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BIOECONOMY<br />
INNOVATION<br />
CommBeBiz Magazine 2018 – 2019<br />
Capacity Raising<br />
in the Bioeconomy<br />
Enhancing skills & competences,<br />
Enabling knowledge transfer—<br />
through science communication
BIOECONOMY<br />
INNOVATION<br />
CommBeBiz Magazine 2018 – 2019<br />
Copyright: <strong>commbebiz</strong>.eu<br />
Editor:<br />
Sylvia Schreiber, CommBeBiz Media Panel, Brussels<br />
Production manager:<br />
Isabelle Demolin, PRACSIS<br />
Graphic Design:<br />
Anna Malmport, PRACSIS<br />
June Lottin, PRACSIS<br />
The editorial has been written, and the CommBeBiz project is coordinated, by<br />
Rhonda Smith, Director<br />
Minerva Communications UK Ltd<br />
16 Basepoint | Caxton Close | Andover | SP10 3FG<br />
Telephone: +44 (0)1264 326427 | Fax: +44 (0)1264326327<br />
Acknowlegements :<br />
CommBeBiz—communicating the bioeconomy—is an EU-funded Coordination and Support<br />
Action (CSA) to support bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch with its knowledge transfer.<br />
PRACSIS<br />
CommBeBiz Partners have contributed to this publication:<br />
Additional contributions were provided by:<br />
Annabel Mead — Minerva Communications Ltd, UK<br />
Marie Saville — Minerva Communications Ltd, UK<br />
Maeve Henchion — Teagasc, Ireland<br />
Áine Regan — Teagasc, Ireland<br />
Prof. Kevin O`Connor — University College Dublin, Ireland<br />
Nelo Emerencia — Bio-based Industries Consortium, Belgium<br />
Elmar Bartlmae — European Science Communication Institute, ESCI, Germany<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol — Robert Bosch Stiftung, Germany<br />
Prof. Karl Ritz — University of Nottingham, UK<br />
Rhonda Smith,<br />
CEO Minerva UK,<br />
Co-ordinator of CommBeBiz<br />
The coordinators of the featured projects<br />
were consulted, as well as their websites.<br />
Photos: shutterstock, if no other credits indicated.<br />
Published and Disseminated by PRACSIS srl., Communication Agency,<br />
Pl. Communale d`Auderghem 8, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium © CommBeBiz 2018 – 2019<br />
The paper used in this product is manufactured<br />
from managed fo<strong>res</strong>ts and is FSC certified.<br />
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 652707
Editorial<br />
“<br />
The Bioeconomy is that part of the economy based on the production of renewable biological<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources and their conversion into food, feed, renewable non-food products and bioenergy. It<br />
includes agriculture, fo<strong>res</strong>try, fisheries, food and pulp and paper production, as well as parts of<br />
the chemical and energy industries. 1<br />
“<br />
The ‘Big Idea’<br />
Communicating the Bioeconomy for Research Impact<br />
Giving names to ideas and initiatives is only the first step in<br />
communicating the rationale and substance behind them to<br />
the world. Once ‘the handle’ (the name) is agreed, the next<br />
step is to develop the core text behind the idea, providing the<br />
basis for discussion, planning and, where appropriate, action<br />
to make the idea a reality.<br />
Sometimes the idea is so all-encompassing that it is difficult to<br />
keep the bigger picture—the ultimate goal, the ‘big idea’—in<br />
focus.<br />
The bioeconomy is an example of that all-encompassing<br />
‘big idea’. The creation of a more sustainable world<br />
by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and utilising natural,<br />
bio-based renewables as our core ‘feedstock’ is a huge<br />
ambition. The idea itself creates macro-economic as well as<br />
micro-economic dilemmas. Economic units, parliaments,<br />
nations, regions, cities, industries, communities, families and<br />
individuals have to be involved in, grappling with the practical<br />
difficulties and potential conflicts on the journey to bringing<br />
the bioeconomy to life.<br />
The idea of the bioeconomy itself requi<strong>res</strong> new ideas to<br />
answer the myriad questions that it poses. What bio-based<br />
materials are available? Can these be produced at scale? Are<br />
they sustainable and <strong>full</strong>y biodegradable? What new production<br />
processes and facilities (thus investment) are required?<br />
Are new regulations, standards and legislation needed? Will<br />
consumers—neighbours, family, friends—support the<br />
changes and buy the products?<br />
Researchers commissioned to delve into one area of the<br />
complex idea that is the bioeconomy — and come up with<br />
solutions to this Grand Societal Challenge — find it hard, if<br />
not impossible, to keep that bigger picture in focus. CommBe-<br />
Biz’s experience with bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers confirms this.<br />
The challenge is that to deliver ‘impact’ and ‘innovation’ as<br />
required by contracts, and make the bioeconomy a reality,<br />
more <strong>res</strong>earchers need to put their own work into that wider<br />
context. Researchers themselves need to speak out to improve<br />
understanding among specialist and lay audiences as to how<br />
their own work fits into the big idea.<br />
Currently, however, <strong>res</strong>earchers are (usually) neither<br />
supported nor rewarded appropriately for time spent on<br />
planning and delivering <strong>res</strong>earch impact in its widest sense.<br />
Neither are the scientific disciplines from the early to late<br />
stages of education geared towards ensuring that <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
have the skills and confidence to speak out to multiple<br />
audiences and engage with communities. Researchers<br />
currently have little motivation to say ‘yes’ to being proactive<br />
and speaking out.<br />
But the bioeconomy needs an army of <strong>res</strong>earchers ready<br />
and able to do just that. Only when society hears from them<br />
directly and continuously will understanding, acceptance,<br />
advocacy and action be delivered.<br />
The CommBeBiz project has focused its attention on the<br />
individual bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers as much as their projects,<br />
providing skills training and confidence building opportunities<br />
to the current cohort, many of whom will become the <strong>res</strong>earch<br />
leaders of the near future.<br />
CommBeBiz’s final Bioeconomy Innovation Magazine,<br />
final Bioeconomy Impact 2018 meeting, together with the<br />
BeBizBlueprint report, are designed to stimulate debate<br />
with all the individuals and organisations involved in bringing<br />
the bioeconomy to fruition. CommBeBiz looks forward to that<br />
continuing debate.<br />
Rhonda Smith, <strong>commbebiz</strong>.eu<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
This Bioeconomy Innovation magazine focusses on best practice examples of capacity raising in communicating bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch.<br />
National strategic efforts, education and training, social media publishing, gender measu<strong>res</strong> and science photography are featured. These<br />
are included to stimulate <strong>res</strong>earchers to better contribute to communicating ‘the big picture’ of the bioeconomy. CommBeBiz has collated the<br />
key learnings and messages gained during the project’s lifetime into the BeBizBlueprint report, and extracts are included here (pp 10 – 18).<br />
The <strong>full</strong> report is published as a standalone document and is available in print and online.<br />
1<br />
http://ec.europa.eu/<strong>res</strong>earch/evaluations/pdf/meeting_sc2.pdf accessed 25 January 2018. Note that marine (blue growth) is not included in this particular definition but is acknowledged as playing a<br />
huge role in the delivery of the bioeconomy.
