New trends in science communication fostering evidence-informed policymaking

Abstract

TRESCA – Trustworthy, Reliable and Engaging Scientific Communication Approaches – is a research project aimed at understanding how science communication can help re-build trust in science and scientists. The project wants to create positive changes through common research activities with various stakeholders, e.g., the general public, scientists, journalists, and policymakers.

Thus, TRESCA also aimed to identify the most important actual trends how communication between scientific experts and policymakers changed in the last decades in the field of innovation and digitalisation policy. We looked at how these trends might influence the way policymakers receive, interpret, and use scientific evidence during their daily work.

The partners first checked various scientific and non-scientific documents concerning potential new communication trends between scientists and policymakers. The partners conducted interviews with policymakers working in four European countries (Austria, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands) and at the international/EU level. The interviews investigated the scientific data sources, data collection processes, science communication topics, channels, and formats frequently used by policymakers.

We found that at least three new trends had strengthened in the last decades: (1) increasingly often more permanent formal relationships are developed between scientists and policymakers to cope with the more frequent and intense communication; (2) to enhance trust between scientists and policymakers, more transparent and reliable communication channels and formats are used; (3) policymakers need to understand more scientific information in less time therefore visual and digital communication formats are getting more widespread.

After an online consultation process, practical recommendations were provided to policymakers on how to support more effective communication with scientists. This included the creation of more training opportunities, the increased use of communication guides, the promotion of fact-checking websites, or ways to motivate scientists to communicate with policymakers. These steps might support a novel communication process built on trust and the understanding of each other’s perspective.