The Communication Laboratory aims to assist scientific, educational and media communities in making contacts so as to collaborate effectively.
ITMO University organizes events and workshops for the project guided by the Russian Venture Company. According to the cooperation agreement, ITMO has three main areas of activity.
First of all, ITMO University experts plan to republish manuals on science journalism and communications written by international authors in Russian. They are also gathering together the best lectures and cases by foreign and Russian specialists.
The second area is related to research activities in the field of science communication. This year ITMO’s Science Communication Center has been analyzing the current state of science communications in Russia. The experts attract international partners and use approved methodologies tested by experts from different countries.
The third area is organizing educational events. For example, the Communication Lab organized such events as a lecture on sci com experience in different countries by Elena Brandt, head of the Public Relations Department at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a workshop on journalism by Nikolay Podorvaniuk, ex-head of Gazeta.ru's Science Affairs Department, a meeting with Alexander Gerber, supervisor of science communication session at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and other events.
Accoding to Dmitry Malkov, Science Communication and Outreach Officer, an open and effective system for making science popular needs efforts by both lecturers and academic organizations.
"There are no ready to use solutions of this problem. However we can move step by step by creating a successful case in cooperation with researchers who are interested in science communication. Our lectures and workshops help to reach this goal."
In the nearest future ITMO’s experts plan to organize discussions and business games for sci com and PR projects in Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Tomsk, Sochi, Kazan and other Russian cities. The next upcoming meeting is a science communication school at Ural Federal University which will take place on November 16.