Pages 4 – 32<br />
BIOECONOMY<br />
RESEARCH<br />
CAPACITY RAISING<br />
“<br />
More<br />
impact and relevance through knowledge<br />
transfer and science communication<br />
“
6<br />
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE AS A KEY TO THE BIOECONOMY<br />
How the BEACON Bioeconomy Centre in Dublin prepa<strong>res</strong> people for the transition<br />
to a more sustainable production and consumption model<br />
7 SUCCESS FACTORS Of A NATIONAL BIOECONOMY STRATEGY<br />
Value chain studies laid the base for the Irish Government Statement<br />
9 COOPERATION + COMMUNICATION + COMPETENCES = CAPACITIES<br />
CommBeBiz supports bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers to raise their potential<br />
10 BEBIZ BLUEPRINT—INSIGHTS ON THE ROAD TO INNOVATION<br />
Maximising <strong>res</strong>earcher impact through communications and business support<br />
19 BIO-BASED TEACHING IN SCHOOLS—A PUSH FOR FUTURE<br />
BIOENGINEERS<br />
Interview with Nelo Emerencia, Bio-based Industry Consortium, on hot topics in<br />
biostudies<br />
22 SHOW AND TELL: VIDEO IS THE BEST FIT FOR THE BIOECONOMY<br />
Filmmaker Elmar Bartlmae, ESCI, explains the trends in science self-publishing and<br />
visualisation<br />
24 “LET NERDS BE NERDS, BUT PROMOTE THE COMMUNICATORS TOO“<br />
Interview with Ingrid Wünning Tschol, Senior Vice-P<strong>res</strong>ident Strategic Development,<br />
Robert Bosch Stiftung and Founder of AcademiaNet, on diversity and gender<br />
capacity raising<br />
27 ACADEMIANET—AN ONLINE PORTAL SHOWCASING WOMEN WITH<br />
HIGH POTENTIAL<br />
The web-tool for outstanding women scientists helps to find good speakers and<br />
candidates<br />
28 LIFTING BARRIERS THROUGH SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
The 2018 CommBeBiz Competition<br />
The six finalists of the COMMBEBIZ 2018 Photo Competition
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
6<br />
Knowledge exchange<br />
as a key to a successful<br />
BIOECONOMY<br />
How the BEACON Bioeconomy Research Centre in Dublin<br />
prepa<strong>res</strong> people for the transition to a more sustainable<br />
production and consumption model<br />
In Ireland, what do a large industry CEO, a <strong>res</strong>earcher, a<br />
farmer and a consumer all have in common? They may all<br />
soon raise questions or ideas for future topics about the developing<br />
bioeconomy in their country. Be it the consumer’s<br />
queries when buying a food product originally made from<br />
wooden <strong>res</strong>idues; the farmer’s questions regarding whether<br />
or not he could use his grass surplus for bio-chemicals;<br />
or the <strong>res</strong>earcher’s concern about the over-use of marine<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources while extracting value from waste.<br />
All these scenarios have been played out to support a wide<br />
discussion on opportunities and threats that may come<br />
up while transforming the patterns of producing and<br />
consuming in a transition to a bio-based economy using<br />
biological raw materials instead of fossil-based <strong>res</strong>ources to<br />
manufacture goods. Ireland made a start on this transition<br />
with the release of a National Policy Statement on the bioeconomy<br />
in December 2017 (see page 7).<br />
For the first time, the bioeconomy stakeholder issues<br />
emerging from producers, as well as from consumers and<br />
citizens wishing to participate in shaping their environment,<br />
will be tackled on different platforms in the recently<br />
created BEACON Bioeconomy Research Centre. There,<br />
Irish <strong>res</strong>earchers will — together with policymakers and<br />
industry experts — seek future-proof solutions using biological<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources as drivers of production and consumption.<br />
New fields of economic activity for jobs and growth in rural<br />
areas will be tapped during the process. Case studies and<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch projects will focus on novel schemes for involving<br />
citizens in sustainable ways of life, encompassing sustainable<br />
nutrition and waste avoidance, or the contributions<br />
from farmers towards re-valourising agricultural feedstock.<br />
The knowledge exchange between the groups interacting in<br />
the platform-hubs is considered a key success factor, and<br />
additional specific <strong>res</strong>ponsibility has been assigned to developing<br />
a knowledge-hub to link the Centre with business,<br />
government, NGOs and the media in order to achieve<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch impact.<br />
With an investment of more than EUR 17 million from the<br />
Government, through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)<br />
and Irish industry, the BEACON Bioeconomy Research<br />
Centre, based at University College Dublin (UCD), aims<br />
at converting <strong>res</strong>idues from the agri-food and marine<br />
sectors into new, higher value products using biocatalysts<br />
and metabolic engineering. When <strong>full</strong>y operational it will<br />
employ over 100 <strong>res</strong>earchers and postgraduate students.<br />
From the start — conducting two specific PhD studies in<br />
the area — the Centre has sought input from consumers<br />
and citizens. An online panel is envisaged for participa-
ting citizens, as well as <strong>res</strong>earch on social<br />
media, to learn the specific jargon and terminology<br />
used in everyday life in relation<br />
to the bioeconomy. This will enable the <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
to better understand the users’<br />
concerns and expectations in relation to<br />
the economic transition process. Ultimately,<br />
it will inform the science community<br />
in their framing of scientific messages<br />
related to the bioeconomy for the public,<br />
and also inform key company strategic<br />
decisions related to marketing, communication,<br />
and the brand development of<br />
bio-based products.<br />
Maeve Henchion, <strong>res</strong>earcher at Teagasc,<br />
the Irish Agriculture and Food Development<br />
Authority, and Co-Chair of one of<br />
three platforms in the BEACON Centre,<br />
will accompany consumer groups on their<br />
path to more sustainable consumption<br />
patterns: ‘Prog<strong>res</strong>s to the bioeconomy is<br />
a step-change. It is a transformation of<br />
the entire economy and society, and will<br />
influence which products are consumed<br />
and how they are valued.’<br />
With focus groups, surveys and specific<br />
debates, the social scientists in BEACON<br />
will inform the discussion around<br />
consumer perspective to shape the bioeconomy.<br />
With the surveys, consumers<br />
may exp<strong>res</strong>s their expectations on new<br />
featu<strong>res</strong> of bio-products or they could be<br />
asked to comment on if they might accept<br />
potential price rises related to buying<br />
more sustainable products.<br />
A specific focus at the BEACON Centre<br />
will be on life-cycle assessments, to ensure<br />
the bioeconomy is sustainable<br />
from a social, environmental and<br />
economic perspective, and to<br />
raise awareness among citizens<br />
and consumers, including<br />
education and training from<br />
primary school upwards.<br />
Another hot topic in the Irish bioeconomy<br />
is whey, a <strong>res</strong>idue from the huge<br />
Irish dairy sector. Formerly used as pig<br />
feed, whey proteins and whey sugars are<br />
now sourced as valuable raw materials.<br />
Chemists will convert them into products<br />
in sports nutrition, textiles, bio-compounds<br />
and bio-energies. ‘By using these<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources, we are going back to nature, or<br />
we are going back to the future, if you like.<br />
What we have to do is to develop the new<br />
technologies and understand the potential<br />
of these technologies to create value for<br />
society,’ says Kevin O`Connor, Professor<br />
at the UCD School of Biomolecular and<br />
Biomedical Science and Director of the<br />
Bioeconomy Centre.<br />
The Centre combines all disciplines from<br />
the bioeconomy, whether conducting<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch on the extraction of a compound<br />
from <strong>res</strong>idues leading to higher value<br />
products, or using fermentation or<br />
specific chemical technologies to convert<br />
natural <strong>res</strong>ources. Seven managers from<br />
different disciplines will drive the new SFI<br />
centre’s direction, including an emphasis<br />
on cluster forming, communication,<br />
knowledge transfer and impact creation.<br />
A ‘hub and spokes model’ comprising<br />
several platforms invites industry<br />
stakeholders to drive new applications<br />
from a ‘market-pull’ perspective meeting<br />
economic needs and demand. Kevin<br />
O`Connor says that, ‘The SFI is taking<br />
a risk on the Centre and pushing the<br />
boundaries: as <strong>res</strong>earchers we are here to<br />
establish new frontiers and help to create<br />
a culture of innovation.’<br />
credit: Teagasc<br />
Science festivals, a specialty of<br />
the SFI, will be used to draw the<br />
younger generation’s attention<br />
towards the bioeconomy. Many<br />
bio-based goods from plant<br />
<strong>res</strong>idues — currently designed<br />
and produced in the sports and<br />
leisure field — such as sports<br />
shoes or funboards, are considered<br />
by youngsters ‘to be cool’.<br />
7
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Success FACTORS<br />
of a National<br />
Bioeconomy Strategy<br />
Ireland not only has world renowned traditions in agrifood<br />
originating from its reputation as the ‘Green Island’ and<br />
its beautiful areas, it also possesses rich marine <strong>res</strong>ources<br />
in one of the largest sea beds in Europe, which covers 10<br />
times the country’s land mass. Over the past decades, the<br />
Irish economy has been able to benefit from the investment<br />
of a cluster of global leading pharmaceutical industries in<br />
information technologies and biotechnology development.<br />
It is hoped that the pay-off for these investments will be met<br />
by the competitive advantage of bioeconomic development<br />
with the help of the new National Bioeconomy Strategy.<br />
83 bioeconomy measu<strong>res</strong> have been identified<br />
‘Harnessing Ireland’s rich natural <strong>res</strong>ources in agriculture,<br />
marine and energies’ and ‘Harnessing networking and<br />
connections’ — the Irish strengths provided the headlines<br />
for a nationwide discussion in preparation for the Irish<br />
National Bioeconomy Strategy. Fifty-one submissions were<br />
submitted to the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister’s<br />
Office) in <strong>res</strong>ponse to the consultation document.<br />
A scoping exercise conducted by various Irish government<br />
departments ahead of this consultation identified more<br />
than 83 existing or anticipated bioeconomy measu<strong>res</strong><br />
already underway. The bioeconomy measu<strong>res</strong> identified<br />
range from <strong>res</strong>earch, applied science and engineering<br />
projects to policy initiatives, awareness programmes and<br />
infrastructural investments. An additional analysis of<br />
potential priority value-chains has helped to detail the<br />
picture of a country at the brink of the transition to a new<br />
and sustainable bioeconomy which will drive economic<br />
and societal development.<br />
The BioÉire analysis: Valourising waste streams, biomaterials<br />
and bio-energy<br />
Over the last two years, Teagasc (the Irish Agriculture<br />
and Food Development Authority), a CommBeBiz<br />
project partner, has conducted vast <strong>res</strong>earch into the future<br />
potential of the Irish bioeconomy. The BioÉire project<br />
Value chain studies laid the base for<br />
a Government Statement in Ireland<br />
funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and<br />
the Marine, analysed interlinking bio-based value chains<br />
in Ireland and how they impact each other. The Teagasc<br />
investigators identified the need in the short and medium<br />
term to focus on the exploitation of agricultural, marine<br />
and fo<strong>res</strong>try <strong>res</strong>ources through the valourisation of waste<br />
streams and the production of batteries, biochemical and<br />
