communicate easily

Sensitivity is required

You also have to rely on a multilingual mediation team that represents a wide range of cultures. On the one hand, the goal is for the people reporting the flag to present an image that fits well with the community — that is, they are just as diverse — and on the other, to set an “model,” says Streicher. Young people’s self-confidence in particular should be created in this way: “This role model should convey the feeling that I can do it too, if he or she can do it.”

Language is doubly important: even if it is not possible to speak all languages ​​at all times, it is possible to create a sense of welcome through multilingual posters or invitations. In addition, you have to convey the “sensitivity of language”: in science, terms from everyday language are often used in the opposite sense. If something is “just a theory,” you don’t have to rely on it, but a scientific theory is something that has a really good foundation, Streicher explains.

Cultural change rather than project mentality

Evaluating science communication projects is often difficult because success cannot be easily assessed using simple indicators. Ulrike Welt calls for thinking less “project-oriented”: it is all about long-term social change, which will not go well with the two-to-three-year funding model. One is successful when “good enough” offers are created that open up possibilities.

Barbara Streicher also believes that an initiative or workshop is successful if the participants can participate in it – that is, “if the participants are emotionally or intellectually attached to the idea that science is exciting”.