PRR Project

Summary

Besides furthering the most productive disciplinary scientific fields at the University of Coimbra, one of the key strategic research areas the University of Coimbra would like to address on a permanent basis with the FCT Tenure Call is that of Science Communication, Societal Engagement and Community Outreach.  These are transversal areas that are coming into their own in terms of Research, and represent, in our opinion, an out-of-the-box potential for future high level and impactful research activities other than the typical disciplinary audiences, with clear societal implications and the ability to engage communities outside of academia. In order to do this robust research programs linked to permanent positions are needed, with different emphasis, not ad-hoc part time efforts linked to short-term objectives. We have included six such positions, which intersect and interconnect, including Science Communication, Science Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Research-based organization of outreach structures (Museum, Botanical Garden and Exploratório-UC). This policy is in line with the social responsibility of research institutions, not only in providing added curated information, but in performing meaningful research into the impact of these activities, and basing future developments on the results.For the Science Outreach Structures there are four Researcher positions. This specific position is complementary to the other related positions (Exploratório-UC, Botanical Garden and Science Museum), which are focused on research on outreach and better forms of society engagement with non-academic publics. Given its long history, the University of Coimbra is home to a variety of scientific-based collections, procured both nationally and internationally, in many important cases is close connection with Portugal’s colonial past. They include many samples or archives (documents, photographs, films) housed in reserves that are part of both the Science Museum and the Botanical Garden, of different nature and from different fields such as Geology, Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Zoology or Anthropology (both live and dried plants, instruments, preserved animals or animal remains such as bones or shells, minerals, human bones or artifacts from different cultures, and other materials). These collections are ripe for full comprehensive cataloging, open access and study at several critical levels, from the perspective of the History of Science, to their possible use in relevant contemporary research (such as ancient DNA work, linked to evolution, biodiversity or climate change). Also relevant in this regard is a post-colonial gaze on how some collection should be viewed, displayed, studied, framed, or even, if that proves to be the case, possibly returned to the countries/territories from which they were obtained. This is a sensitive topic of increasing relevance, which needs dedicated research, fully supported at the highest institutional level, research that is transversal to outreach structures at the University of Coimbra, with connection to former colonies where some of the materials were obtained. Although probably not sufficient in itself to maximize all possibilities involved, research in scientific collections could start promoting changes in mindset required for this type of approach at an institutional level, both in terms of the historicity of science collections, and how they can provide a “time window” of opportunity for contemporary research. Together with the other positions noted in the application this Researcher would have a key role in moving outreach research and societal engagement towards the crucial issues of asking questions on the importance of science collections, the opportunities, biases and problems they create, and how they should be contemporarily framed. In turn, and besides expected research outcomes, this could leave to a more inclusive and productive community engagement effort in the future.The hired researcher thus would be fully dedicated to this increasingly relevant field of study, and, expected to participate in teams that submit funding proposals, attend specialized meetings, create/participate in networks (including the Heritage working Group at the Coimbra Group Alliance of Universities, which is very active in this field) and publish their results. Together with the other positions proposed we expect to form a cohesive core of Researchers on different aspects of outreach and societal engagement, leading to a more inclusive and research-based community involvement. For this purpose, we believe that the Rectory needs to be summoned, so as both to ensure a transversal research plan involving different fields of study and infrastructures, and to not burden individual research centers.