bio-energy.<br />
Value chains with significant short to medium term<br />
potential were listed, such as the use of:<br />
• Dairy side streams for new food products;<br />
• Agricultural waste for bio-energy production;<br />
• Horticultural by-products for feedstock for biomaterials;<br />
• Marine discards for animal feed;<br />
• Extracted protein/bioactives from marine waste for<br />
functional food applications;<br />
• Fo<strong>res</strong>try <strong>res</strong>ources in decentralised heat generation;<br />
• Recovered vegetable oil for biofuels;<br />
• Sugar-yielding feedstock for production of biochemicals;<br />
• Seaweed for nutrition, healthcare, cosmetic and energy<br />
applications.<br />
The BioÉire project also highlighted a number of concerns<br />
in the bioeconomy, namely issues of sufficient scale, international<br />
competition, technological feasibility, market availability,<br />
consumer acceptance, regulatory impediments, environmental<br />
sustainability, the prevalence of robust supply<br />
chains, industry fragmentation, and a potentially damaging<br />
competition with food production.<br />
The National Bioeconomy Strategy was finally launched<br />
with a Government statement in December 2017. Ireland<br />
has aligned its Bioeconomy Strategy with the European<br />
Union’s recently developed sustainable Circular Economy<br />
Package. It includes legislative proposals on waste comprising<br />
recycling and landfill reduction targets, and a detailed<br />
action plan of measu<strong>res</strong> to undertake by the end of 2019.<br />
The FungusChain Project — from mushroom <strong>res</strong>idues to bio-plastics<br />
An outstanding example of a cascading approach that seeks priority exploitation of food and feed for high-value compounds prior to<br />
energy generation, is the HORIZON 2020 Funguschain Project. Using mushroom <strong>res</strong>idues for biorefining into biopolymers and bio-based<br />
additives, the FungusChain project has become a model to demonstrate the scope of the bioeconomy to consumers, pupils and customers.<br />
The FungusChain Project is a public – private partnership involving the EU Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking and a number of<br />
companies, including Irish firms. The project processes mushroom <strong>res</strong>idues into functional bio-based additives and biopolymers using a<br />
cascading approach to separate the valuable components. It also seeks to demonstrate industrial viability by building a new bio-refinery<br />
and modifying current manufacturing lines. The bio-molecules and building blocks isolated from the mushroom wastes are used in food<br />
supplements, plastic products and industrial film products such as bags and gloves.<br />
8
COOPERATION<br />
+ COMMUNICATION<br />
+ Competences<br />
= Capacities<br />
CommBeBiz supports bioeconomy<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers to raise their potential<br />
CommBeBiz is there to better communicate the bioeconomy. The EU-funded HORIZON 2020 Coordination and Support<br />
Action aims at enabling other EU-funded <strong>res</strong>earch projects, and <strong>res</strong>earchers working in the bioeconomy, to fulfil their innovation<br />
potential. With its BeBizBlueprint Document, an extract of which is shown on the fol<strong>low</strong>ing pages, CommBeBiz<br />
has provided bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers with valuable insights gained in science communication and business support<br />
between 2015 and 2018.<br />
The interdisciplinarity of the bioeconomy asks for greater efforts in knowledge transfer and capacity enhancement in order to better<br />
communicate its key messages — between the disciplines as well as farther afield. The key messages and key learnings of the project’s<br />
experiences are p<strong>res</strong>ented on the fol<strong>low</strong>ing pages with BeBizBlueprint , providing a model for further actions in capacity raising for<br />
bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers. The BeBizBlueprint also endeavours to raise awareness about the need for constant efforts to spread the<br />
word about the bioeconomy, from students to professors, and from business people and policymakers to citizens and consumers.<br />
See what kind of CommBeBiz support is also available on: www.<strong>commbebiz</strong>.eu.<br />
9
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
10<br />
© CommBeBiz 2018
11
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Evidence for the BeBizBlueprint<br />
Experience Matters<br />
CommBeBiz’s (CBB) experience and<br />
evidence underpins our key messages.<br />
This is discussed in <strong>full</strong> in the BeBiz-<br />
Blueprint, which can be accessed at<br />
www.<strong>commbebiz</strong>.eu. Our project legacy<br />
intention is that our insights are used<br />
to inform future strategies and projects<br />
about which activities, from CBB’s perspectives,<br />
have the potential to be most<br />
effective to drive outreach and innovation.<br />
CBB partners designed activities that<br />
met the needs of and created impact<br />
with our <strong>res</strong>earcher customers. The<br />
development and delivery of the web<br />
platform, plus all activities such as production<br />
of marketing collateral, social<br />
media content, online training and organisation<br />
of Annual Meetings, Academies<br />
and Bursaries have all been measured for<br />
their effectiveness. A snapshot of which<br />
is provided here.<br />
During the project, if we felt that an<br />
activity didn’t perform to the anticipated<br />
standard in terms of impact, it was<br />
developed into something that would<br />
potentially deliver.<br />
Sharing the Evidence<br />
From CBB’s experience, we found that<br />
the <strong>res</strong>earch domain is a relatively closed<br />
world, one in which <strong>res</strong>earchers are<br />
often disconnected from the business<br />
and wider world. They may not see the<br />
added value or the necessity for engaging<br />
with society, or business experts or<br />
mentors as they have no idea what is<br />
being offered to them, or what they can<br />
offer in return. Likewise, the business<br />
world and policy players, including<br />
Industry, Communicators, Innovation<br />
Intermediaries and Funders do not take<br />
the necessary time and effort and are not<br />
as involved in the <strong>res</strong>earch process as<br />
they should be to deliver effective engagement.<br />
This may be due to a lack of understanding<br />
of the <strong>res</strong>earcher’s work and<br />
its potential and/or the deeply engrained<br />
opinion that <strong>res</strong>earchers are inaccessible<br />
and with whom it is difficult to engage.<br />
The term ‘Bioeconomy’ covers a wide<br />
range of <strong>res</strong>earch disciplines so it is<br />
even more difficult for a non-scientist<br />
to grasp certain concepts and apply it to<br />
the real world. However, it is now more<br />
important than ever for the real-life application<br />
of science to be established, if<br />
we are to answer one of society’s most<br />
important questions and co-create a<br />
more sustainable world.<br />
The exposure by the project of a dysfunctional<br />
support system for the European<br />
Bioeconomy Researcher led CBB to<br />
develop ideas and messages for the organisations<br />
making up the ‘Ecosystem’.<br />
The aim is to drive availability of appropriate<br />
support for <strong>res</strong>earchers from<br />
the earliest years of their academic and<br />
career development, underpinning and<br />
improving levels of understanding of the<br />
importance of effective communications<br />
and of the business value chain to drive<br />
innovation.<br />
It is not just a question of each stakeholder<br />
within the Ecosystem making themselves<br />
more available and visible. The<br />
task is to also build bridges of understanding<br />
between them, apply a common<br />
language to find potential solutions, and<br />
collectively realise the possibilities and<br />
opportunities that will deliver impact<br />
and ultimately societal change.<br />
“CommBeBiz has had a huge impact on my life.<br />
Publishing a peer reviewed article is not the end,<br />
but just the beginning to bringing your idea to<br />
real life. CommBeBiz has changed my track from<br />
scientist to Entrepreneurship”.<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
Himanshu Himanshu,<br />
CBB Innovation Bursary winner.<br />
CBB team members with external experts at EBN Cong<strong>res</strong>s, Paris, June 2017<br />
12
Sustainability Terminology<br />
Create and deliver clarity and consistency in ‘sustainability’ terminology<br />
Policy change, societal understanding and behavioural change<br />
need to work hand in hand to galvanise a positive environmental<br />
change and this can only be achieved if everyone knows<br />
what we are collectively aiming to achieve. Academia, industry,<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers and society all need clarity of sustainability<br />
terminology if we are to robustly explain the complexities and<br />
opportunities in the Bioeconomy.<br />
We are aware that the pendulum of discussion and society<br />
awareness is s<strong>low</strong>ly swinging towards the need to live more sustainably.<br />
14.1 million UK <strong>res</strong>idents and hundreds of millions<br />
globally watched the Blue Planet, a BBC documentary raising<br />
awareness of the damage caused by plastic waste in the Ocean.<br />
And, within the last 6 months (January 2018) the discussion on<br />
sustainability issues has taken off, as organisations such as the<br />
Ellen MacArthur foundation, championing circular economy<br />
innovation, reach out regularly to its 33,500 fol<strong>low</strong>ers.<br />
CBB’s <strong>res</strong>earch shows some inte<strong>res</strong>ting <strong>res</strong>ults on the use of<br />
trending terms in sustainability and the ‘green’ movement. The<br />
societal uptake of hashtags on twitter demonstrates that using<br />
more specific topics such as #plastics are far more effective than<br />
using a more general term like #circulareconomy or<br />
#bioeconomy (see Fig 2).<br />
From a communications<br />
point of view, it is more<br />
effective to break down<br />
complex subjects into<br />
bite-sized topics so that<br />
they are easily digestible<br />
for wider audiences.<br />
The different terms are<br />
even making attempts to<br />
out-communicate eachother<br />
which will lead<br />
to further confusion.<br />
The debate should not<br />
be around which term<br />
means more, but which<br />
innovations can lead to<br />
step behavioural change<br />
and what does sustainability<br />
success look like<br />
(see Fig 3).<br />
The media’s view<br />
Fig 1: Word Art displaying a plethora of trending<br />
hashtags.<br />
CBB’s cooperation with journalists throughout the project<br />
exposed the media’s misunderstanding of the term Bioeconomy<br />
and their reluctance to uptake EU <strong>res</strong>earch <strong>res</strong>ults, citing their<br />
desire for ground breaking stories delivered directly from the<br />
<strong>res</strong>earcher.<br />
Fig 3: Bio-Based Industries Tweet<br />
“The bioeconomy is much more<br />
than a circular economy”<br />
Fig 2: Hashtag usage data<br />
Our external experts’ views<br />
“I think the term Bioeconomy is a jargon word and few are aware of what it<br />
means. Is farming the bioeconomy or is it the biotech-rich intensive agriculture?<br />
Is a piece of fruit a bioeconomy product or only 3d-printed food? Is<br />
pharma the bioeconomy as it is biologically based”.<br />
Professor Tim Benton, Leeds University<br />
“The term Circular Economy has made things more difficult as now many<br />
stakeholders in the sectors are struggling with the relation between the<br />
Bioeconomy and the Circular Economy principles. This makes it more<br />
difficult to organise the knowledge transfer from <strong>res</strong>earch projects towards<br />
stakeholders.”<br />
Martin Greimel, Austrian Ministry of Agriculture,<br />
Fo<strong>res</strong>try, Environment and Water Management<br />
“Bioeconomy is the green motor to the circular economy”.<br />
John Bell, speaking at BBI JU conference, December 2017<br />
“There is a limited knowledge about the bioeconomy and bioeconomyrelated<br />
topics. The term is very often associated with ‘economic growth’<br />
and ‘increased consumption.”<br />
