Summary

1. Science and Technology Policy and Innovation IBenchmarking the Promotion of Research and Technology Development (RTD) Cultureand Public Understanding of Science (PUS)Set up in September 2001 Release in July 2002Presented by:João SilvaPaulo AnastácioRicardo Manso

2. Summary • Report demonstrates the wide range of activities undertaken to promote RTD culture and public understanding of science; • Report verifies the existence of two trends in RTD culture policies: • Pedagogical approach; • Establishing a dialog between citizens and other actors; • Report concludes about the need to promote further analysis, namely through quantitative methods;

3. RTD Culture and PUS • Surveys regularly painted a picture of an “ignorant public”, showing a large deficit of knowledge about S&T (Deficit Model);

4. RTD Culture and PUS • Citizens want to be involved in: • Deciding how new technologies are developed; • Judging if scientific discoveries are useful and appropriate; • Determining how scientific discoveries are being used;

5. Expert Group Benchmarking • Determine the state of RTD culture and PUS; • Survey existing activities and measures undertaken to promote RTD culture and PUS; • Recommend measures for improvement;

6. Expert Group Benchmarking • Solid knowledge of previous work; • Professional experience in: • Science popularisation; • Teaching; • Management of institutions; • Management of programmes; • No prior experience in benchmarking;

7. Knowledge and interest levels in S&T (Eurobarometer 55.2): 2001 (57,8%) (60%) (11,3%) (71,1%) Acrobat Document

8. Knowledge and interest levels in S&T: 1992 vs 2001

9. Findings: Actors • Governments and Agencies; • Scientific Community; • Education; • Museums and Science Centres; • Media; • Industry and Private Sector.

10. Findings: Government and Agencies • Approximately only 50% of member states have clear policies on the promotion of RTD culture and PUS; • Many governments do not have an idea of what they are supporting, and also why, how, and how much;

11. Findings: Government and Agencies • Women are more concerned than men about S&T, but little is currently being done specifically to promote RTD culture and PUS among them; • Internet does not obviate the need for traditional media and other additional activities in the promotion of RTD culture and PUS;

12. Findings: Government and Agencies • The “Deficit Model” of simply giving information to a public presumed to be ignorant has been shown to be inadequate; • High variability in the decisions, actions, and commitments of governments is very common;

13. Findings: Government and Agencies • “One size fits all” approaches to promoting RTD culture and PUS are usually not very effective; • Experiences made in one country will not translate simply into other countries, given the social, cultural and historical differences;

14. Findings: Scientific Community • Community is mainly focused in: • Providing teaching aid materials, information for educational purposes; • Organising conferences and debates for the general public and particularly students; • organisation of events, namely “science weeks” and S&T Festivals;

15. Findings: Scientific Community • Training offered to most scientists does not equip them to get involved in public dialogue; • Scientists are acquainted with the public’s needs; • Interaction with scientists is increasingly demanded by society;

16. Findings: Scientific Community • Improving the public visibility of scientists should help attract more young Europeans to RTD careers; • Little recognition of the effort that scientists invest in the promotion of RTD culture and PUS;

17. Findings: Education Systems • Education is a key contribution to the development of PUS; • Image of S&T as perceived in school is the most dominant factor affecting the predisposition towards the two areas in adult life;

18. Findings: Education Systems • Familiarisation of students from the early stages in socially oriented areas, such as Environmental studies, will improve citizenship and societal welfare; • Out-of-school learning is attractive to students and effective;

19. Findings: Education Systems • Integration of ICT into the teaching of science-related subjects can change the pedagogicalclimate;

20. Findings: Museums and Science Centres • Science centres and Museums are successful tools for science communication and learning; • Experiences in science centres play a key part in youngsters’ decision to follow a scientific career;

21. Findings: Museums and Science Centres

22. Findings: Museums and Science Centres • Small and middle-sized institutions are particularly valuable: • Respond to a real local demand; • Address a young interested public; • Science centres have significantly promoted the dialogue between the different actors and the public;

23. Findings: Media • Television is the main source of science information for the lay public; • National information agencies act as a reference for all types of news items and exert a great influence on the media agendas;

24. Findings: Media

25. Findings: Media • University journalism degrees lack science communication courses; • Science degrees pay little or no attention to the acquisition of communication skills;

26. Findings: Media

27. Findings: Industry and Private sector • Industries offer information in an attempt to increase knowledge on areas connected to their activities; • Some industries support pedagogical experiences or provide educational material in order to promote the image of their activities;

28. Findings: Industry and Private sector • Some industries rely upon the efforts of the academic community in communicating about their work; • Some associations of very large industrial companies, support an approach to science society relationships based on the development of dialogue through forums;

29. Findings: Industry and Private sector • Personal contacts with people directly involved in industrial research are efficient in the transfer of information and the development of informed opinions; • The public is interested in knowing how local factories and industries work; • Students are interested in the industry, because it can bring exciting aspects to school projects;

30. Findings: Industry and Private sector • Industry is more active in promoting RTD culture when technological changes are occurring and when a market is to be opened by creating a taste for the use of new machines or products;

31. Conclusions • First exercise ever to benchmark the promotion of RTD culture and PUS across the EU; • The public image of S&T in Europe is constantly changing; • The direct involvement of individual scientists and engineers is very important; • Government leadership in this area is also crucial;

32. Conclusions • Quantitative data is fundamental in future benchmarks; • Scientific information distributed and the nature of its contribution to the democratic debate should be evaluated; • Precise information regarding the amount of money spent by each of the actors should be sought in future benchmarks;

33. Conclusions • Considerable difficulty in evaluating the different ways of formally and informallyteachS&T; • Need for more social science research on problems linked to the diffusion of RTD culture; • All kinds of science and technology museums in Europe including open-air ones should be surveyed;

34. Conclusions • The practice of “round tables” on television which allow different viewpoints to be expressed on S&T should be encouraged; • In future surveys, local level entities and activitiesshould be analysed; • Non-governmental organisations should also be considered as actors;

35. Cheers! joao.silva@networkcontacto.com panastacio@deq.isel.ipl.pt ricardo_manso@hp.com