Better understanding museum visitors.

New questions have become central to the concerns of all museum and exhibition directors: with what motivations and expectations do people visit a museum or exhibition? Do they think they will enhance their knowledge, or perhaps be entertained? And, above all, what do they ‘take home’ in terms of learning after the visit? The book…

The European Commission and the Management of Science-Based Crisis

The European Commission, under the auspices of the Greek Presidency and the Hellenic Centre for Infectious Diseases Control, organised the international conference “Scientific Advice, Crisis Management and Media”, held in Athens 9-10 June. The targeted audience consisted of scientists, journalists, policy makers and citizens’ representatives. The goals were, first, to identify the right practices in…

The European Commission and the Management of Science-Based Crisis

The European Commission, under the auspices of the Greek Presidency and the Hellenic Centre for Infectious Diseases Control, organised the international conference “Scientific Advice, Crisis Management and Media”, held in Athens 9-10 June. The targeted audience consisted of scientists, journalists, policy makers and citizens’ representatives. The goals were, first, to identify the right practices in…

Biotechnologies: Democracy and Governance of Innovation

Italians are getting more and more skeptical towards GMOs (68% of respondents considers them unsafe, compared to 49% in 2001), but more than one out of two (57%) believes that research on agricultural biotechnologies should be continued. Lack of confidence is growing towards GM food: two italians out of three (68% compared to 49% in…

GM experiments and public opinion

On Tuesday 22nd October a public meeting on ‘Agro-food experiments and citizens participation” was held in Casalino, Novara, Italy. The meeting was attended by approximately sixty people: citizens, experts, journalists, members of farmers associations, representatives of the local and regional governments and of the environmental agency. It was indeed a very interesting meeting, for at…