Future of Science Communication Conference
About the conference
About the conference 2021
An increasing scientification of societal discourses, not only against the background of the corona pandemic, indicates that the communication of scientific knowledge will be even more important in the future. While the exchange of experience within practitioner communities is working better and better at the national and, increasingly, at the European level, the academic discipline of ‘science of science communication’ is only slowly emerging in the European research landscape. Hence, there is a lack of systematic, interdisciplinary overviews of research questions and areas. In addition, the transfer between research and practice in this field is still at a relatively low level. This lack of systematic transfer and networking leads to a lack of practical orientation in research as well as a lack of evidence orientation in the practice of science communication.
This is where the Future of Science Communication conference sets in: Its primary goal is to provide an impetus for stronger networking and further transfer activities in Science Communication. Only effective and evidence-based science communication can help to tackle the challenges in the relationship between science-public-media-politics in the coming years on the European level. We need science communication research that is well connected at the European level, systematically conducts excellent research, and promotes its transfer into practice.
Conference topic
The multidisciplinary conference brought together outstanding researchers and practitioners, reflecting the state of the art in the field of science communication and discussing the further development of the field. Which topics in science communication are considered to be well researched? What are the recommended courses for action in science communication practice and science policy? And how can the exchange and transfer between research and practice be better and more sustainably designed? Participants addressed these overarching questions in high level panel sessions as well as in in-depth workshops, while discussing the latest findings on questions of trust in science, dealing with fake news, crisis communication, citizen science, and more. Furthermore, our speakers used case studies on specific controversial scientific topics such as artificial intelligence, genome editing, climate change, or vaccinations to illustrate and discuss learnings from research and practice of science communication.
Target groups
European researchers (senior/junior) from the 'science of science communication' (coming from different disciplines such as educational research, media and communication research, sociology, social psychology, etc.)
Practitioners of science communication, especially representatives from
SciComm initiatives and organisations
University communication departments
Museums / Science Centers
Foundations, NGOs
Companies
Science communication funding organisations from Europe
Science policy makers
Representatives from science management
Format
The Future of Science Communication Conference took place as a virtual event.