Experts examine removing barriers to science communication 

"Should communication be one of the basic skills of scientists, such as thinking, testing and experimenting?" is one of the questions that a recently published book on science communication aims to answer. 

The book , edited by Michael Claessens from the European Commission, and published by Springer, was written for researchers, scientists, science communicators, press officers, science teachers, science museums and centres. 

The publication contains a series of articles on the various aspects of science and research communication, for example, the issues of science training, event organisation and education. It also provides some tips on how to get science news through in different media.

The book's 40 articles were written by the speakers of the Communicating European Research 2005 international conference (see EurActiv 15 November 2005). The conference was organised to provide European-funded research projects guidance on good science-communication practices as well as information on professional services in the field.

Communication and dissemination of research results are contractual obligations for the projects funded by the EU's research framework programmes.