BACKGROUND
SciShops will build an extensive knowledge base by analysing the practices of the existing European and International Science Shops. The goal is to engage community stakeholders in knowledge cafes and other community events in order to provide examples of the benefits of community-based research. The developed strategies and novel tools provided by the project, including a knowledge hub, a SciShops navigator, twinning and matchmaking platform, seek to provide guidelines for different types of organizations on how to establish and run a Science Shop.
SCISHOPS VISION AND AMBITION
SciShops aims at building on and expanding the capacity of the Science Shops ecosystem in Europe and beyond. As part of the SciShops project, at least ten new university- and non-university-based Science Shops will be established in Europe by project partners. The non-university Science Shops are affiliated to different types of organizations, such as small and medium enterprises, large enterprises, non-governmental and non-profit organizations and research institutes.
The SciShops team aims to demonstrate the benefits of starting a Science Shop for various kinds of organization, as well as to show how civil society gains from collaborating with Science Shops in community-based participatory research.
SCISHOPS OBJECTIVES
ASSESS - Assess European and international Science Shops characteristics and players, drivers and barriers of establishing a new conceptual science shop for the community.
BUILD - Build an online platform with best possible practices in the field, guidelines and recommendations for networking between Science Shops activities.
IDENTIFY - Identify and engage relevant community-based research and knowledge transfer from Science Shops to society for the benefit of the best matchmaking community.
CONCEPTUALIZE - Conceptualize and organize best summer schools and knowledge cafes with students and trainers from the same field but from different geographical areas.
ELABORATE - Elaborate a good strategy for community-based research and knowledge transfer from Science Shops to society for the benefit of the community.
ESTABLISH - Establish new Science Shops within different types of research organizations, based on the acquired knowledge, best possible experience and guidelines