Zoritza Ki<strong>res</strong>iewa, Fel<strong>low</strong>, Ecologic Institute<br />
“I consider the term ‘Bioeconomy’ is really only appropriate for a certain<br />
specialist audience. Personally, I preferred the term ‘Green Economy’,<br />
especially for a non-technical audience, although I understand that there<br />
is a difference.”<br />
Colin Morton, former Digital Communications Lead,<br />
Fo<strong>res</strong>try Commission, UK<br />
“There is a need for clarity to create more powerful and meaningful<br />
conversations, both internally and externally”.<br />
Rhonda Smith, Co-ordinator, CommBeBiz<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
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Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Project Briefs<br />
Engaging the <strong>res</strong>earcher in promotional material<br />
CBB created a downloadable, designer<br />
fact sheet - the Project Brief - that tells ‘the<br />
story’ of the project’s work, summarising<br />
objectives, work programme, outcomes<br />
and the relevance of the <strong>res</strong>earch to<br />
society. The Project Briefs were designed<br />
to be printed cost-effectively, circulated<br />
by email, at meetings and events, as well<br />
as uploaded to websites and used in<br />
social media channels to raise awareness<br />
and encourage engagement.<br />
CBB itself disseminated each Project<br />
Brief via its own social media, ensuring<br />
to tag the projects and relevant stakeholders.<br />
Most projects and CBB fol<strong>low</strong>ers<br />
liked and retweeted these promotional<br />
posts.<br />
Despite the potential impact of the<br />
Project Brief, a disappointing percentage<br />
of projects approached by the team<br />
decided to take up the offer to have a<br />
Project Brief written and designed with<br />
them. The production of the Project<br />
Brief also proved, in some cases, to be a<br />
challenging process. Additionally, many<br />
Project Briefs were not disseminated<br />
widely by the projects themselves, nor<br />
utilised to their <strong>full</strong> potential.<br />
Projects were more open to discussions<br />
when they had professional communications<br />
agencies as consortia partners or<br />
had subcontracted the job of marketing<br />
and promotion. Due to project budget<br />
<strong>res</strong>traints this is not always possible, so<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers themselves need to improve<br />
their understanding and skills in this<br />
area.<br />
CBB advocates that future CSA projects<br />
supports the <strong>res</strong>earch team, not only<br />
in the production of documents, but<br />
also in educating the project on how to<br />
choose and use appropriate channels<br />
to distribute and promote tools such as<br />
Project Briefs.<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
14
Project Briefs<br />
A Project Brief is a high quality ‘showcase’ document telling the project’s story<br />
Challenge-oriented<br />
Bruno Fady, Coordinator of<br />
GENTREE, INRA, France,<br />
appreciated the ‘challengeoriented’<br />
approach of the Project<br />
Brief against their own, more factbased<br />
leaflet. GENTREE has made<br />
their project brief available to<br />
download in the Public Outreach<br />
Resources section of their website.<br />
Journalistic style<br />
Emma Needham,<br />
Communications Officer<br />
for AGRIMAX, liked the<br />
‘journalistic style’ and ‘the<br />
spin’ which make the Briefs<br />
stand out. AGRIMAX not only<br />
posted the Brief on their own<br />
website, but also added it to a<br />
communication toolkit for each<br />
project participant. The Brief was<br />
used as an effective information<br />
tool during local exhibitions and<br />
workshops, exactly what it was<br />
designed to do.<br />
Raising awareness<br />
Anne Maréchal, Coordinator of<br />
the PEGASUS project, confirmed<br />
not only the posting of the brief<br />
on their project website, but<br />
also the use as a tool ‘to let other<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers know what we are<br />
doing’. The partners in PEGASUS<br />
will print the brief and take it to<br />
their workshops, the coordinator<br />
will exhibit the material on<br />
racks and on whiteboards in<br />
the institution, the Londonbased<br />
Institute for European<br />
Environmental Policy (IEEP).<br />
Raising awareness<br />
The TOMGEM project has<br />
written up a news piece about<br />
working with CBB to produce<br />
their Brief. A link to the PDF is<br />
available in the news post.<br />
Multi-Use<br />
The CERES project has made<br />
their Project Brief available for<br />
download from their website<br />
<strong>res</strong>ources section.<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
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Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Academia<br />
Complementary skills for <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
As the European <strong>res</strong>earch agenda has<br />
become increasingly focused on problemoriented<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch and <strong>res</strong>earch-based<br />
innovation, CBB has observed an increase<br />
in the number of initiatives specifically<br />
targeted at supporting <strong>res</strong>earchers to<br />
become innovators and entrepreneurs.<br />
However, for these initiatives to be effective,<br />
it is vital to understand the perspectives and<br />
motivations of the individual <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
who are the recipients of these supports<br />
as their enthusiasm, co-operation and<br />
engagement is a key factor in determining<br />
the overall success of these initiatives.<br />
Academia has a core role to play in the<br />
design and provision of these initiatives.<br />
The current focus on rewarding bibliometrics,<br />
i.e. journal publication counts,<br />
citation counts, Journal Impact Factor<br />
and author h-index, for career prog<strong>res</strong>sion<br />
(employment, promotion and<br />
tenure) is increasingly criticised for<br />
solely valuing academic impact and undervaluing<br />
the influence that <strong>res</strong>earch<br />
can have beyond academic circles. The<br />
current method of academic evaluation<br />
does not recognise, reward or value the<br />
activities which underpin the transition<br />
of science to a more open, participatory<br />
and inclusive system which <strong>res</strong>ults in<br />
meaningful societal impact.<br />
In an effort to reflect the fact that scientific<br />
impact is a multi-dimensional construct,<br />
there are now calls for a multi-metric<br />
approach in which it is acknowledged that<br />
multiple rather than single metrics are<br />
necessary to demonstrate the <strong>full</strong> impact<br />
of <strong>res</strong>earch. Social Science <strong>res</strong>earch carried<br />
out within the CBB project supports this<br />
– it is often difficult for <strong>res</strong>earchers to find<br />
time for activities which they perceive to<br />
be inadequately rewarded.<br />
What is missing from our experience with<br />
CBB and from the plans and evaluation we have<br />
heard about so far today [at the Conference] is the<br />
strategic thinking and planning to ensure the <strong>res</strong>earch<br />
community – in post now and the cohorts to come<br />
– have the skills, confidence and competence to<br />
become true co-creators in the journey to bio-based<br />
innovation.<br />
Rhonda Smith, CommBeBiz Co-ordinator,<br />
<strong>res</strong>ponding to p<strong>res</strong>entations at the BBIJU Conference,<br />
December 2017<br />
With initiatives already in place to drive<br />
standardised and improved provision for<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers in academic institutions, there<br />
is increasing consensus for better support<br />
earlier in the education system. Institutions,<br />
Industry Bodies and Academia also offer<br />
their own enhanced training and, in some<br />
cases, offer achievable standards or status.<br />
Researchers must reach out and realise the<br />
importance of this training on their overall<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch impact.<br />
Changes are afoot in other business<br />
sectors. According to the scheme,<br />
“HRS4R” – Human Resources Strategy for<br />
Researchers, ERA-Network EURAXESS,<br />
provides guidance for <strong>res</strong>earch managers<br />
at academic institutions across Europe.<br />
Transferrable skills or “Soft” skills trainings:<br />
such as data management in open science,<br />
copy writing, project management,<br />
p<strong>res</strong>entation skills, languages, summer<br />
schools, should all be part of the individual<br />
and professional personal development<br />
schemes to prepare <strong>res</strong>earchers for careers<br />
in academia and in the private/public<br />
sector.<br />
However, <strong>res</strong>earchers themselves have a<br />
key role to play in helping themselves.<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
16<br />
“There is a need to incentivise the <strong>res</strong>earcher differently if we want them to<br />
look at value chains and have a holistic approach to business innovation. Due<br />
to their personalities, <strong>res</strong>earchers are inte<strong>res</strong>ted in the ‘nitty gritty’ of their<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch, whereas the wider business world looks at the bigger picture, so we<br />
as communicators need to support the <strong>res</strong>earcher.”<br />
Georgia Bayliss-Brown, Columbus, EU project<br />
“Social media empowers and enables scientists to bridge the gap between<br />
science and society. The utilisation of the traditional media (general, specialist,<br />
broadcast) plus social media channels is an important part of the strategy<br />
to promote the concept of the Bioeconomy and to raise awareness of the<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch work funded by the EC and delivered by multi-disciplinary groups<br />
across all EU member states plus additional global partners.”<br />
Alec Walker-Love of ESCI (European Science Communications Institute)<br />
“Schools should be involved more intensively in the knowledge transfer process.”<br />
Zoritza Ki<strong>res</strong>iewa, Fel<strong>low</strong>, Ecologic Institute<br />
“In Estonia, <strong>res</strong>earchers are encouraged to drive their own desire to<br />
contribute to society and they are driven by policy to reach-out and seek a<br />
catalyst for their <strong>res</strong>earch.”<br />
Arko Olesk, Lecturer in Science Communication at<br />
Tallinn University and Imperial College, London<br />
“We need to work harder to get ideas out into the open and into discussion<br />
with industry and academia at much earlier stages. The whole education<br />
system should take up the idea and content of a bio-based society from<br />
primary through to university levels. Teachers too – the gatekeepers must<br />
be educated as well as students of all ages – not only PhDs.”<br />
Nelo Emerencia, Programme Manager,<br />
Biobased Industries Consortium (BIC)<br />
“It takes a long time to build academic skills to communicate to stakeholder<br />
groups and the incentives for academics are largely antithetical to spending<br />
time on this and not writing grants, doing <strong>res</strong>earch or writing papers. They<br />
often don’t have the time or <strong>res</strong>ources to engage <strong>full</strong>y. Universities need to<br />
put workable incentives in place.”<br />
Professor Tim Benton, Leeds University
Social Media<br />
CommBeBiz Key Messages<br />
A channel for bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
From CBB’s experience, <strong>res</strong>earchers are the conversations about which they feel Freilburg University has a social media<br />
often reluctant<br />
for the<br />
to become<br />
Bioeconomy<br />
involved in confident.<br />
Research Community and<br />
p<strong>res</strong>ence<br />
its<br />
with<br />
Ecosystem<br />
458 twitter fol<strong>low</strong>ers, not a<br />
the wider CommBeBiz social media has conversation formulated on messages for stakeholders whom we believe lot can in comparison change their to high profile twitter<br />
Bioeconomy/sustainability issues, even CBB’s tweets work success<strong>full</strong>y when<br />
behaviours to positively affect the innovative reach and impact of the European users, but Bioeconomy his twitter accounts are well<br />
