VA Barometer 2018: Swedish women’s confidence in researchers falls sharply

Almost half of young men in Sweden would consider a career as a researcher. Among young Swedish women, only a fifth can see themselves as researchers in the future. At the same time, Swedish women’s confidence in researchers has fallen sharply, while men’s confidence remains at the same level as last year. These are some of the findings from this year’s annual VA Barometer now available in English.

New portal for citizen science in Sweden

A national web portal for everyone interested in citizen science in Sweden is being developed. Features will include tools, guidelines and forums, and an interactive directory of citizen science projects in Sweden. ARCS is a collaboration project between the University of Gothenburg, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå University and VA.

Forthcoming activities

Following the success of March for Science in Sweden, VA is coordinating a new campaign on How do you know that? It’s overall aim is to increase the use of scientific facts in political debate in the run up to the Swedish general election in September 2018. The campaign will be launched on 14 April to coincide with global Science Marches On activities. Read more

PCST 2018 – International Public Communication of Science and Technology conference, 3–6 April, Dunedin, New Zealand. Learn about our 2017 mass experiment on digital source criticism, our communication toolbox for researchers and our research on public views of science communication. Read more

Eusea’s European Science Engagement Conference,17–18 May, Madrid. Join VA for a workshop on how to design engaging transdisciplinary public engagement activities. Read more

8th Living Knowledge conference, 30 May–1 June, Budapest. The results of research undertaken during the first months of the Horizon 2020 SciShops project, including case studies and a survey on community-based participatory research will be presented. Read more

VA’s latest activities

Swedish SwafS Advocacy Platform helping to shape the next EU R&I programme 
A meeting organised by the Swedish Advocacy Platform for SwafS and Sis.net2 in February in Brussels gathered representatives from 23 countries to discuss the next European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, FP9. The SwafS Advocacy Platform, coordinated by VA, has also submitted its vision for FP9 in a position paper “Towards an Open Science Society”. Read more

Results of survey on awareness of science shops now available​
Awareness of science shops and community-based participatory research is much higher in Western Europe, than in other parts of Europe. Researchers are more likely to be familiar with these concepts than community organisations, the main beneficiaries, too. These are some of the results of a survey conducted by the Horizon 2020 project SciShops. VA is a partner in SciShops and was responsible for conducting the survey. Read more

VA’s recent publications and resources available in English

VA Barometer 2017/2018: An annual survey into the Swedish public’s general attitudes towards science and researchers.

VA information folder 2018: Information about VA and its members.
 
SwafS national advocacy platform: to enhance Swedish participation in Horizon 2020’s SwafS programme.

VA in social media