Science Communication Postgraduate Studies in Latin America: a map and some food for thought

Abstract

This paper contains an overview of the programmes currently existing in Latin America to train science communicators. For such purpose, only postgraduate courses held regularly were considered in the study. Twenty-two programmes meeting such requirement were identified in five countries, 65% of which were in fact established over the past ten years. They present a lot of diversity in terms of admittance requirements, goals, contents, approaches, duration and graduation requirements. However, all of them share the same effort, aiming to offer specific contents in the area of science communication.

Bringing Policymakers to Science Through Communication: A Perspective From Latin America

“…Accordingly, we highlighted initiatives, such as the science, technology, policy (STeP) Fellowship Program held by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, within the Latin American region, whose fellows engage first-hand with policymakers. We also encourage researchers who are concerned about improving their science communication skills to enroll in training programs (see Massarani et al, 2016 for an overview of the current postgraduate opportunities existing in Latin America).…”

Formación en comunicación en los estudios de grado. Análisis en las áreas de ciencias de la salud y la vida, ciencias ambientales y ciencias naturales

“…La formación en comunicación científica está emergiendo tímidamente como objeto de estudio e investigación; en particular, la formación de los futuros comunicadores científicos (comunicadores institucionales de universidades y centros de investigación, periodistas científicos, profesionales de los museos de ciencias y centros de divulgación). La existencia de numerosos programas de formación en comunicación científica en todo el mundo (McKinnon y Bryant, 2017;Mellor, 2013;Gascoigne et al, 2010;Trench, 2009;Knobel, Regina y Camargo, 2009;Graco, 2009), algunos de los cuales son impartidos en España (De Semir, 2009) y, también, en diversos países de Latinoamérica (Massarani et al, 2016;Murriello, 2014;Reynoso Haynes, 2009;Dellamea, Ratto y Scisciani, 2000), ofrece un material preciado para explorar e intentar JULIO -DICIEMBRE 2018 extraer una mayor evidencia empírica sobre los contenidos, las competencias y los resultados de aprendizaje que son -o deberían-ser trabajados en estos programas docentes.…”

Universities, science communication and professionalism

“…Some surveys of such programmes have treated them mainly as sources of training to produce professionals [e.g. Massarani et al, 2016] or sought to establish to what level they provide "professional skills" training [e.g. Mulder, Longnecker and Davies, 2008;Hong and Wehrmann, 2010], including, for example, in media writing, graphic and online media design, public relations strategies.…”

“…They may be found in departments of life sciences, bionics, applied sciences, education, social sciences, history of science, as well as in communication or media studies, or free-floating between departments. A survey of Latin American programmes [Massarani et al, 2016] showed that no two of them had precisely the same institutional setting.…”