The big potential of Science Cafés

Answers to key societal challenges could emerge from cooperation between scientists, policy-makers, industry and the public. Following this hypothesis, the EU-funded project BigPicnic used the concept of Science Cafés to boost discussions about food security. The project managed to reach 6,000 people.

Science Cafés are  informal science communication events. The EU-funded project BigPicnic used them to promote dialogue and raise awareness of the global food security problem, then, communicate participants’ views to policy-makers through recommendations.

After 120 events, 13 countries and 64 locations, the project had managed to reach approximately 6,000 people, doubling the original outreach goal of 3,000 people. Including exhibitions, the total outreach of the BigPicnic project has been of about 180,000 people.

The organisers succeeded in bringing together different stakeholders including citizens, farmers, lawyers, nutritionists, schoolteachers and researchers.

The coordinator of BigPicnic, Helen Miller, from Botanic Gardens Conservation International, together with her colleagues, Liliana Derewnicka and Gail Bromley, spent the last day of the project in the Research Executive Agency presenting their outcomes and a Tool Kit available for anyone interested in organising a Science Café.

The kit includes tips about what to consider when organising such an event, or how to select experts. Organisers should decide their goal and the audience they would like to reach, as well as the format of the event. The venue should be linked to the topic of discussion in order to easily attract the appropriate public.

The method can vary. In the BigPicnic event organised in Lisbon the audience was divided into groups to come up with questions for experts; in Bergamo, the groups discussed questions already prepared by the organisers while experts were listening; and in Leiden’s Winter Garden, an expert went around interviewing individuals from the audience.

BigPicnic (710780) is a Horizon 2020 project funded under the programme SwafS - Science with and for Society (H2020-ISSI-2015-1). The project, managed by the Research Executive Agency, started on 1 May 2016 and ended 30 April 2019.