Vetenskap & Allmänhet, VA is an NGO located downtown Stockholm. Their mission? Bringing science and the public closer together by different means – science festivals for school pupils, studies on public trust in science, and co-creation projects involving both researchers and members of the public. The benefits of VA’s work for researchers in applied sciences are obvious, but why would a basic researcher with a background in molecular biology join their team?
As PhD students in Sweden, one of our learning outcomes is “[…] to demonstrate an ability to present and discuss research…in dialogue with…society in general”[1]. But to what extent is this goal actually realised and do we pay enough attention to it throughout our doctoral education? Science communication plays an integral part in our education, but it is focused on enabling us researchers to convey our message in a better way to other researchers through posters, oral presentations and scientific papers in a scholarly communication way. We often forget to share our knowledge with all those around us who are not researchers.
My internship at VA has allowed me to discover my role as a scientist in society.
In a fast-paced world that becomes more complex by the minute, it is crucial that experts raise their voices, share their knowledge, and help society to make informed decisions to ultimately support the democratic process. My internship at VA has allowed me to discover my role as a scientist in society. It has given me a new appreciation for the privileged position I am in as a researcher, but also the responsibilities that come with this profession. At the recent Open Science – From Policy to Practice conference, which was co-organised by VA, the role of researchers in society was discussed at large. My main take home message? We need a cultural change within our profession and institutions. As researchers we have to make active decisions to share our knowledge not only through open access journals, but also to engage more in scientific outreach and to enter into a dialogue with other societal players.
Another key message I bring back from my internship is that money allocated to research funding is not a natural law, but the result of active decisions made by politicians on a day-to-day basis. It is the public who decides which political leaders get to make the budget decisions which we as researchers ultimately rely on. But who is advocating for research if not us researchers? VA is a crucial player in the Swedish research landscape, promoting dialogue, open science and trust in research(ers), as well as doing advocacy work directed towards policymakers.
We need more societal engagement from researchers to communicate our scientific findings in an accessible and easy-to-understand manner
Still, we need more societal engagement from researchers to communicate our scientific findings in an accessible and easy-to-understand manner, and even more importantly engage in a dialogue with the public around important research topics. VA develops formats and creates opportunities to do so: be it during the nationwide Science Week, which started off as ForskarFredag; Forskar Grand Prix, where researchers get to pitch their research in four minutes; or Borrow a researcher, where teachers can invite researchers to their class.
During my time at VA, I have had the pleasure to work together with young people on a youth-focused citizen social science project called Youcount, and the gain as a researcher has been tremendous. By participating in these kinds of projects, you not only have an opportunity to spark scientific curiosity in youth, but also gain so many new perspectives yourself. These new perspectives, my newly discovered role as a researcher in society, and the enthusiasm to engage more with the public are learnings I will take “home” to the lab after my internship.
/Leonie Vetter
PhD student at Karolinska Institute and intern at VA 2023.
Leonie Vetter is a doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet. She is a trained biologist and her research focuses on understanding malaria parasite adaptation on a molecular level. As part of a career course offered by Karolinska Institutet, she did a one-month internship at VA.
Karolinska Institutet har varit VA-medlemmar sedan 2005. Läs mer om organisationen här.
[1] Rules for doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet Reg.no. 1-749/2022
