COALESCE - Venice International University

COALESCE is the new Horizon Europe project of which Venice International University is a partner. Over the next four years (2023-2027), the project will establish the European Competence Centre for Science Communication.

VIU is leading the creation of the Science Communication Academy to enhance the capacities of scientists, communication officers, journalists and decision-makers to support quality and effective science communication. Building on its year-long experience on training for researchers and professionals, and on the scicomm Toolkits produced in QUEST project, VIU is engaging with scicomm scholars and experts to design online and in-person training opportunities.

Kick off COALESCE 2

COALESCE was launched in Rotterdam on April 12, 2023 during the global conference on Science Communication organized by the Public Communication of Science and Technology network, at the presence of the EU Policy Offer Alexandra Hebda and EU Project Officer Irina Tiron. Challenges and opportunities for #scicomm were addressed by exploring the priorities for developing the EU science communication competency centre.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of communicating scientific knowledge and recommendations to respond to a fast-moving and critical threat. The EU Commission has thus recognized the need to build scicomm capacities and strengthen networks, in order to ensure greater ability in the future to react rapidly and effectively to critical situations as well as to properly address key societal challenges of today such as Climate Emergency, Health, Oceans and Water, Artificial Intelligence & Digital transformation.

COALESCE builds on the legacy of the 8 H2020 SwafS-19 projects (among which is QUEST project, led by VIU), to develop, consolidate & mainstream generated knowledge and connections on scicomm to establish the EU Competence Centre for scicomm. Conceived as an online collaborative platform, the Center will provide knowledge, expertise, advice, resources, and tools on science communication, by:

- linking existing communities of knowledge and practice (CoPs), with the goal of improving co-ordination and mutual learning between them
- supporting potential user groups including R&I projects, public authorities, government agencies, the private sector, and civil society organisations, with the goal of promoting trusted and impactful science communication
- preparing the European Research Area to react quickly to situations requiring science communication, with the goal of providing rapid advice and support
- adopting a co-creation methodology involving the final users, with the goal of ensuring usability of the resources and tools of the Competence Center outcomes in different contexts, for different purposes, and by different R&I actors
- building a network of national and regional hubs in all EU countries, with the goal of disseminating, using and sharing the resources

Please follow us and be part of the conversation as we start to develop the EU Competence Centre on Science Communication and the new training Academy using research-informed insights.

#scicomm #STEM #HorizonEU #coalesce #training

For further information:

Alessandra Fornetti
Executive Director, TEN Program on Sustainability
alessandra.fornetti@univiu.org

@scicommEU