When well communicated, science and research offer a number of potential benefits to society. But how can we recognize valuable scientific dissemination? When is it effective? How can we promote and incentivize science communication?
From these questions it stems QUEST - QUality and Effectiveness in Science and Technology communication, a 2-year project coordinated by Venice International University (VIU) through its TEN Program on Sustainability and funded by the EU Commission with a 1.2M budget, within the H2020 SwafS action - Science with and for Society.
QUEST started on Feb. 1, 2019 and is composed of a European consortium of 8 partners including, besides VIU, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, City - University of London, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Tallinn University, Trinity College Dublin, Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE) & World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA FR).
During the two-year project researchers and experts from QUEST consortium will investigate science communication in three strands - journalism, social media, museums - through three case studies: climate change, vaccines, and Artificial Intelligence. The final aim is to take stock of science communication today, to define quality criteria, to provide supporting tools for journalists, social media managers and museums facilitators, in order to ultimately offer citizens effective and quality communication on scientific topics that generally have a significant impact on their daily lives, such as those selected as case studies.
The QUEST consortium brings together science communication researchers, editors, communicators, journalists and science journalists, digital creativity and data science experts, environmental scientists, along with a number of companies, associations and prestigious research institutions that form a first group of key Stakeholders (among them are BBC, CERN, INFN, Alcantara SpA) and that will be involved in the co-design process of the different tools.
