On the 20th of March, the first specialized thematic forum for specialists in the field of science communication was held in Moscow. Within its framework there was a selection of the most brilliant popularisation projects of more than 1500 scientific organizations.

The programme of the Science Communicators included the demonstration of the research results regarding the institutional science communication in Russia, the presentations of the best communication projects in 2016, the media panel with the representatives of popular science mass media, the discussion between the experts on current problems and issues of this profession as well as the ceremony of awarding the winners of the “Communication laboratory” Prize, where JINR was shortlisted in two nominations: “Experiment» (“For best offline communication practices”) and “Eureka! Small Grand Prix” (“For high standards of communication work quality in small communication teams (1-5 people) in a scientific organization”).

The first nomination involved the most interesting non-media projects of the Institute (the opening of the Visit Centre, educational events for schoolchildren and students, holding interactive exhibitions in Russia and abroad, participation in science festivals) popularising scientific achievements at JINR. When choosing the winner of the small Grand Prix, the following criteria were taken into account: the number of communication channels, content quality, initiated publications in mass media, agenda reaction and means of performance management etc. – also considering a small number of staff members.

The selection of nominees was carried out from 1500 research and educational institutions and was comprised of several stages:

1. Initial communication audit: analysis of open sources
2. Drawing up the longlist: selection of 150 organizations with the most advanced function of external communication based on objective quantitative criteria
3. In-depth audit: Assessment of the best practices by the Prize expert panel among 150 selected organizations
4. Drawing up the shortlist: selection of 15 organizations with the most successful communication activity cases, distribution among the 5 nominations

At the Forum JINR was represented by the team of JINR popularisation activists, including: Dmitry Dryablov (Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics), Mariya Phomina and Alexander Verheev (Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems), Azat Slyamov (Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics), Yuri Severyukhin (Laboratory of Radiation Biology), Kristina Moisenz, Anastasia Zlotnikova, Adelina Kazakova and Anastasia Suschevich (Science Organization & International Cooperation Office).

Background information

The “Communication laboratory” project was launched by the Russian venture company in 2014 as an educational networking programme aimed at accelerating the formation of a new class of specialists – communicators in the sphere of science, and to strengthen connections in the information ecosystem chain “science – mass media – business – the public ”. The aim of the “Communication laboratory” programme is to involve the scientific community in the popularisation of science and new technologies, to increase communication competence on the part of educational and research centres, to develop science communication as an inalienable element of the innovative ecosystem. One of the tasks of the programme for the next few years is to form quality standards of science communication in Russia, to support the development of exemplary communication services in research institutes and research and educational organizations (RI and scientific and organizational departments) and to pass on the experience of similar to other research and educational organizations. To handle this task the “Communication laboratory” was designed.