NEWSERA Work Package 5 - Evaluation and impact assessment: the legacy of NEWSERA

Project description

The NEWSERA project analysed and evaluated the strategies addressed to quadruple helix stakeholders in citizen science projects as the new paradigm for science communication. NEWSERA used a bottom-up approach to co-design strategies for selected H2020 Citizen Science projects, in order to improve their science communication practices and their impact towards each quadruple helix stakeholder group.
These strategies were developed with the involvement of science journalists and science communicators, to propose innovative ways to open up science and innovation to society, industry and policy makers, and increase trust in science communication.

Objectives

The overall aim of NEWSERA was to show that citizen science can be used as a powerful science communication tool. Citizen science as a tool allows to: increase trust in science and in science communication; strengthen the link between science and innovation and society; and promote scientific literacy among the general public.

The specific objectives are:

1. Evaluate the current effectiveness of science communication and the perception of stakeholders participating in citizen science projects
2. Create four Science Communication Labs addressed to quadruple helix stakeholders and science journalists, in order to advance the state-of-the-art of science communication
3. Interlink data journalism principles and citizen science
4. Develop improved ways to measure and assess science communication
5. Identify good practices to ensure quality, reliability and increased trust in science communication and science 6.Produce five innovation blueprints, addressed to quadruple helix stakeholders and science journalists, to guarantee project replicability
6. Provide policy guidelines to increase trust in science communication
7. Provide new contents and methodologies for formal and informal teaching in science communication within scientific disciplines
8. Suggest new incentive mechanisms to involve academic scientists in science communication
9. Use advanced data mining techniques to provide a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of the different science communication strategies; the impact and efficiency of such strategies will be validated through the definition of KPIs
10. Communicate and disseminate the project actions to replicate NEWSERA findings and science communication strategies in citizen science projects and beyond
11. Embed and put into practice a highly inclusive engagement model
12. Embed the ethics dimension in relation to the participation of citizens in research, data protection aspects, and in relation to the perception of science and science communication of quadruple helix stakeholders