Between science and “mediascience”
#JHC2012. If there were science communication VIPs or rockstars, Michel Claessens would probably be among them. I had the chance to meet him at the “Journées Hubert Curien” in Nancy, France, gathering researchers and professionals to talk about science communication.
After managing together a research and a freelance science journalist career for ten years, he joined in 1994 the European Commission where his activities revolved around “Science and society” for the General Directorate for Research, including : management of the communication unit, editor of the research*eu magazine, coordinator of the Eurobarometer surveys on science & technology, spokesman of the European Commissioner for research… Now, he is the director of ITER’s communication and outreach. (read more about his career)
Back to my post… Michel Claessens made a great keynote talk about :”What direction for mediascience? Present challenges and future stakes in science communication”. Listen to the interviews to grasp what it was all about.
First M. Claessens made a clear distinction between “science” and “mediascience”
After which, he explained the communication office or ITER nuclear reactor (which is being built and attracting a lot of attention from the media for several reasons) is a great observatory to study public communication of science and technology.
Finally, I could not help asking him about today’s European Commission Science communication.
