SciShops is a new EU-funded Horizon 2020 project that will expand the Science shop ecosystem in Europe. VA (Public & Science) is one of 18 European partners in this three-year project, which officially started at a kick-off meeting in Vienna in September 2017.
At the beginning of June, VA’s Lotta Tomasson was invited to participate in the 2017 Beijing International Symposium on Science Communication. Sponsored by BAST – the Beijing Association for Science and Technology and organised by a number of Beijing-based organisations, including the Beijing Development Centre of Popular Science, the conference provided an interesting insight into science communication in China as well as an opportunity to share VA’s work and expertise.
The annual Eusea (European Science Engagement Association) conference brings together science communicators from all over Europe and beyond. This year, VA contributed two sessions to the conference held from 29-30 May in Belgium. Lena Söderström from VA shares her experiences.
Det nya EU-projektet ORION ska undersöka hur forskande och forskningsfinansierande organisationer kan bli öppnare och ta in fler samhällsperspektiv. VA är en av nio partnerorganisationer som denna vecka samlas i Barcelona för att starta projektet.
ORION is a new collaborative European project to explore ways in which research and funding organisations in life sciences and biomedicine can open up the way they fund, organise and do research. VA (Public & Science) is one of the nine partners in the project. ORION kicks off in Barcelona this week.
Integrate RRI as a cross-cutting issue in the EU framework programme for R&I. Use the SwafS programme to advance EU’s Open Science agenda! These were some of the suggestions raised during an evening discussion held on 15 November 2016 in Brussels organised by SiS.net, the network of National Contact Points for the SwafS programme and the Swedish national advocacy platform on Swafs.
Do more to address citizens’ needs and involve them in the research and innovation process. Include the humanities and social sciences more in Horizon 2020 calls. These are two of the recommendations put forward by VA (Public & Science) in response to the European Commission’s public stakeholder consultation, which forms part of the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020. Responses to the questionnaire will help the Commission improve its implementation of H2020 and inform EU research and innovation funding post-2020.
VA’s Secretary General Cissi Askwall recently joined Communication Directors from 18 Swedish Universities on a trip to London to learn more about the work of organisations involved in science communication. One of them was the British Science Association, a sister organisation to VA.
Each year, the Engage conference in the UK brings together delegates interested in public engagement in Higher Education institutions. The 2016 conference theme was ‘inspiring innovation’. VA (Public & Science) contributed to the programme with a workshop on RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation), together with University College London (UCL).