Report from the European Particle Physics Communication Network
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CERN/SPC/1146 CERN/3519 Original: English 11 September 2020 ORGANISATION EUROPÉENNE POUR LA RECHERCHE NUCLÉAIRE CERN EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH Action to be taken Voting Procedure SCIENTIFIC POLICY COMMITTEE For information 319th meeting - 21-22 September 2020 RESTRICTED COUNCIL For information 200th Session - 24-25 September 2020 REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN PARTICLE PHYSICS COMMUNICATION NETWORK CERN/SPC/1146 1 CERN/3519 Report from the European Particle Physics Communication Network 1. Overview This document begins with a brief report on EPPCN-wide activities, followed by details of the work of CERN’s Education, Communications and Outreach (IR-ECO) group, before moving on to reports of network activity by country. It covers the period from August 2019 to July 2020. Country reports for Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and Sweden were not received for the period concerned. 2. Status of the network Regarding the representation of the Member States in the EPPCN network, the positions for Belgium and Denmark remain vacant. The EPPCN representatives for Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom changed during this period. 3. EPPCN-wide activities Communication on the 2020 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics An EPPCN working group was set up in October 2019 to prepare and implement a communications plan for the 2020 update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPPU). This working group was led by CERN’s Head of Education, Communications and Outreach (ECO), and included EPPCN members representing ECO and several EPPCN members. The Working Group worked closely with the CERN Council President, the Scientific Secretary of the European Strategy Group and the CERN Director-General to develop communication resources on the ESPPU, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The communication strategy centred on a balanced and low-key approach, in line with the immediate and widespread impact on the health, lives and livelihoods of citizens during the pandemic, as well as its expected short- and medium-term economic and social impact across the globe. The following resouces were prepared and/or planned for the communication of the Council resolution on the ESPPU, on 19 June 2020: For the scientific community: an invitation to view the Open Council meeting, via webcast For external audiences: • A core Press Release, adapted by each Member State to its specific context with assistance from the EPPCN network • News stories on CERN and EPPCN member websites • An online Q&A session for selected journalists, with Ursula Bassler (Council President), Fabiola Gianotti (CERN Director-General) and Halina Abramowicz (Strategy Secretary) 2 CERN/SPC/1146 CERN/3519 • The official ESPPU documents – the Recommendations and the Deliberation Document – were made available online, in English and French • Support material for EPPCN members, Council Delegates and Member State stakeholders: Benefits to Society Talking Points; Questions and Answers brief • Articles/interviews in the CERN Courier • A comment article by the CERN Director-General and the head of the Theory department in Nature Physics (October 2020 issue) The Council meeting on 19 June had 2500 viewers. A total of 19 media outlets from 11 countries participated in the Q&A session. The decision to update the Strategy was reported in news outlets across the globe (354 mentions between 17-24 June), with the greatest incidence in Italy, the USA, Canada, Switzerland, France, China and Japan; the overall sentiment was positive/neutral (90%). In the same period, there were 1800 mentions on social media, with a majority of these expressing neutral sentiment (91%). Social Media Working Group The EPPCN social media working group prepared a “Women in Science” campaign (#WomenInScience) for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in February 2020, in close collaboration with CERN’s social media team. Content from CERN, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom, shared particularly on Instagram, reached an audience of 2 million. Member State pages on home.cern Close collaboration between CERN’s content development team, Member State Relations team and the EPPCN network has led to improvements in the prominence of the Member States and international collaborations on home.cern. CERN/SPC/1146 3 CERN/3519 4. Report on IR-ECO group activities Media report From August 2019 to July 2020, CERN was the subject of media coverage linked to physics results such as those published by the LHCb, ALPHA, ASACUSA and CLOUD experiments. The most coverage was triggered by the appointment of Fabiola Gianotti for a second term (close to 2250 clippings), followed by the CERN against COVID-19 task force initiative and the European Strategy for Particle Physics update announcement. Other topics, such as the CERN Open Days, Facebook Workplace, the Special Breakthrough Prize and the AMS spacewalks were also well covered (over 750 clippings). DG’s second term CERN against COVID-19 taskforce Special Breakthrough Prize ASACUSA & CLOUD results CERN Open Days Facebook Workplace LHCb Tetraquark AMS spacewalks ESPPU ALPHA results The level of requests for media visits shows that CERN remains in the spotlight. