ComScience

VA was a project partner in the EU-project ComScience, that ran from 2009 to 2012. The aim of the project was to test new forms of dialogue and communication about public health research.

Similar meeting concepts are tested in five European countries (Sweden, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and Spain). The target audiences were youth and the general public. At each meeting  a film about the selected topic was watched and followed by an open dialogue with local scientific experts. The events lasted approximately three hours, and were closely evaluated.

Five science topics were chosen that address immediate concerns and interests of European citizens. The four themes discussed during the project were asthma and allergies, diabetes and obesity, genetically modified foods and stem cells. The films and other information products used in ComScience had been developed in a previous EU project, EUSEM, but were translated and adapted for the target audiences.

In 2010 a pilot meeting in each country was conducted. VA’s pilot meeting focused on asthma and allergies. Four additional meetings were then held in each country during 2011. The project structure encouraged not only the exchange of information between the public and scientists but also stimulated the exchange of know-how and best practices between the communication experts.

The project resulted in the publication of a best practice manual Let’s Talk Science designed to help science communicators organise events with different target groups in Europe.

Summaries from the Swedish meetings can be seen below.