Much of VA’s work is carried out in project form, including public engagement activities, studies as well as advocacy work.
Public engagement projects involve organising events which stimulate dialogue between researchers and the public in new ways and in novel arenas. VA also carries out studies and surveys with the aim of increasing knowledge about the relationships between science and society at large.
Public engagement projects:
• European Researchers’ Night – the annual European science festival. VA is the national co-ordinator.
- Researchers’ Grand Prix – a science communication competition for researchers
- Mass experiments – engaging school pupils in real research
• Finding The Vasa Cannons
• Science Cafés – a way to discuss science in a relaxed and informal setting
• Science communication toolbox
– The toolbox aims to provide inspiration and ideas for a variety of activities to communicate research. The starting point is activities organised during the annual Researchers’ Night event.
• Media seminars for scientists
• What is science? – an animated film project
Past European projects:
- 2WAYS – an EU project to test new forms of disseminating knowledge about life science research
- ComScience – an EU project to test new forms of dialogue and communication about public health research
- European Student Parliaments on Science – a European project involving pupils working closely with scientists. VA ran the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm.
Studies:
VA carries out studies and surveys with the aim of increasing knowledge about the relationships between science and society at large as well as more specific studies into societal groups such as journalists, teachers and the business community:
• The public
- VA’s annual barometer investigates how the Swedish public views science and researchers.
• Teachers
- School meets Science was a three-year project investigating how schools view research and their contact with researchers.
• Media
- 2014 study analysing media coverage of research misconduct and public confidence in research.
• International studies
• Business community
• Politicians
• Young people
Advocacy and development work:
• ARCS – Building a Swedish national portal for citizen science
• Bloom – An EU project about raising public awareness and interest in the bioeconomy
• March for Science Sweden
• ORION – An EU project about Open Science
• SciShops – An EU project to develop Science Shops
• Swedish advocacy platform Horizon 2020 – Science with and for Society
– VA is coordinator of a national collaboration platform for Science with and for Society activity in Sweden.
Past projects include:
- Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI – VA works to promote RRI in Sweden and has been partner in the EU RRI Tools project helping to develop the RRI Toolkit for responsible research and innovation.
- Smedpack – A collaborative project to develop an improved supply chain for medicines
If you would like to learn more about VA’s projects, please contact:
Cissi Askwall, Secretary General of VA