Participation in the SCIENCE+ initiative
Димитър Фердинандов
A project to ensure international collaboration in reporting science topics and fighting disinformation.
On March 29, the Astra Forum Foundation team took part in the first of a series of events, part of the SCIENCE + pilot initiative of the Free Press for Eastern Europe and Free Press Unlimited.
The project aims to shorten the distance between journalists and experts and to promote cooperation between them in order to create high quality scientific content. SCIENCE+ will facilitate the establishment of a unique network for sharing best practices in science journalism, mainly on medical topics, initially involving representatives from six Central and Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.
The first meeting was held remotely and challenged participants to discuss on the topic of “Journalism and Science against disinformation in war times”. The format of the event was speed dating – the participants were divided into pairs – an expert and a journalist, and had 6 minutes per session to discuss the topic. Our team member Dimitar Ferdinandov took part as an expert in science communication and disinformation dynamics. During the meeting we made contact with a number of international experts, with whom we are considering cooperation in creating content, conducting research and execution of projects in the future.
All of the participants united around the need to overcome the mistrust in the institutions, provoked by disinformation campaigns, through new approaches to the reporting of scientific information. Dimitar shared the opinion that communicating the achievements of science on time could reduce the impact and influence of fabricated content.
Disinformation in Eastern Europe is here to stay. It is crucial to fight back together if we want to preserve democracy and common sense.
Learn more about the SCIENCE+ initiative here.
