SciCom is very selective about who it works for and on what topic. Scientific integrity is core to its corporate identity. It does not lobby or trade on its associations or try to influence the science it is helping communicate. Our suite of services add essential value to the communication activities undertaken by science or trade ministries, the in-house science services of international institutions, or the delivery teams of flagship global conferences.
Whether it is promoting or defending a government or consortium’s bid for the award of significant international research infrastructure, preparing a Minister or Science Adviser’s programme of important meetings abroad, delivering a complex media campaign or drafting proposals for scientific symposia at the highest level, SciCom gets the job done.
A specific competence of SciCom is helping scientists and science leaders understand the societal importance of, and need to communicate, their often publicly funded work. We help them lead from the front in raising its visibility. We help them better understand the role of personality and politics, coalition building and pressure groups, big business and even bad timing. Our work is multi-layered, built upon proven expertise and delivers lasting results. It covers all stages of the policy-making cycle where science feeds in from conception and development to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
In addition, SciCom organises its own activities. At established global conferences such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) or Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF), for example, we compete in Open Calls for Proposals to Scientific Programmes. These are well received by delegates and recent examples can be found on our Events Page. SciCom provides the necessary expertise on what might be topical, conceives the framework to assemble key stakeholders, encourages them to engage and ultimately generates new thinking and firm recommendations on how to move the science forward with public support.
Recent consultation events include:
SciCom also runs its own series of Thematic Consultation Events. These take the form of two-day workshops around very challenging subjects where inexplicably many of the key stakeholders are forgotten or might simply never have had an adequate platform to engage. In breaking this mould, these events are carefully designed to get everybody involved, to bring far-reaching insights to the table, and to produce concrete recommendations around best practices and pitfalls. They take months if not years in the planning and involve the highest levels of global decision-making.
Recent symposia include:
High-Level Consultation Event 2016:
‘Towards Ethics & Principles of Science Policy-Making’
EuroScience Open Forum Manchester 2016:
‘Evidence Newcomers: Revolutionising Regional & Global Initiatives’
‘Waging War On Drugs Doesn’t Work – Applying Harm Reduction Science Does’
‘The Right To Be Forgotten vs The Right To Know’
‘Toxicant Detectives: The Chemical Innovation Race, Lifestyle Risks & the Role of Animal Experiments’
‘Clinical Trial & Error: Why Narrowing The Resources Gap Matters’
AAAS Boston 2016:
‘Neuroscience Clues To The Chemistry Of Addictions & Mood Disorders’
‘Statecraft & Scalpel: Regional & Global Health Diplomacy in 2016 And Beyond’
Science Forum South Africa 2015:
‘Harm Reduction: Scientists Tackling Our Lifestyle Killers’