Despite the efforts to involve citizens in science, the participation of “vulnerable” people (i .e . people with low socio-economic status, ethnic and religious minorities, young/women and LGBTIQ+ people) is still low . Studies show that citizens who participate to science engagement activities have often the same characteristics in terms of gender, ethnicity and education, namely white, middle-upper class, well-educated and male . In order to increase the recruitment of new talent, the ongoing “ALLINTERACT project” (https://allinteract .eu/about/) team is analyzing the relationship between science and society, with the aim of generating new knowledge about how to foster engagement in science, adopting a mixed-method approach (a social media analysis, twelve focus groups and a survey involving 7507 respondents conducted in different European countries). In particular, the Italian team’s analysis shows that barriers to participation in science are still present, especially cultural ones . However, awareness-raising initiatives are numerous (even if targeted especially at women), but the participation of “vulnerable” people and their use of the scientific evidence is limited. According to research results, although they do not fully participate, they positively value scientific research and recognize its benefits, even those (such as people with low socio- economic status and religious minorities) who, according to common sense, would be uninterested in science . General results suggest that awareness- raising actions could be designed for different targets and in a more inclusive way. Therefore, the new challenge is to use different conceptual frameworks and approaches, settings, languages and technologies and to refer more to citizens’ daily life issues, since there is more engagement and learning activation when actions are related to everyday life . In fact, the relationship between science and daily life emerged as relevant during the pandemic, which has really brought science into citizens’ life both in positive and negative sense .
Leccardi, C., Camozzi, I., Magaraggia, S., Mainardi, A., Simonella, Z. (2023). Including Diversity and Daily-Life Experiences in Science: Some Evidence from the “Allinteract” European Research Project. In Book of abstracts XX ISA World Congress of Sociology (pp.429-429). International Sociological Association( in cooperation with The Conference ExchangeTM, www .confex .com).
Including Diversity and Daily-Life Experiences in Science: Some Evidence from the “Allinteract” European Research Project
Leccardi, C;Camozzi, I;Magaraggia, S;Mainardi, A;Simonella, Z
2023
Abstract
Despite the efforts to involve citizens in science, the participation of “vulnerable” people (i .e . people with low socio-economic status, ethnic and religious minorities, young/women and LGBTIQ+ people) is still low . Studies show that citizens who participate to science engagement activities have often the same characteristics in terms of gender, ethnicity and education, namely white, middle-upper class, well-educated and male . In order to increase the recruitment of new talent, the ongoing “ALLINTERACT project” (https://allinteract .eu/about/) team is analyzing the relationship between science and society, with the aim of generating new knowledge about how to foster engagement in science, adopting a mixed-method approach (a social media analysis, twelve focus groups and a survey involving 7507 respondents conducted in different European countries). In particular, the Italian team’s analysis shows that barriers to participation in science are still present, especially cultural ones . However, awareness-raising initiatives are numerous (even if targeted especially at women), but the participation of “vulnerable” people and their use of the scientific evidence is limited. According to research results, although they do not fully participate, they positively value scientific research and recognize its benefits, even those (such as people with low socio- economic status and religious minorities) who, according to common sense, would be uninterested in science . General results suggest that awareness- raising actions could be designed for different targets and in a more inclusive way. Therefore, the new challenge is to use different conceptual frameworks and approaches, settings, languages and technologies and to refer more to citizens’ daily life issues, since there is more engagement and learning activation when actions are related to everyday life . In fact, the relationship between science and daily life emerged as relevant during the pandemic, which has really brought science into citizens’ life both in positive and negative sense .
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