SCU team members are also involved in other aspects of COALESCE, including the work to create training materials and the creation of an impact and evaluation tool for science communication.
COALESCE team at the project kick-off meeting in Rotterdam, April 2023.
Speaking at the project’s kick-off meeting in April 2023, Jason Pridmore, from Erasmus University Rotterdam and the COALESCE Project Coordinator, said:
“The word ‘coalesce’ is about coming together and the COALESCE project is about the coming together of many different science communication research projects to produce a new project, that will focus on creating a Competence Centre for Science Communication for all of Europe. For me, that means making sure that we are effective at our science communication and that we are engaged with our public stakeholders and policymakers, that we are training people, engaging people in citizen science and that we are proliferating across different media landscapes.”
A number of COALESCE colleagues attended the Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST 2023) in Rotterdam in April to raise the profile of the project – but most importantly to start valuable conversations with researchers, practitioners and networks that will help shape the project’s work.
In the coming year, a website, podcasts, videos and infographics will be created to share insights and resources. To find out more and get involved now, you can join the conversation and help shape the Centre and Academy by connecting with COALESCE on Twitter (@ScicommEU) and on LinkedIn (COALESCE SciComm).
The COALESCE project partners are: Science for Change (Spain) Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands), Venice International University (Italy), Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (Finland), Formicablu (Italy) University Of Valencia (Spain), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), Science Communication Unit, University of the West Of England (UK), Stickydot (Belgium), The Spanish Foundation For Science And Technology (Spain), SISSA Medialab (Italy) and Tallinn University (Estonia). COALESCE is funded by the European Union.
The COALESCE team brings together those involved with Horizon 2020 SWAFS-19 projects: NEWSERA, TRESCA, QUEST, GlobalSCAPE, ParCos, ENJOI, CONCISE and RETHINK.
The SCU’s involvement in COALESCE is funded by UKRI within the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme.
Emma Brisdion and Andy Ridgway, Science Communication Unit, UWE Bristol