if their <strong>res</strong>earch directly links to the they are original, inte<strong>res</strong>ting, engaging<br />
Researcher. Our messages chime<br />
issue being discussed. Researchers are and<br />
with<br />
provide<br />
topics being<br />
useful<br />
discussed<br />
tips/views<br />
in high-level liked<br />
and<br />
meetings and retweeted. in Brussels<br />
and are echoed in recent reports,<br />
the experts in their fields and have a <strong>res</strong>ponsibility<br />
to share that knowledge and convey the importance of your social<br />
insights. surveys and For other example, ‘allied’ a graphic funded to projects.<br />
be involved in the Bioeconomy/circular media recipe mix, fol<strong>low</strong>ing the online<br />
Researchers<br />
economy discussion to inform and training webinar given by Alec Walker-Love<br />
of ESCI, was retweeted and liked<br />
provide reputable ‘Be perspectives. noticed, be heard’<br />
by our fol<strong>low</strong>ers.<br />
‘Demand complementary skills training of your Institute and/or your project’<br />
CBB consistently utilises social media<br />
channels to drive ‘Apply engagement your analytical and skills and CommBeBiz scientific approach joins in to <strong>res</strong>earch on the impact latest planning and delivery’<br />
conversation about the Bioeconomy as conversations, trending hashtags and The Bioeconomy sector has a long way<br />
well as to promote EU individual & EC – project the shapers<br />
will fol<strong>low</strong><br />
and contribute<br />
providers<br />
to chat<br />
of<br />
on<br />
core to go funding before it catches up with the <strong>res</strong>t<br />
and <strong>res</strong>earcher’s work and events. CBB policy changes and social hot topics such<br />
EC<br />
of the <strong>res</strong>earch/science world. For<br />
‘Create and deliver clarity and<br />
Twitter fol<strong>low</strong>ers (455 as at 25th January as consistency #lattelevy. in ‘sustainability’ terminology’<br />
example, Professor Brian Cox has 2.8<br />
2018) consist of ‘Develop a variety and of EU deliver funded a strategic plan for upskilling <strong>res</strong>earchers in funded projects million in tweeter complementary fol<strong>low</strong>ers. skills’<br />
To see a short video in conjunction with<br />
projects and <strong>res</strong>earchers ‘Design and as well deliver as non- a central<br />
a<br />
strategic<br />
local coffee<br />
plan<br />
company,<br />
for Bioeconomy<br />
Peaberry<br />
communications’<br />
Roast,<br />
EU-funded <strong>res</strong>earchers, scientists and<br />
According to ‘Science’, Genomicist Neil<br />
see: https://twitter.com/CommBeBiz/<br />
members of the public with an inte<strong>res</strong>t in<br />
Hall sparked an online tempest last<br />
Funders – national, status/949254086196649984<br />
regional and specialist<br />
innovation and the Bioeconomy. Many<br />
summer by proposing a ‘Kardashian<br />
official EU and EC<br />
‘Upskill<br />
accounts<br />
yourselves<br />
fol<strong>low</strong><br />
in<br />
CBB.<br />
communications and dissemination strategies’ Index’ or K-index (named after reality<br />
Additional fol<strong>low</strong>ers ‘Embed come communications from the planning into your calls; acknowledge relevance TV and star reward Kim this Kardashian) activity’ - a comparison<br />
of a scientist’s number of Twitter<br />
media, the UK and EU parliaments and<br />
‘Provide appropriate support and training for applicants and successful projects including alternative<br />
global industries.<br />
fol<strong>low</strong>ers with their citations. Scientists<br />
metrics and measurement of effectiveness’<br />
with a high score on the index, should<br />
Now is the time for Bioeconomy Researchers<br />
to be Academia involved as discussion & Research Institutes<br />
suggested Hall, who works at the Univer-<br />
‘get off Twitter’ and write more papers,<br />
forums across the world want and need<br />
sity of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.<br />
‘Integrate transferable skills into the curriculum for all science disciplines’<br />
to hear their views.<br />
‘Recognise and reward communications, engagement and outreach actions CBB of scientists’ is not necessarily advocating<br />
Researchers would benefit from using<br />
celebrity status for all Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
- but suggests that all it takes<br />
‘Set high standards and a good example for all disciplines to fol<strong>low</strong>’<br />
Twitter as a listening post and join in<br />
is the creation of clear messages to<br />
Industry & its Associations<br />
stimulate society’s inte<strong>res</strong>t and contribute<br />
to changing perceptions and ulti-<br />
‘Go to where the <strong>res</strong>earch action is – don’t expect them to find you’<br />
mately behaviour.<br />
‘Provide more opportunities & funding for engagement with students, colleges & <strong>res</strong>earch teams’<br />
‘Train and support staff to engage in these activities and reward accordingly’<br />
Communicators – including CSA projects such as CommBeBiz<br />
‘Take time to understand the CBB motivations, had to dig mindsets deep to and find behaviours a Bioeconomy<br />
Researcher doing an imp<strong>res</strong>sive<br />
of the trained scientist – they (usually)<br />
think differently from a communicator’<br />
job on social media. Alex Giurca, a<br />
‘Review the communications and outreach training needs of your group and plan to provide’<br />
fo<strong>res</strong>ter and <strong>res</strong>earcher in European<br />
‘Co-create communications Fo<strong>res</strong>t and outreach and Environmental plans with <strong>res</strong>earchers Policy and at deliver in partnership’<br />
Innovation Intermediaries & Entrepreneurs<br />
‘Recognise that <strong>res</strong>earch is a foreign land with its own language and learn to speak it’<br />
‘Recognise that the bioeconomy is a multi-dimensional field with social, environmental as well as<br />
commercial dynamics’<br />
‘Deal fairly with <strong>res</strong>earchers as they may/will not recognise the potential value in their work’<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
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Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
BeBizBlueprint<br />
The Legacy of CommBeBiz<br />
CommBeBiz<br />
The Bioeconomy<br />
Key<br />
and its drive towards<br />
Messages<br />
a sustainable and bio-based future<br />
Rhonda Smith, CEO of Minerva UK<br />
On behalf of the whole CommBeBiz<br />
and Co-ordinator of CommBeBiz writes:<br />
team, we acknowledge and thank all<br />
requi<strong>res</strong> ‘cross party’ engagement and the contributors to the BeBizBlueprint,<br />
“The aim and ambition for CommBe- communication across scientific disciplines,<br />
policy perspectives, community and external experts who have assisted<br />
the allied projects working in the sector<br />
Biz’s for BeBizBlueprint the Bioeconomy is that it provides a Research Community and its Ecosystem<br />
motivational CommBeBiz ‘push’ has to the formulated organisations messages groups for in stakeholders order to reach whom consensus we believe can us in change creating their a report that reflects the<br />
that behaviours make up the to ‘Ecosystem’ positively affect surrounding<br />
the <strong>res</strong>earch community to rethink<br />
the innovative and the ‘tipping reach and point’ impact that will of the ensure European challenges Bioeconomy and opportunities facing<br />
Researcher. Our messages chime with its topics successful being delivery. discussed Researchers in high-level the meetings Bioeconomy in Brussels <strong>res</strong>earcher of today. In<br />
how the environment, <strong>res</strong>ources and<br />
support<br />
and<br />
provided<br />
are echoed<br />
can<br />
in recent<br />
be redesigned<br />
reports, surveys and all and those other supporting ‘allied’ funded them projects. must addition, we thank all those who have<br />
acknowledge and embrace the need for given up their time to lead webinars, to<br />
to support more effective engagement, improved understanding and skills to speak at our events, to act as mentors<br />
outreach and <strong>res</strong>earch impact.<br />
support that drive.<br />
and to provide their advice.<br />
Researchers<br />
Researchers ‘Be themselves noticed, be must heard’ also ‘up Scientific discipline and rigour can be Finally as Co-ordinator, I extend my<br />
their game’ in terms of ambitions and<br />
‘Demand complementary skills applied training of to your planning Institute for and/or impact your project’ with thanks to the CommBeBiz partners for<br />
skills in these arenas.<br />
great effect!<br />
their commitment and energy that has<br />
‘Apply your analytical skills and scientific approach to <strong>res</strong>earch impact planning and delivery’<br />
ensured we have delivered a project that<br />
The experience and insights that the As well as the production of the Be- has created its own engagement and<br />
CommBeBiz partners gained through<br />
EU & EC – the shapers BizBlueprint, and providers the project has of finalised core funding<br />
impact.”<br />
the delivery of a range of opportunities<br />
for <strong>res</strong>earchers ‘Create can and also deliver inform clarity the and consistency in ‘sustainability’ terminology’<br />
EC<br />
plans to ensure that its content is<br />
cascaded across formal and informal<br />
strategies and ‘Develop action and plans deliver of agencies a strategic channels, plan for upskilling with meetings <strong>res</strong>earchers planned in funded with projects in complementary skills’<br />
and newly funded projects designed to<br />
‘Design and deliver a central strategic DG Research, plan for Bioeconomy in the UK, communications’<br />
Ireland and<br />
drive impact and innovation.<br />
Belgium and media and social media<br />
plans in place. The CommBeBiz web<br />
Whilst CommBeBiz Funders concurs – national, entirely regional and specialist<br />
platform is being maintained after the<br />
with the quote: ‘Upskill yourselves in communications funded and period dissemination where current strategies’ and all<br />
“If Content is King, ‘Embed Distribution communications is God Almighty’’ planning future into cohorts your calls; of acknowledge bioeconomy relevance <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
and reward this activity’<br />
‘Provide appropriate support and training<br />
can<br />
for<br />
access<br />
applicants<br />
the <strong>res</strong>ources,<br />
and successful<br />
webinars<br />
projects including alternative<br />
attributed to Sascha Pallenberg, Head of and project materials created by the<br />
metrics and measurement of effectiveness’<br />
Digital Content, Daimler AG, Germany project.<br />
we would suggest its adaptation thus:<br />
Academia & Research Institutes<br />
“If Content is King (tailored to the audience being<br />
add<strong>res</strong>sed), Distribution ‘Integrate (through transferable channels, skills into the curriculum for all science disciplines’<br />
format and timing ‘Recognise suited to that and audience) reward is communications, God<br />
engagement and outreach actions of scientists’<br />
Almighty.’’<br />
‘Set high standards and a good example for all disciplines to fol<strong>low</strong>’ CommBeBiz has worked with four<br />
bioeconomy ERA-Nets on their criteria<br />
Industry & its Associations<br />
for communications, dissemination<br />
and impact in calls and success<strong>full</strong>y<br />
funded projects. CommBeBiz has<br />
‘Go to where the <strong>res</strong>earch action is – don’t expect them to find you’<br />
‘Provide more opportunities & funding for engagement with students, colleges provided & <strong>res</strong>earch not teams’ only text but also on-line<br />
‘Train and support staff to engage in these activities and reward accordingly’ webinars and face-to-face workshops.<br />
Introducing <strong>res</strong>earch teams to the<br />
potential and use of social media was<br />
Communicators – including CSA projects such one as topic CommBeBiz<br />
covered.<br />
‘Take time to understand the motivations, mindsets and behaviours of the trained scientist – they (usually)<br />
think differently from a communicator’<br />
‘Review the communications and outreach training needs of your group and plan to provide’<br />
‘Co-create communications and outreach plans with <strong>res</strong>earchers and deliver in partnership’<br />
Innovation Intermediaries & Entrepreneurs<br />
