Hostility in science communication
On Thursday and Friday, January 9 and 10, 2025, Scicomm-Support together with the Gerda Henkel Foundation invites you to the above-mentioned event.
Unfortunately, hostility and hatred also play a major role in science communication: 45% of all scientists have already experienced hostility due to their work, leading many of them to withdraw from the public sphere. In a democratic society, however, the discourse on scientific facts and their classification is of essential importance. To ensure that constructive scientific discourse can continue to take place, scientists must be protected, supported and their concerns taken seriously.
Together, we would like to create an open discussion space at the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Düsseldorf that is confidential and protected for all participants. The focus will be on affected scientists from various disciplines in order to create a framework for them to exchange ideas. However, academics who have not (yet) experienced hostility and attacks and who are interested in the topic are also welcome to attend.
The invitation is aimed at affected persons from all disciplines: researchers working on topics with high social implications (climate research, research on specific countries, gender and diversity research, postcolonial theory, 20th century history, animal research, etc.) as well as scientists working on topics that at first glance are less exposed to hostility and attacks.
Different perspectives are to be brought together and combined here: The exchange among each other in a special protected atmosphere, the focus on the topics mentioned and their special framework conditions as well as concrete advice and further training by Scicomm Support. The three advisory levels (communicative, legal, psychological) of Scicomm support are integrated and taken into consideration.
When?
- Thursday, January 9, 2025, early afternoon, until Friday, January 10, 2025, 2 p.m.
Where?
- Gerda Henkel Foundation Düsseldorf (Malkastenstraße 15, 40211 Düsseldorf
Hotel allotments are available for participants at the 25hours Hotel in Düsseldorf and the Motel One in Düsseldorf. Travel costs will be covered. Participation in the event is free of charge.
In order to ensure a balanced ratio among the participants, a conscious selection will be made among the applicants. In this way, we want to achieve a balance between affected and non-affected persons, as well as a broad spectrum of disciplines and research fields.
We therefore ask all interested parties to complete our registration form by October 31: https://forms.gle/pxceje8KfGAYMPjS9
A binding invitation including the program schedule will be sent to all participants in November 2024.
The event is sponsored by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
The Scicomm-Support is the national contact point for attacks and unobjective conflicts in science communication and a joint institution of the Federal Association of University Communication and Wissenschaft im Dialog.
The Gerda Henkel Foundation was established in 1976 by Lisa Maskell in memory of her mother and is based in Düsseldorf. It promotes the historical humanities and supports projects on current and future-oriented topics such as “Flight”, “Democracy” and “Lost Cities”. It also supports young humanities scholars in Africa and is committed to preserving cultural heritage in crisis regions through its “Patrimonies” funding priority.