Slowly But Surely: How the European Union Promotes Science Communication

Abstract

The chapter reviews the initiatives taken by the European Union to stimulate and promote science communication through transnational research projects. The story starts in the 1980s with European Science and Technology Week. Through its successive Framework Programmes, the EU has supported transnational projects related to raising public awareness of science and technology and to the public communication of science and technology. In addition, the European Commission decided to include specific provisions regarding public information and communication in the contracts signed by the beneficiaries of its Framework Programmes. In November 2005, the commission organized a major conference, Communicating European Research 2005. It was the first ever conference on science communication organized by the commission and probably one of the biggest ones on that subject organized for scientists. It showed the growing importance and recognition of public communication of science and technology. All these initiatives show that the European Commission draws the attention of participants in EU-funded projects to the fact that they can no longer ignore the ‘public communication’ dimension of their activity. The commission has also set up specific tools to disseminate good practices in science communication. In addition, it monitors public opinion in Europe about science and technology through major opinion surveys (the ‘Eurobarometers’).