‘Recognise that <strong>res</strong>earch is a foreign land with its own language and learn to speak it’<br />
‘Recognise that the bioeconomy is a multi-dimensional field with social, environmental as well as<br />
commercial dynamics’<br />
‘Deal fairly with <strong>res</strong>earchers as they may/will not recognise the potential value in their work’<br />
18<br />
BeBizBlueprint
Bio-based teaching in<br />
schools — a push for<br />
future bioengineers<br />
Interview with Nelo Emerencia,<br />
Bio-based Industries Consortium,<br />
on hot topics in biostudies<br />
How is student inte<strong>res</strong>t leading to bio-based discoveries<br />
and developments?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: It’s a kind of mixed bag. A study conducted<br />
in secondary schools in the Netherlands revealed that only<br />
7 % of students have heard about biostudies. But once<br />
bio-based products are shown and explained to them, they<br />
buy in: 70 % are enthusiastic and 40 % are inte<strong>res</strong>ted in<br />
fol<strong>low</strong>ing studies in that area. If we do not put more effort<br />
towards persuading and motivating students to take up our<br />
subject, we will be lost.<br />
Could the <strong>low</strong> f<strong>low</strong> towards bio-based curricula be<br />
changed?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: Let’s be optimistic. I can draw from my<br />
experience from working with chemistry education in the<br />
Netherlands. Some years ago, there were very few students<br />
in favour of doing chemistry, or similar subjects. With the<br />
help of industry associations and educational institutions<br />
we started to campaign, concentrating on raising inte<strong>res</strong>t<br />
in primary- and secondary-schools. This finally turned the<br />
tide and pushed the rates up.<br />
Is there a parallel development for bio-based subjects?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: Quite a few <strong>res</strong>earch universities and universities<br />
of applied sciences have already started to adapt<br />
their curricula in this direction. Studies of chemistry and<br />
chemical engineering are integrating ever more interdisciplinary<br />
courses, such as agriculture or biomass feedstock<br />
conversion. However, it is yet to be done systematically.<br />
What would a typical curriculum for systematic<br />
bio-based studies look like?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: The conversion of biomass feedstock into<br />
added-value materials in a sustainable setting is at the core<br />
of this subject. This is more easily said than done. To start<br />
with, biomass feedstock has a widely different range of<br />
origin. In the Bio-based Industries Consortium we cluster<br />
biomass feedstock into four categories: agriculture, fo<strong>res</strong>try,<br />
aquatic/marine <strong>res</strong>ources and bio-waste/CO 2<br />
. To convert<br />
these feedstocks into useable products, we apply different<br />
technologies, including mechanical, (thermo)chemical or<br />
industrial biotechnology — or a combination of thereof.<br />
Not the typical chemistry we know …<br />
Nelo Emerencia: Indeed, in a typical biorefinery we work<br />
with biomass as feedstock and living organisms as catalysts<br />
— this is not the traditional petrochemical approach. The<br />
chemical sector in Europe needs to adapt and increase its<br />
role in the bioeconomy sooner rather than later if Europe<br />
wants to stay competitive in this field. Changes are needed<br />
not only in industry, but also in educational institutions.<br />
SusChem, the EU Technology Platform for Sustainable<br />
Chemistry, which assembles many stakeholders from<br />
chemical industry and academia, started to campaign<br />
many years ago for the necessary ‘skills for the future’.<br />
What has the reaction been like?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: Initially, the university professors were<br />
not overly enthusiastic. Their main objective has been to<br />
provide in-depth education and training in very specific<br />
fields, like, for example, an engineer or <strong>res</strong>earcher in<br />
organic chemistry. But eventually the SusChem stakeholders<br />
managed to persuade them to take a different view of<br />
the chemist or chemical engineer of the future.<br />
What does the chemical engineer of the future look like?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: He or she needs to be educated with a<br />
more multidisciplinary package, one comprising a sound<br />
knowledge of a specific chemical discipline, and in addition<br />
a minimum knowledge and awareness of adjacent disciplines<br />
like biochemistry and physics. The package also<br />
needs to include ‘soft skills’ such as teamwork and the<br />
ability to communicate ideas to other disciplines — the<br />
bioeconomy needs to be explained outside the boundaries<br />
of individual disciplines all the time.<br />
Will we see a MA degree course in the bioeconomy<br />
being offered in Europe ?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: We are seeing some successes across<br />
Europe. Nowadays, many universities include bioeconomic<br />
elements in their curricula —chemists by making them<br />
familiar with biotechnologies and bio-processes, such<br />
as fermentation for example. Some <strong>res</strong>earch universities<br />
and universities of applied sciences in Europe are developing<br />
curricula that combine life sciences, engineering and<br />
marketing, and are yielding BSc or MSc degrees in bioeconomy.<br />
They also offer bio-based masterclasses.<br />
19
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Do you think bio-based studies could be as fashionable<br />
as chemistry has managed to become?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: We can be happy that, compared to ten<br />
years ago, things have changed. At least in some major<br />
European countries today, pupils are again choosing<br />
more STEM courses: Science, Technology, Engineering<br />
and Mathematics. About 15 years ago, STEM instructors<br />
were facing constantly decreasing numbers of pupils and a<br />
dwindling esteem for technology.<br />
How has the downward trend come to a halt?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: Through joint programmes with schools<br />
and universities, industry has contributed to funding attractive,<br />
age-appropriate courses that include demonstrations<br />
on real business successes. Additionally, in the<br />
Netherlands, we have introduced sizeable scholarships for<br />
university studies of chemistry or chemical engineering,<br />
al<strong>low</strong>ing also for extra-disciplinary community activities.<br />
This will also have a positive effect on courses for chemistry<br />
teachers. Without knowledgeable and motivated chemistry<br />
teachers the overall impact will be limited.<br />
Age-appropriate demonstrations and scholarships for<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch and engineering studies — would these also<br />
work for the bioeconomy?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: I’m convinced they will. However, the<br />
challenge seems to be a bit larger in the case of the bioeconomy<br />
because of the heterogeneous character of the<br />
bio-based sector. The bio-based sector is spread over<br />
many disciplines and age-appropriate demonstrations for<br />
teaching purposes could focus on different parts of the<br />
value chains. We can focus on the feedstock production,<br />
logistics and pre-treatment in, for example, agriculture, but<br />
also in fo<strong>res</strong>try and the aquatic/marine sector. Or we can<br />
demonstrate success stories of processing ‘waste’ streams<br />
into valuable products. That said, there is a need for much<br />
better awareness raising within the educational systems<br />
on the vast potential of a bioeconomy for our sustainable<br />
future.<br />
Do you also see a need for<br />
more effort in non-academic<br />
fields?<br />
Top Tips: Five skills of the future bioengineer<br />
✓✓<br />
✓✓<br />
✓✓<br />
✓✓<br />
✓✓<br />
Ability to work in diverse environments<br />
Nelo Emerancia: We should<br />
not only focus on skills<br />
for future <strong>res</strong>earchers and<br />
engineers for the bio-based<br />
sector, but also on vocational<br />
education and training to implement and sustain a<br />
circular bioeconomy. Also, industry and educational institutions<br />
should embrace and facilitate self-teaching and<br />
lifelong learning to maintain momentum and spirit.<br />
What are the hot topics in bio-based <strong>res</strong>earch and innovation<br />
at the moment?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: These appear to be synthetic and systems<br />
biology. If students want to zoom into the future, they<br />
should understand the ‘omics’ — the molecular basis of<br />
emerging technologies. Diving right into molecular structu<strong>res</strong><br />
can trigger many innovative developments in bio-materials<br />
or organic processes Another new topic is the use of<br />
electrochemical conversion of biomass. This development<br />
can utilise excess renewable energy from the grids when it<br />
is available, in peak periods for example. And the bio-based<br />
sector can maybe help in creating innovative systems for<br />
storing excess renewable energy sources and carriers.<br />
Is bio-based industry ready to take up what emerges<br />
from <strong>res</strong>earch?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: To really advance, scientists, academia<br />
and industry need to bring the exciting developments from<br />
the labs out into the field. Up-scaling is one of the keywords<br />
and also one of the key challenges.<br />
Are there any solutions to mitigate the disconnection<br />
between academia and industries in the bio-based<br />
sectors?<br />
Nelo Emerencia: The best way to <strong>res</strong>olve issues in bio-based<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch and innovation is a closer cooperation between<br />
academia and the industry, with a facilitating role played<br />
by governments. The bio-based sector is an emerging one.<br />
Many innovative technologies and bio-based products<br />
pursuing ‘circularity’ are still considered as ‘high risk’ from<br />
an investor’s perspective. That’s why this triangle cooperation<br />
is a must to cross the ‘value of death’ of many new<br />
developments. And by also including the society at large<br />
as a fourth partner, this will<br />
help in understanding and<br />
adequately <strong>res</strong>ponding to<br />
societal needs and accelerate<br />
the acceptance of bio-based<br />
applications.<br />
Understanding of, and know-how in, many disciplines<br />
Networking expertise, to integrate people and <strong>res</strong>ources<br />
Capacity to communicate techniques and complex<br />
systems to those without a specialist education<br />
Intersectoral knowledge and a talent for innovation<br />
Many thanks for this<br />
interview!<br />
BIO EXPRESS<br />
Nelo Emerencia studied Chemical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the<br />
Netherlands. In 1973 he returned to Aruba, his native Caribbean island, where he worked at<br />
the Esso refinery and prog<strong>res</strong>sed to Marketing Manager. In 1985 Nelo changed to the chemicals<br />
business in Rotterdam and later in Brussels, and held positions in economics and planning,<br />
marketing and public affairs. In 1998 he was seconded to PlasticsEurope in Brussels, where<br />
he worked as Communications and Public Affairs Director for three years. In 2006 he was<br />
seconded to the Dutch Chemical Industry Association, and held the positions of Education<br />
& Innovation Manager and Secretary of the Dutch Chemistry Board until June 2014. During<br />
this assignment Nelo increasingly occupied himself with bio-based economy activities for the<br />
chemical industry, in higher education curricula to support a bio-based economy, and in the<br />
required developments in education in general. Since 2014 has worked as an independent<br />
consultant and is the Director of Programming in the Bio-based Industries Consortium.<br />
20
THE FOOD RACE<br />
"... a 50-minute feature portraying<br />
stories from around the globe on<br />
food for a future world population of nine billion people. "<br />
Photo: “The Food Race”;<br />
Winemaking, Italy; www.leonardofilm.de<br />
