Community Research: Communicating to the Public

A Framework Contractor's Obligation

The FP6 contracts contain a binding clause that requires researchers to disseminate the results of their community-funded research to the public. It is hoped that the inclusion of this condition will help to bring science closer to citizens, stimulate the public's debate on science and draw wider attention to such issues as scientific culture, ethics, governance and women in science.

To support the dissemination of community-funded research findings to the public the Commission boosts the links that exist between the research community and those dealing with the dissemination of scientific knowledge, in particular the media. Currently there are a number of actors involved in this dialogue (the organizers of the science weeks, science museum networks, scientific journals and newspapers, the audio-visual media and organizations such as AlphaGalileo, etc.). Many of theirs activities have been already financed by the Commission.

Communicating European Research conferences

On November 14-15 / 2005 the European Commission's Directorate General for Research will host the second conference entitled 'Communicating European Research'. Based on the very positive experiences from the 2004 edition the event will focus on the manifold aspects of science communication and will provide an excellent meeting place for scientists, communication professionals and journalists. The conference will also take stock of the way towards the Seventh Framework Programme.

Visit the conference website for further information:
http://europa.eu/comm/research/cer2005.html