Responsible research in dialogue with society

Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 10 July 2015: To what extent should the scientific community respond to the expectations society places upon it? What does responsible science communication look like that facilitates genuine dialogue, for example between a university and its ‘stakeholders’, be they politicians or business leaders, artists or, for that matter, any member of the public? And how should the scientific community deal with its growing responsibility in communication, given that traditional mass media are increasingly losing their significance and control? Twenty-four international partners are addressing questions and challenges such as these in a four-year project under the EU’s ‘Horizon 2020’ Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

The project, which has a budget of four million euros and is due to start in September 2015, is being coordinated from North Rhine-Westphalia by the International University of Applied Sciences Rhein-Waal, which, amongst other things, offers Europe’s only degree programme in the field of science communication taught entirely in English. The project’s name, ‘NUCLEUS’, stands for ‘New Understanding of Communication, Learning and Engagement in Universities and Scientific Institutions’ – in other words, a new understanding within universities and other scientific institutions regarding communication, learning and engagement with wider society.

“Our consortium is well aware of just how ambitious the project is,” says project leader Alexander Gerber, Professor of Science Communication at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences: “After all, our project is shaking the very foundations of contemporary communication management within institutionalised science.” In Germany in particular, the debates of the past year have highlighted the conflicts and tensions currently plaguing science marketing and PR in the face of media transformation. The aim of the EU project is therefore to better align communication structures and processes in academia with political and societal expectations, such as those set out at European level in the ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI) model. “NUCLEUS will systematically analyse this area of tension and compare it across national borders, evaluate solutions and even test prototypes through partner organisations in 30 European test environments,” says Gerber.

In the project’s initial concept, scientific institutions are described as biological ‘cells’, whose ‘governance’ constitutes, so to speak, the cell nucleus (‘Nucleus’). These ‘cells’ can only survive in a dynamic environment if they are linked to the surrounding cells to the right extent – for example, to the media and industry, politics and a multitude of other societal actors. One of the project’s outcomes could therefore be a kind of ‘DNA’ for what the EU refers to as ‘RRI’. This, in turn, could then form the basis for a sustainable international network that continues even after the project has ended.

NUCLEUS is expected to contribute to the science policy debate at European level and within individual countries, including the future design of the ‘Horizon 2020’ research framework programme and the European Research Area (ERA).

Further information will be available from September at www.nucleus-project.eu.

The project coordinator is Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia, one of Europe’s youngest universities, which was conceived from the outset as a strongly interdisciplinary and international institution.

This project is funded by the European Commission under the ‘Horizon 2020’ Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, contract number 664932.

The NUCLEUS consortium comprises the following partners:

Associations

• Beijing Association for Science and Technology (BAST), China
• European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations (EUSJA), Finland
• European Science Events Association (EUSEA), Sweden

Universities

• University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• University of Bielefeld, Germany
• Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
• Dublin City University, Ireland
• University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
• University of Lyon, France
• University of Malta, Malta
• Nottingham Trent University, England
• Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Germany
• University of Twente, the Netherlands

Non-university institutions

• Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Serbia
• China Research Institute for Science Popularisation (CRISP), China

Networks and local authorities

• City of Bochum / UniverCity Network Bochum, Germany
• Nottingham City Council, England
• Science City Hannover, Germany
• South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement, South Africa
• Science in Dialogue (WiD), Germany

Science Communication Practice and Evaluation

• Psiquadro, Italy
• Science View, Greece