For international distribution of the documentary<br />
please contact: Anne Olzmann, Managing Director,<br />
Albatrossworldsales<br />
anne@albatrossworldsales.com;<br />
www.albatrossworldsales.com<br />
21
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
Show and tell:<br />
video is the best<br />
fit for the<br />
BIOECONOMY<br />
www.leonardofilm.de<br />
Are mussels dangerous? This was the guiding question for<br />
the young filmmaker Elmar Bartlmae that led him to one<br />
of his first science documentaries. It began in the Netherlands.<br />
Eight people fell sick after consuming mussels from<br />
Ireland and couldn’t identify the exact reason for their<br />
illness. Elmar heard about the mystery, and with his team<br />
traced the origin of the mussels, and found the source<br />
in Killary Harbour on the West coast. There, the mussel<br />
breeder had also suffered from his own produce. The cause<br />
of the serious food poisoning was a previously unknown<br />
toxic algae hooked inside the mussel shells.<br />
The filmmaker could roll back the story like a detective —<br />
from the plates of consumers to the Irish mussel banks.<br />
In the process he found an overarching food safety issue;<br />
the film even prompted a change in the EU’s food testing<br />
processes. Mussels are systematically tested for a whole<br />
range of known algae poison before entering the food<br />
markets, but when this unknown algae appeared and hospitalized<br />
eight people, it had not yet been recognised as a<br />
toxin. Shortly afterwards, the poison was identified and<br />
analysed and is now part of the routine checks of food<br />
safety authorities controlling mussels.<br />
‘Since then, I realised that the storytelling is the most<br />
exciting part to me in the entire chain of a film production,’<br />
says Elmar, who has run his own science film production<br />
company for more than ten years. Additionally, he<br />
has become the Director of the recently founded European<br />
Science Communication Institute (ESCI); with headquarters<br />
in the German town of Oldenburg.<br />
Filmmaker Elmar Bartlmae, ESCI,<br />
explains the trends in science<br />
self-publishing and visualisation<br />
Elmar Bartlmae was not always set to go into science communication.<br />
After initial internships with filmmakers he<br />
intended to study film. But a senior documentary maker<br />
recommended that he ‘go for something more serious’. The<br />
student therefore first pursued studies in physics at King’s<br />
College London, and later became a student in a masterclass<br />
for science communications at Imperial College<br />
London. ‘It was the luck of the right combination at the<br />
right time,’ remembers the ESCI Director.<br />
A combination of two or more subjects — competence<br />
in science and knowledge transfer skills — is also at the<br />
core of the ESCI approach. To facilitate scientists’ natural<br />
journey to reach out to wider audiences, a strategy needs<br />
to be envisaged not only in pursuing lab trials but also in<br />
devising a tailored communication plan, and in receiving<br />
professional support for the task.<br />
Science communication has turned 360 degrees since the<br />
days when Elmar went out with his film teams to record<br />
and cut documentaries that could only be broadcast via<br />
TV stations. Thanks to the ubiquity of social media and<br />
online tools, a scientist can nowadays be his own, independent<br />
self-publisher, and master the <strong>full</strong> communication<br />
chain — from posting academic articles on open-access<br />
online portals, to p<strong>res</strong>enting abstracts in a short video, or<br />
from issuing media blogs or tweets, to delivering science<br />
podcasts on web channels. In brief: the self-publishing<br />
<strong>res</strong>earcher enhances his impact by using social media —<br />
these are the tools dominating all science communications.<br />
22
To increase impact via these channels, the visualisation of<br />
<strong>res</strong>earch content is key. ‘The bioeconomy is in a real pole<br />
position here, because it is best suited for the visualisation<br />
of its topics; dealing with objects to touch and natural environments<br />
to show,’ explains the science communicator.<br />
‘Compared to abstract mathematics or internet technologies,<br />
many understand the image language of the bioeconomy<br />
at a glance.’<br />
The ESCI strongly supports the trend of self-published<br />
scientists using self-instruction platforms, and the technology<br />
available, to spread <strong>res</strong>earch <strong>res</strong>ults. The institute<br />
sees its role as one that can ensure quality. Elmar Bartlmae<br />
summarises some of the profession’s codes of conduct:<br />
‘We need to sensitise self-publishers regarding quality, and<br />
legal threats. There are licensing rights to <strong>res</strong>pect as well as<br />
people’s privacy. Not anything goes and not everything is<br />
for free; despite the current grab-and-go mentality.’<br />
Coaching and training are offered by professionals working<br />
with the ESCI. Another task is to explain to the self-publishing<br />
<strong>res</strong>earchers the boundaries of their options. Usually,<br />
with a video-abstract or a science blog, a scientist only<br />
reaches his peers, whereas a TV channel is on a mass-media<br />
scale and is required to meet the standards of communication<br />
professionals and make use of journalistic techniques<br />
and language structu<strong>res</strong>.<br />
‘Science and journalism will remain two different professions,’<br />
says Elmar. Both of them often start at the same point<br />
while investigating a novelty or a news item. But at the end<br />
of the journey, scientists despise simplifying their discoveries,<br />
whereas journalists sharpen the most important facts<br />
to a simplistic point in order to be understood easily by a<br />
broader public. In the face of their peers’ criticism, scientists<br />
shy away from not using the proper terminological<br />
jargon and are always concerned with meeting certain<br />
standards. Journalists prefer using simple language to bring<br />
the messages across.<br />
The ESCI helps scientists to make use of communicators’<br />
professionalism — which can help to highlight the<br />
relevance of the science work while showing the bigger<br />
picture behind the lab to a mass audience. Another task<br />
of the communication professionals is to use their wide<br />
network of communication channels, and to pitch the<br />
media piece to the right people at the right time.<br />
Without professional pitching knowledge, Elmar’s more<br />
recent film production The Food Race would never have<br />
made it to international TV channels. The filmmakers took<br />
a year to assemble a 50-minute feature portraying stories<br />
from around the globe on food for a future world population<br />
of nine billion people. It depicted scientists and practitioners<br />
endeavouring to develop healthy and sustainable<br />
food production on all continents. Only the smart cooperation<br />
of science professionals, science communicators<br />
and the mass media al<strong>low</strong>ed the film to eventually reach an<br />
audience of several hundred thousand viewers. The Food<br />
Race became an outstanding example of cross-disciplinary<br />
science communication in the bioeconomy, and as such<br />
also won the Best Film on Agriculture at the Life Sciences<br />
Film Festival in Prague.<br />
A checklist before you<br />
record your video<br />
Is video the right media?<br />
Yes, because I have great moving visuals.<br />
Yes, because I want to integrate video data into my film.<br />
Yes, because I want to use a certain channel.<br />
Yes, because it’s ok to stick to the basics.<br />
What’s my story?<br />
Personal Approach!<br />
Great Discovery!<br />
Relevance: News hook for the agenda!<br />
Get your cameras rolling ….<br />
23
Bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch bioeconomy innovation | BIOeCONOMy INNOVATION -COMMBEBIZ MAGAZINE 2018-2019<br />
24<br />
“Let nerds be<br />
nerds, but<br />
PROMOTE the com-<br />
MUNICATORS too”<br />
The number of people who roll their eyes when they hear<br />
of the words ‘gender mainstreaming’ is growing. Is this<br />
justified given some of the more absurd developments?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: I think the raised eyebrows are<br />
partly justified. Overly politically correct reactions to silly<br />
statements from men about female <strong>res</strong>earchers are in many<br />
cases exaggerated, as we saw with the forced <strong>res</strong>ignation of<br />
the biochemist and Nobel prize winner Sir Tim Hunt some<br />
years ago. Of course, gender policy remains legitimate as<br />
long as we have the ‘leaky pipelines’ that exhibit the fact<br />
that the higher the academic position the less likely it is to<br />
be occupied by a woman. Nevertheless, two things really<br />
bother me in gender mainstreaming: firstly, when its proponents<br />
use artificial, equalizing language and secondly,<br />
when women’s appointments function only as alibis for<br />
institutions in order to avoid any substantial changes.<br />
Why should women be granted specific capacity-building<br />
measu<strong>res</strong> in science?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: It’s about much more than equal<br />
rights. Science will gain considerably from a <strong>full</strong> exploitation<br />
of the pool of talent available. If women are not<br />
promoted at the higher levels, many top talents will definitely<br />
be overlooked. The higher the level in the academic<br />
institution, the more women tend to be underrep<strong>res</strong>ented.<br />
Actual science stats show equal sha<strong>res</strong> of men and women<br />
until the doctoral phases. Beginning at post-doctoral levels,<br />
these gaps begin to widen sharply.<br />
What do you see as the main reason for this gap?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: Women are not daring enough.<br />
Let me explain it autobiographically. When I was in the<br />
later stage of my postdoctoral <strong>res</strong>earch at as a molecular<br />
biologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)<br />
“LET NERDS BE NERDS,<br />
BUT PROMOTE THE<br />
COMMUNICATORS TOO”<br />
Interview with Ingrid Wünning Tschol, Senior Vice-P<strong>res</strong>ident<br />
Strategic Development , Robert Bosch Stiftung and Founder of<br />
AcademiaNet, on diversity and gender capacity raising<br />
in Boston, I was not confident enough to start a career as<br />
a professor at a German University. But I dared to start<br />
a career in science management — a step I have never<br />
regretted. And the same problems apply today: female <strong>res</strong>earchers<br />
are more rarely authors of academic publications,<br />
and they receive less funding from the European Research<br />
Council (ERC), whose function is to reward excellent<br />
post-doctoral <strong>res</strong>earch.<br />
After a perfect science education for young women, and<br />
after decades of academic gender policies, why is there<br />
still a lack of courage?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: Men fight more and they are<br />
more agg<strong>res</strong>sive. Women are supported by men as long<br />
as they are two levels beneath their own career stage. That<br />
said, I perceive a change in the generation of young, thirty-something<br />
women. They are much more assertive than<br />
previous generations.<br />
Could you explain what has changed?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: The Robert Bosch Foundation<br />
offers gender capacity-raising, with a fast-track programme<br />
for female <strong>res</strong>earchers who strive for a leadership position<br />
in science. There, excellent female scientists develop skills<br />
and abilities in a series of intensive seminars over several<br />
days, smoothing their path to a leadership position and<br />
to more strategic career thinking. There has always been<br />
one exception. Women who study engineering or physics<br />
tend to go all the way through. These future engineers are<br />
probably thicker-skinned than those who tend to opt for<br />
the ‘soft’ subjects. And yet, even with new personalities, we<br />
observe that women concentrate too much on improving<br />
their scientific excellence instead of an early enhancement<br />
of their visibility and leadership skills.