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the CERN Press Office had to stop organising media visits as of March 2020. However, during the period from August 2019 to March 2020, the Press Office welcomed more than 670 media professionals on site, representing 280 media outlets. During Long Shutdown 2 (LS2), the Press Office has continued to organise national media visits, namely group visits for print and radio outlets in all our Member and Associate Member States. Despite the COVID-19 situation, which resulted in the absence of media visits and the Press Office working remotely, CERN continued during this period to have high levels of both media coverage and engagement with journalists. This was due to the efficiency of existing digital tools and the exploration of new ones. For the ESPPU, CERN held an online Q&A which was attended by journalists from 11 countries and led to in-depth coverage. 4 CERN/SPC/1146 CERN/3519 Reporting on CERN in the media remains very high, with an average of about 800 press cuttings per week. Most of the coverage is neutral to positive. Journalist engagement continued to be high over the period. Over the reporting period, we continued to support CERN staff and users with media training, holding a session in the autumn, but unfortunately had to cancel the session planned for spring 2020. Social media CERN continues to have a strong, well-respected presence on social media channels and is currently active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. The past year has seen dedicated efforts to work with social media influencers to target “hard-to- reach” audiences, which led to millions of engagements and views. In addition to the successful social media campaigns during the Open Days, October saw the first ever immersive 360-degree live stream at CERN from the CMS experimental cavern. In November, close collaboration with ESA led to a number of live broadcasts and editorial content covering the spacewalks for the AMS detector. The 360-degree live event from the CMS cavern at CERN in October 2019 received an honorary Webby Award in 2020. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the CERN social media team spent more time engaging with online audiences, responding to queries and adapting content. Despite the pandemic, engaging content, including new Instagram live streams, showed how work was continuing safely at CERN and wowed viewers with the wonders of fundamental science. Particularly engaging was the online educational content (e.g. particle physics quizzes and hands-on experiments) prepared in collaboration with the S’Cool LAB team; over four months, the posts generated almost 600 000 views on Facebook and Twitter. The videos promoting the activities showed a five-fold increase on average in viewing completion rate compared to other CERN video content in the same period. CERN/SPC/1146 5 CERN/3519 Maximising digital communications The editorial team continues to review CERN’s publications, including the Annual Report, brochures, CERN Courier and CERN Bulletin, to maximise digital communications and make print distribution more targeted and cost-effective. The 60th anniversary year of the CERN Courier magazine saw a wealth of changes. The magazine redesign and four dedicated anniversary supplements in early 2019 were enhanced with a new CERN Courier website and social-media presence in August, as the magazine started its move to an online-first publishing model. Following the 2018 relaunch of home.cern, 2020 saw a feature series celebrating ten years of LHC physics to complement the steady stream of regular news and updates. CERN’s online portfolio continues to improve, with the web team working on new tools and functionality, including a newsletter-distribution feature and a web application for internal communications. CERN Open Days The CERN Open Days were held on 14-15 September 2019. Over the two days, an estimated 75 000 visitors had the opportunity to discover the Laboratory’s installations and meet the people behind the science and technology. Held every five to six years, the Open Days are regular features of long shutdowns and have become an increasingly important part of CERN’s outreach activities. In 2019, just over 150 activities, events and visits were organised across nine sites, including six around the LHC. Some2800 volunteers, from across CERN’s Member States, Associate Member States and non-Member States, departments and experiments, as well as CERN alumni and subcontractors, welcomed the visitors, acting as ambassadors for the Laboratory and for science. Dedicated branding and communication media, such as animations, exhibitions and immersive experiences, were developed. A dedicated awareness campaign provided valuable awareness and practical instructions to visitors, as well as comprehensive coverage of the two days with video and photos, including a live broadcast in partnership with Euronews.