Conference Report from the EU Cities and Science Communication Conference – science policy recommendations and how they can be achieved

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Simon Harper

Here is the conference report from the EU CASC conference which took place at ThinkTank in Birmingham, UK, on 26-28 January 2011. The partners and delegates agreed on three policy recommendations which will increase public interest and engagement with science across the European Union. These policy recommendations are:

  • strengthen science citizenship
  • celebrate science and scientists
  • promote evidence-based research

The conference report puts forward the delegates’ suggestions for how these recommendations can be put in place – it also provides context for the recommendations and a series of case studies which illustrate how the findings from the CASC project informed these ideas.

You can download a PDF of the conference report here. The full CASC project report will be published in due course.

For more information on the policy recommendations please see these posts reporting on the discussions which took place at the conference.

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Notes from the World Cafe session — final thoughts

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jon Bounds

In the World Cafe session delegates split into groups small groups focusing on topics that they were especially passionate about and wrote thoughts on large sheets of paper.

You may have to click through and view large versions of these photographs as some of the sheets were very full and detailed by the end of the session. The most important thoughts were highlighted by outlining.

Science and the Credit Crisis (large version)
Notes on Science and the Credit Crisis
Continue reading →

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Marcos Perez on the value of networks

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jon Bounds

Marcos Perez from Casa de las Ciencias speaking to us at the EU Cities and Science Communication conference. He’s a strong advocate of the value of networks, and how working together on real projects increases understanding and provides huge insight.

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Strengthen science citizenship – CASC policy recommendations

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Ian Ravenscroft

Voting on policy recommendations

The group discussing the topic ‘Strengthen science citizenship’ selected four policy recommendations to promote and be included in the Conference Report . These were:

  • Promote science through partnerships between scientists and coporations
  • Invest in science educators and communicators
  • Develop a cohesive fiscal framework across the EU to support/enhance science
  • Strengthen links between science professionals and the media Continue reading →
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“Science communications is a value and virtue in its own right” Nick Winterbotham of Think Tank.

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Nick Booth

Nick Winterbotham of Think Tank in BirminghamThis is a short interview with Nick Winterbotham of Think Tank – the science museum in Birmingham and host of the final CASC Conference. He’s very strong on wanting to get the message across that science communication is not just an add on to Science, it needs to be supporting in it’s own right.

Science communication is not just a medium, it’s a value and a virtue of itself. It really does matter how we communicate science, not just the subject matter and people need to be paid to do that.  You have to start by engaging people’s imagination.

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