[PCST] MASIS web resource on Science in Society

[Niels Mejlgaard]

Dear colleagues

 

I would like to call attention to a newly launched web resource on
Science in Society in Europe: www.masis.eu.

 

'Monitoring Policy and Research Activities on Science in Society in
Europe' (MASIS) is an EU funded project with 38 participating countries.
The website contains 38 comprehensive national reports covering a
variety of issues related to Science in Society. Each report follows a
common reporting template, arranged around four main themes:

 

*         'National context', which describes current and recent debates
about the relationship between science and society in the respective
countries, national trajectories with regard to the place of science in
society, and recent policy developments concerning science in society.

*         'Priority setting, governance, and the use of science in
policy-making', focusing on the different actors involved in shaping the
relationship between science and society, formal and informal procedures
for public engagement with science, and national processes and
procedures for using science-based knowledge and scientific advice in
policy-making processes.

*         'Science in Society related research activities', with the
purpose of describing the scale and scope of research efforts in the
respective countries, including emerging themes, targeted areas,
strategies for embedding science in society issues in mainstream
research, and funding structures and opportunities for science in
society research.

*         'Activities related to science in society', which aims at
monitoring the variety of different activities particularly concerned
with public communication of science and technology, the intensity and
complexity of science communication in the respective countries, and the
actors involved.

 

The MASIS website, www.masis.eu, provides the full national reports in
pdf-format. The site also offers facilities for selective extraction of
data. This means that users can access specific topical information,
e.g. related to the issue of 'upstream public engagement' or 'current
debates about the place of science in society', for all or a
self-selected group of countries.

 

We would be very happy to receive any comments, suggestions, or
questions you might have on the MASIS Forum, which can be accessed from
the site. You are also welcome to get in touch with me.

 

Best regards, Niels Mejlgaard

 

Niels Mejlgaard, PhD, Acting director

Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy

University of Aarhus

Finlandsgade 4, DK 8200 Aarhus N.

E: nm at cfa.au.dk

P: +45 89422389

W: http://person.au.dk/nm@cfa