Interview: 'We need a revolution in science culture'[fr][de] 

"Researchers live in a system that has so far been completely autonomous and cut out of society. When you read Merton's Sociology of Research (1976), it is a system which is autonomous, self-regulated and with no contact with society. This is why so many researchers have problems in talking about the impact of their research," said Marie-Claude Roland, a researcher specialising in science communication and helping scientists improve their communication skills, in an interview with EurActiv.com. 

She argued that "researchers are in a situation of non-communication" as they understand publishing as a mere validation process of their research [publishing results in a scientific paper]. "I try to tell researchers that it is not worth publishing if they don't have anything to say. The problem is that when the papers are published there's no message in them, you just need to look at the titles of papers to see that," she added. 

"One of the weaknesses of research projects funded by the European Commission, for example, is the section entitled 'impact of your research'. Researchers are not really aware of the impact of their research. They are just trying to use society as an alibi to get some funding for their work," continued Roland.

She also said that new technologies have made research very technical and that even young researchers are very method and technique-orientated. Researchers often work with keywords and do not consider the wider relevance of their research subject or spend enough time formulating questions or reformulating problems, she added. 

However, "research cannot be separate from society anymore," said Roland, urging researchers to work with citizens to understand their concerns and involve them in the core process of formulating new problems and questions. 

"This is what the changing paradigm in communicating science is about. It is a cultural revolution where end-users and other stakeholders need to be involved in the process. Research and science culture can no longer exist outside mainstream culture and society. The threats to the planet and human life are now much too big. We need a revolution in science culture," said Roland. 

Asked why we need to communicate science, she said that science is communication and unless it is communicated, science does not exist.

To read the interview in full, please click here.