Clear, concise, reliable scientific information is more crucial in our modern world than ever before. The recent "declaration on the future of science communication" from the ISSCS, created at the Summer School “Communicating Science” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Wissenschaft im Dialog), specifically calls for dialogue between scientists and diverse audiences, as well as highlighting an unmet need for science communication training. Our aim is to bring researchers and communications experts together to network, skillshare, and learn from each other the best practices in scientific communication.
To achieve this, one goal of ISASC is to organise regular SciComm Camps to link these groups The aim is to increase interaction between diverse researchers and scientific communication experts, leading to improved outreach skills on the part of the researchers, empowering them to get their science out there. This initiative will ultimately foster more reliable and enjoyable science communication, enhancing the public's engagement with research. The camps will be organised regularly in changing locations, increasing their impact and ability to reach diverse audiences.
The Camps will consist of two parts: During the first part, keynote lectures by leading SciComm researchers and outreach experts will teach and mentor participating researchers in recent developments in different fields of sci-comm and sci-comm best practices. These lectures will be accompanied by hands-on workshops, where researchers and professionals jointly develop and create SciComm output. This will culminate in the second part; a public event conducted by these researchers and communicators, where researchers will present the output of the workshops to a local audience (e.g. a science-slam, open mic. science night, public science fishbowl discussion, etc.). This allows the researchers to put their new skills into use and creates direct value to the local audiences and the hosting research institutions.