Why Scientific Dialogic Gatherings?

Scientific Dialogic Gatherings are a way to reach the current European challenges about science, as far as institutions and programs of reference is concerned, as well as civil society and education of adult people, as explained below.

Such challenge is reflected in Horizon 2020, the European Union Framework Program for the 2014-2020 period. This program meets part of the research and innovation activities, working on the main social challenges. The goals of the program include making science more attractive to young people, as well as involving citizens in the research of formal and informal education in science. Besides, in the publication Science for the XXI century, a new challenge, based in the UNESCO World Conference of Science, was established that “It is more than ever necessary to develop and expand scientific literacy in every culture and sectors of society” (UNESCO, Declaration about science and the use of scientific knowledge, 1999, Preamble 3.34).

In parallel, regarding the education of adult people, throughout the last years a society demand has been detected on counting with tools and being trained in the scientific domain. This need comes especially from sectors with low academic training, since these people have been traditionally excluded from science domain, and nevertheless, they would profit from this knowledge in their daily life. Likewise, it is notably mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “Everyone has the right to freely take part in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy arts and participate in scientific progress and the beneficial outcomes" (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, art. 27).

For that reason it was detected the need to develop a project that accomplishes the goal to get science closer to citizens, so Dialogic Gathering has been transferred to the scientific domain. Dialogic Gatherings, taking place in different countries in different fields, are found among the successful educational actions, a series of practices with educational achievements, independently of the geographic and socio-economic context of the participants and the center where it takes place.