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
Some more detail around these recommendations were added to posters. Here are some of the suggestions:
Promote science through partnerships between scientists and corporations
- Design labs so that scientists can meet the public
- Excursions to factories
- Long-term project between scientists, politicians, companies, schools, science centres
- Project-based learning (real life)
- Regulate the responsibility of the media
Invest in science educators and communicators
- Make it compulsory to allocate x% of scientific research budgets to invest in communicators and educators
- Complimentary science courses for teachers
Develop a cohesive fiscal framework across the EU to support/enhance science
- Recognise challenges of science communication in remote/rural areas of Europe
- Align structural funding mechanisms
- Better target existing mechanisms
- Increase proportion of income tax used to support scince
Strengthen links between science professionals and the media
- Organise training for journalists and scientists together
- General debates on science issues
- Film festivals
- Involve scriptwriters with scientists
- Create tools to infuse science in mainstream culture
The initial list of policy recommendations discussed by the group included:
- Hold referenda on certain (controversial?) science themes to increase interest (already happens in some countries?)
- Ensure science is approached from an issue- or project-base rather than subject-based to ensure inter-disciplinary
- Strengthen links between science professionals and the media (table two agree with this)
- Promote adult informal but structured education and engagement
- Ensure balanced science standpoints are made available to society, for example through supporting NGOs?
- Encourage production of fiction (novels, movies, tv) about controversial science issues
- Invest in scientists as communicators or in science communicators (or both)
- Organise open citizens debate between scientists and media
- Essential for EU to have specific science and society program
- Improve the professional status for teachers
- Educate teachers in science
- Redirect a proportion of personal tax, through local budget to finance science dissemination projects
- Means tested free computer and internet access in primary schools in rural areas
- Work closely with scientists
- Tax exemption for companies financing science dissemination projects (eg. science bus to different village).
- Better educate teachers
- Work closely with scientists and the business world
- Strengthen scientific education through CSR initiatives
- Science promoters – phd students to have compulsory hours to to disseminate science to hard to reach groups/schools
- Design labs in a style that allows science dissemination (i.e glass labs where people can see how scientists work and allows visits from schools etc)