A Short Guide to EU Grants for Science Communication Capjournal, No

A Short Guide to EU Grants for

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 communication 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 transna 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 communication 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 political decision to strengthen European Programme logo. scientific 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 communicating 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. accessible, 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 . Although not obviously targeting science means in European co-production and communication projects, the International the circulation of science programmes. The projects financed under this scheme ration, application, management and report- have to be based on a proven state-of-the- ing are demanding, but it pays well in the art technical solution, so this grant cannot case of a successful project. But keep in be used for technological innovation, but mind that professional help to get the EU for innovation in organisation and in deploy- information and to prepare an application ment. Figure 3. European Comission MEDIA Programme is available from public bodies and also logo. from the private sector, giving everyone the The programme supports educational dig- 3. MEDIA 2007 chance to choose according to the size of ital content and digital libraries among other his wallet. And don’t forget: target areas. For the purpose of the pro- I believe all movie-lovers (at least the Euro- gramme educational content means digital pean ones) remember that some years ago a “The importance of communicating science content that can be used for learning in dif- strange text appeared on the cinema screen to the general public cannot be overesti- ferent contexts, both in formal and informal before the start of certain famous movies, mated. Science cannot live isolated from education. Digital libraries have a very broad such as Goodbye Lenin, Secrets and Lies society.” definition in the eContentPlus framework: or- and the Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. I ganised collections of digital content made myself watched the film Breaking the Waves available for the public by cultural and scien- on DVD and skipped the seemingly unim- Notes tific institutions and private content holders portant parts and text stating that the movie 1. http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en in the EU Member States and the other par- was produced with the help of the MEDIA .html. ticipating countries of the programme8. programme. Little did I know then that one day I would write about this programme to 2. Capacities, part 5, Science in Society Work Programme 2007, C(2007)563, There are three eContentPlus project types promote it! page 4. that are eligible for funding: The MEDIA programme already has a long 3. Call identification number. 1. Targeted projects (TPs): Targeted projects history. The series of four MEDIA programme 4. http://ec.europa.eu/research/science- are open in the areas “educational con- terms has provided support for the Europe- awards/communication_en.htm. tent” and “digital libraries”. The projects an audiovisual industry since 1991. MEDIA should aim to solve specific known prob- 2007 is the successor of the former MEDIA 5. http://ec.europa.eu/research/science- lems by pooling together the resources programmes, covering the years 2007-13, awards/index_en.htm. of interested and affected participants in providing the European audiovisual industry a consortium. with an overall budget of 755 MEUR. 6. http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/capacities/ international-cooperation_en.html. 2. Thematic Networks (TNs): Thematic Net The programme supports different activities works are open for the area “reinforc- 7. eContentPlus — A multi-annual Commu- of the pre- and post-production phases of ing cooperation between digital content nity programme to make digital content filmmaking: stakeholders”. The aim of bringing the in Europe more accessible, usable and stakeholders together is to define best exploitable (2005 - 08); Work Programme practices, building consensus in order to • Training (scriptwriting techniques, dig- 2007, page 3. better coordinate the availability and us- ital technologies, economic and financial management). 8. For all areas, the following countries are ability of digital content. eligible for funding: 27 EU Member States 3. Best Practice Networks (BPNs): Lastly, • Development. and Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, Croatia, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Re- the Best Practice Networks are designed • Distribution. to serve the areas “geographic informa- public of Macedonia. Other countries can tion”, “educational content” and “dig- • Promotion and festivals. also participate in consortia, but without financial support from the EU. Up-to-date ital libraries”. The expected outcome • Horizontal actions and pilot projects. of these formations is the adoption of information about the participating coun- standards and specifications that could tries can be found on http://ec.europa. enable users to access and use the dig- Calls are submitted on a yearly basis. More eu/econtentplus. ital content of certain areas. This type of information about the programme can be activity would implement the “Thematic found on the webpage of MEDIA 2007: Networks” in practice. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society References /media/overview/index_en.htm. • Descartes 2007, Descartes communication prize, General information booklet, EUR 22419, p. 5 A common eligibility criterion of all the three Checking the list of the MEDIA programme types of activity is the requirement to have a supported movies I could not find any European dimension to the activity. The cur- science-related one, but at least a science rent eContentPlus programme runs until the movie festival was there. I hope this can end of 2008. The last Calls will be published change in the future and that the audiovisual during the course of 2008. The new eCon- industry will be more encouraged to apply to tentPlus multi-annual programme will be Bio make more science movies. published in the second part of 2008. Eniko Patkos obtained her Masters Diploma So, digital content stakeholders: please do Conclusions in Jurisprudence in 1999 at ELTE University, Budapest. She spent 2002 at the ESA HQ, not be discouraged by this very dry text. As one can see after reading this inventory Paris as an International Trainee in the Indus- Go to the main website of eContentPlus for of EU grants, there are some opportunities trial, Budget and Contracts Departments. In more information: http://ec.europa.eu/econ- 2003 she obtained a postgraduate diploma in to obtain funding from EU for science com- tentplus. European Studies at the Budapest University munication projects. It is, undeniably, not a of Economics. She joined ESO in January smooth path to get the funding. EU projects 2006 where she is European Affairs Officer. require hard work at all levels. Project prepa-

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