Summary
Leader: Ciência Viva
Other participants: Ecsite
Ciência Viva will take a lead on the design of activities that will be implemented by Ecsite’s third parties (Ecsite member museums) across Europe. Based on the stories (such as the sensory package), social events and ‘science experiences’ in science museums will be created. Videos, cartoons, augmented reality products and ERC grantees themselves become vehicles to tell ERC stories to a wider audience. In short, Ciência Viva will take the content packages developed by Science|Business for online and media distribution, and translate them into displays, activities and debates suitable for use in science museums, in local languages, to reach a wider set of the general public.
Once the key six themes are set, Ecsite will collect the information from the Third Parties on their preferred topics and timing for the activities. Then the Ciênca Viva together with Ecsite will start developing activities for Third parties based on the topics they have chosen. Each science centre will cover two broad topics with a selection of activities.
Three types of activities will be offered with two compulsory and one optional:
• Dialogue activities inside science centres/museums. Museums will have the liberty to implement dialogue activities they are accustomed to running, or choose among a ‘menu of activities’ that will include discussion games such as PlayDecide and Science Cafés.
PlayDecide games developed as part of the FP7 project FUND have since been widely used within the science communication community. The games are designed to facilitate the take-up of participatory methods, exchange experiences and knowledge. Through dialogue and listening to different points of view the participants realise the complexity of policymaking. PlayDecide is a proven method to stimulate debates and policy positions of a given group on controversial scientific topics. The results of the games played will be uploaded on the dedicated website (www.playdecide.eu) thus allowing for comparisons of views between different countries. Currently games on around 50 different topics have been created and many of them are translated into multiple languages. Topics such as nanotechnology, stem cells, climate change, healthy diet and lifestyle and many more already exist. ERC funded projects grouped around one of these topics could be presented in a discussion through these games. Once the themes of the project are decided, all available playdecide games will be screened, selected and adapted if needed, in the language of participating science museums.
Science Cafes or Café Scientifiques are well-known and widely used formats. They are places where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context. Science Cafe is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues. They are informal and accessible - much more so than a public lecture. Audiences consist of people who are interested in science but generally never have the opportunity to discuss their views and ask questions. Topics have included AIDS, the Big Bang, biodiversity, cancer, climate change, Darwinism, evolution, genetically modified organisms and nanotechnology. There are multiple variations of science cafes such as world café or a reverse science café. Depending on the topics, suitable adaptations of the formats will be made.
The two activities above are given as an example and the formats may be adapted depending on the research topics chosen by the project. However their main objective – to discuss scientific issues in an accessible and informal way will remain. When available, ERC grantees will be invited to collaborate.
• Pop-up science stands will be set-up in public spaces such as shopping malls, city squares, pa
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