A Short Guide to EU Grants for Science Communication Capjournal, No
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A Short Guide to EU Grants for Science Communication Resources Enikö Patkós ESO E-mail: [email protected] Summary Key Words “The importance of communicating science to the Funding general public cannot be overestimated. Science European Union cannot live isolated from society.” As the words Transnational Projects of Janez Potocnik, EU Science and Research Commissioner, clearly demonstrate, there is a political call to the European Union (EU) for supporting science communication. But as we all know, the reality lies in the implementation and not in the mission statements. So let’s see what the EU can offer to science communicators. Introduction tion itself. The EU sets policy principles that aim to impact national legislation and the We can definitely describe science com- national budgets to improve the situation munication as one of the most innovation- for science and science communication. It needy fields. Why is that? The new tools of organises Europe-wide science communi- general communication catch the attention cation conferences and public debates, and of people — especially youngsters — easily, harmonises national projects and actions in not leaving too much space for traditional order to build space for Europe-wide joint com munication tools, which can seem to projects. And indeed the EU provides grants be boring compared to the new innovative for international projects, which serve the in- and interactive eye- and ear-catching tools. terest of European research, and which are Another important factor is the demand for not eligible for funding at national level. quick and up-to-date information, which sets the requirement of easy access to But what are these grants? information from everywhere, at any time. Figure 1. Is FP7 a new type of organic smoothie drink? Science communication has to live up to Credit: ESA/Hubble (Martin Kornmesser ) th this challenge dictated by the needs of the 1. 7 Research and target group. Like all fields with these char- words of Janez Potocnick come into con- Development Framework acteristics, science communication is often text. The European Union (EU) also provides in critical need of funding for its innovative support for projects communicating science Programme to the general public! projects. The 7th Research and Development Frame- work Programme1 (FP7) is the EU’s main In order to provide a fair picture, it is nec- The traditional way to get funding for a instrument to provide funding for European essary to emphasise that the EU should not project is to approach the national research- research and technological development just be considered a money distributor. There funding agency. However, in the case of projects. FP7 will run for seven years (un- are other important actions where the EU in- international and intercontinental projects, til 2013), with an overall budget of 50,521 fluences the general appreciation of science the national funding option is not applicable MEUR. FP7 provides grants through open communicators and science communica- in most cases. This is the point where the competitive Calls for tenders (Call). A Short Guide to EU Grants for Science Communication CAPjournal, No. 2, February 2008 Page 26 A Short Guide to EU Grants for Science Communication CAPjournal, No. 2, February 2008 Page 27 • 5.3.0.5 Promotion of excellent trans na- Cooperation6 (INCO) theme of the Capaci- tional research and science communica- ties programme also contains some possi- tion by means of popular prizes. bilities to exploit with a bit of imagination and flexibility while defining a new science com- munication project. Astronomy science com- It is worthwhile to devote some time to the municators often work in international teams details of the last Call. The European Sci- connecting people from different countries ence Awards, in particular the Science Com- and continents. The INCO can be a solution munication Prize (former Descartes Prize), for these cross-continental projects, with its which is unique. overall budget of 108 MEUR for the seven years. Next round of INCO calls is expected Recognition is a strong driver for research in the first half of 2008. More information can and innovation. The EU, in parallel with its be gathered from the FP7 website. Figure 2. European Comission Seventh Framework po li tical decision to strengthen European Programme logo. scien tific research, established a prestig- 1.3. HELP! ious international prize to give emphasis to FP7 is divided into four basic blocks, the so- It is not easy to find your way in the jungle called Specific Programmes (SP): this important decision. The Descartes Prize supported international research themes of FP7 rules. Brussels knows this as well, so they have tried to make all the information 1. Cooperation (32.413 MEUR) with 1,150,000 EUR anually since 2000, and science communicators with 275,000 easily accessible. The main website of the 2. Ideas (7510 MEUR) EUR anually, since 2004. The history of the FP7 programme is the door to the different parts of the programme: http://cordis.eu- 3. People (4750 MEUR) communication prize is clearly not a long one, but the initiative certainly demonstrates ropa.eu/fp7/home_en.html. The updated in- 4. Capacities (4097 MEUR) dedication. On a national level almost every formation about open Calls can be found on EU member state grants science communi- the “Find a Call” page of the website: (http:// cation prizes, but on a Europe-wide level this cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm). Each Specific Programme is further divided is the only one. into parts or themes. What is relevant to sci- However, it would be understandable if you ence communicators is the Capacities Spe- During the last three years five winners and were to shut down the computer after an cific Programme, and inside that Programme five finalists were awarded the recognition hour of desperate attempts to understand the Science in Society (SiS) theme and the and reward of the Descartes science com- the structure, the procedures and the mean- International Cooperation (INCO) theme. munication prize for their high quality work of ings of FP7 Calls. It would then perhaps the right time to approach a National Contact 1.1. Science in Society com municating to the general public each year. In 2007 some changes were made to Point or the organisational equivalent. The The aim of the Science in Society theme is the Descartes Prize structure. In parallel with EU Commission, in collaboration with its to stimulate the harmonious integration of the launch of FP7 the two main parts of the Member States and Associated States, has scientific and technological endeavour and Descartes prize were separated. The prize established the system of National Contact associated research policies into European for excellence in transnational and collabo- Points (NCP); a network of professional EU society2. rative research kept the Descartes label, but FP7 officers whose main task is to help peo- the prize for excellence in science communi- ple to understand FP7, find Calls and write The SiS has an overall budget of 330 MEUR cation was simply renamed as the “Prize for applications. A list of the NCPs can be found for the seven years, and support for one Science Communication”. One could argue on the “Get support” page: (http://cordis.eu- project varies from between ten and a hun- that for a science communication prize a ropa.eu/fp7/get-support_en.html) of the FP7 dred thousand EUR to one or two million more appealing name might have been cho- website. EUR. Of course not all the Calls submitted sen, but the prestige of the prize remains. under the SiS programme can be used for science communication, especially for as- 2. The eContentPlus In parallel with the name change the budget tronomy science communication. There are and conditions have been changed as well. Programme some Calls to be published in 2008 that can In 2007 a maximum of three Laureates re- be of use to CAPjournal readers: Nowadays science communication, in par- ceive an award of 60,000 EUR each and ticular in the field of astronomy, relies on and up to three Finalists receive 5,000 EUR • 5.1.1.43 The role and image of scientists. contributes to the evolution of new techno- each. “The Prize targets individuals and logical developments such as Internet-based • 5.2.1 Gender and research. organisations having achieved outstanding innovative applications managing digital results in science communication and hav- • 5.2.2 Young people and science. contents. For these projects the eContent- ing been selected as winners by European Plus programme offers lots of possibilities • 5.3.0.1 The provision of reliable and timely and/or national organisations which carry in a framework that is less complicated than scientific information for the press and out existing science communication prizes FP7. media. of any kind. This implies that prize organis- ers can send their winners as candidates The aim of this multi-annual programme is • 5.3.0.2 Training actions to bridge the gap 4 to the EU prize...” Who knows, maybe one to make the digital content in Europe more between the media and the scientific day the CAPjournal, or one of its readers, will community. ac cessible, usable and exploitable using be among the Laureates? More information the available 149 MEUR overall budget of • 5.3.0.3 Encouraging a European dimen- for all candidates can be found on the new the programme. The programme addresses 5 sion at science events targeting the pub- website of the European Science Awards . areas of public interest, and that would not lic. develop (or would develop at a slower pace) 1.2. International Cooperation 7 • 5.3.0.4 Promoting science by audiovisual if left to market forces .