Are there institutional best practices to overcome the<br />
hurdles?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: ‘Gender bias’ is a matter of fact<br />
when it comes to applications for positions that are traditionally<br />
occupied by men. There is a clear inclination to<br />
listen more attentively to men, and to take male arguments<br />
more seriously. The Norwegian University of Science and<br />
Technology in Trondheim has made an important step by<br />
sending all its board members and chair holders to gender-standard<br />
training — leading to better awareness, and<br />
to fewer biased decisions. Overcoming gender bias has to<br />
be a priority on the agenda of the leaders of an institution,<br />
only then will we see changes!<br />
Not every institution will take this step ….<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: Generally speaking, you can see<br />
best practice in all those institutions where the top level<br />
of the hierarchy is convinced of the excellence of female<br />
scientists, proclaims their support, and encourages the best<br />
applicants to apply to the relevant jobs. This breaks the<br />
glass ceilings in a much more efficient manner than many<br />
gender actions, or even quotas, do.<br />
Why did you found AcademiaNet, the online portal that<br />
lists outstanding women scientists while creating a recruitment<br />
pool for positions or keynote speakers?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: It was at the European Science<br />
Open Forum (ECOF) 2008 conference in Barcelona.<br />
Among many male keynote speakers we only had one<br />
woman on the stage. Some top female scientists later complained<br />
by letter. When we were tracking down the reason,<br />
we found that, apart from one, all the women that had<br />
been asked had refused their invitation and it was difficult<br />
to identify female replacements quickly. This brought me<br />
to the idea of setting up a pool of female excellence. AcademiaNet<br />
has created a pool of, currently, 2 500 excellent<br />
names. It is an online portal to publish profiles. They have<br />
all been peer-reviewed and have been recommended by<br />
nearly 50 chartered science organisations, ranging from the<br />
Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society, to the Weizmann<br />
Institute and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. It’s<br />
a service that provides outstanding candidates.<br />
Have cultural differences been observed?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: The tool has become a quality<br />
benchmark for young academics. Not all European countries<br />
have organisations to ensure that quality standards need to<br />
be met for a listing. Northern Europe is stronger in that<br />
regard, though we do see outstanding French, Italian and<br />
Spanish female <strong>res</strong>earchers. It also took some years for the<br />
British Royal Society to join. In the beginning, the network<br />
had a strong German bias, which is self-explanatory: the<br />
German participation rates of women in higher academic<br />
positions was, initially, one of the <strong>low</strong>est in Europe.<br />
How many positions have been filled through the tool?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: We cannot trace this back, because<br />
the recruiting bodies do not tell us nor the women if they<br />
put together their lists by consulting the portal. But we<br />
know that recruiters make use of our tool. And we have a<br />
wealth of anecdotes … some institutions encourage their<br />
evaluators to use the portal, which guarantees the ex-ante<br />
quality control of the candidates.<br />
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Who can access the portal?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: Everybody can sign up to it. We<br />
know that some magazines use the tool to find people for<br />
science stories. Conference organisers fill their keynote<br />
speakers lists, and some science foundations assemble<br />
their shortlists for supervising bodies with the help of the<br />
profiles in AcademiaNet.<br />
There is a preponderance of natural sciences profiles<br />
compared to the humanities. Why?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: It emerges from a preponderance<br />
of institutions that fund science and they are our quality<br />
filters. For some years, the European Research Council<br />
(ERC) has endeavoured to promote humanities with its<br />
grants and so have others like the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.<br />
Do you think that more soft skills in the curricula, such<br />
as communication trainings, could trigger a change?<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: I am not sure about this. For leadership<br />
positions communication skills are crucial. But a<br />
good sales person is not necessarily an excellent scientist.<br />
The importance of soft skills might rise in the age of<br />
open science ….<br />
Ingrid Wünning Tschol: We will surely discover some<br />
unusual subjects through open science in the future. Yet, the<br />
long experience of MIT or the Max Planck Society shows<br />
that nerds get their breakthroughs without any courses in<br />
science communication. So, let the nerds be nerds. This<br />
guarantees top quality <strong>res</strong>earch. But, when biochemistry<br />
post-docs want to engage with the public, with citizens or<br />
in open science, they must not be hampered. Instead, their<br />
extra talents have to be acknowledged as well. It’s the mix,<br />
and the diversity of talents, that makes a <strong>res</strong>earch institution<br />
excel.<br />
Thank you very much for this interview!<br />
Bio<br />
exp<strong>res</strong>s<br />
Dr Ingrid Wünning Tschol studied Biology, Geology and Geography at the University<br />
of Tübingen, Germany, where she received her PhD in Biology in 1985. Between<br />
1985 and 1990 she conducted post-doctoral <strong>res</strong>earch at the Biology and Microbiology<br />
Departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA,<br />
and at Stony Brook University, New York. She was Programme Head of the Molecular<br />
and Cell Biology Unit at the funding organisation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft<br />
in Bonn, Germany, and continued her career as Senior Scientific Secretary of the<br />
European Medical Research Councils (EMRC) and the European Science Foundation<br />
(ESF), Strasbourg, France. She is currently Senior Vice-P<strong>res</strong>ident, Strategic Development<br />
at Robert Bosch Stiftung, Stuttgart, Germany. In 2008 she founded the women<br />
in science platform AcademiaNet, in cooperation with leading science media outlets<br />
such as Nature and Spektrum der Wissenschaft. Ingrid Wünning Tschol belongs<br />
to numerous advisory boards, both in Germany and in the <strong>res</strong>t of Europe. She was<br />
Vice-Chairman of the ESOF 2006 Steering Committee and Co-Chair of ESOF 2008,<br />
ESOF 2010 and ESOF 2012. She is Vice-Chair of the European Research Area Board<br />
(ERAB), an independent body that advises the EU Commissioner with regards to the ERA and the Framework<br />
Programmes. Since 1990 she has published numerous articles and been interviewed about science policy, science<br />
management and ‘science and society’ issues by several journals and radio programmes.<br />
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AcademiaNet —<br />
an online portal to<br />
SHOWCASE WOMEN WITH<br />
HIGH POTENTIAL<br />
The web-tool for outstanding women scientists<br />
helps to find good speakers and candidates<br />
In 2010, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the<br />
country’s most famous female physicist, launched the<br />
internet portal AcademiaNet. It was initiated by the Robert<br />
Bosch Foundation to raise the visibility of outstanding<br />
female scientists, and to increase their numbers in leadership<br />
positions. In Europe still only one out of five of the<br />
most highly endowed professorships is held by a woman.<br />
Currently, the online portal lists the profiles of 2 500 women<br />
scientists in 40 disciplines from more than 30 countries.<br />
It offers a search tool for decision makers from academia<br />
and industry when shortlisting candidates for leadership<br />
positions and committees. In addition, journalists and<br />
conference organisers can use the portal to quickly locate<br />
recognised experts.<br />
To ensure only the best of Europe’s female <strong>res</strong>earchers, a<br />
panel of 48 AcademiaNet partners — renowned organisations<br />
from the world of science and business — propose<br />
new candidates based on common guidelines. The selection<br />
criteria are: outstanding academic qualifications, reflected<br />
in publications, awards, scholarships or memberships of<br />
p<strong>res</strong>tigious scientific organisations, as well as third-party<br />
funding, leadership experience and more. The scientists are<br />
not al<strong>low</strong>ed to apply themselves. After their nomination,<br />
the <strong>res</strong>earchers participating in AcademiaNet must explicitly<br />
agree to the publication of their profile.<br />
The tool was created to give nominating science and<br />
business evaluators ‘no more excuses’: they will always<br />
be able to find female candidates for an open position.<br />
The portal exists to fix the ‘leaky pipeline’ that seems to<br />
make women on the scientific career ladder disappear<br />
— starting with equal opportunity at the beginning of<br />
their careers, the amount of women compared to men<br />
steadily decreases the more important the positions<br />
become; a still widening gap, as the graph be<strong>low</strong> shows.<br />
Find out more on www.academia-net.org.<br />
The ‘leaky pipeline’<br />
‘No More Excuses. Leading Women in Science’, published by Robert Bosch Stiftung, Stuttgart, Spektrum CP<br />
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28<br />
Lifting barriers<br />
through science<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY<br />
The 2018 CommBeBiz Photo Competition<br />
With its 3rd edition, the 2018 CommBeBiz Photo Competition and its six winner photos, once again put<br />
the essence of bioeconomy in the spotlight – taking the unusual perspective, unveiling the unseen inner<br />
side and the hidden beauty of our biological life, this makes the substrates of the bioeconomy <strong>res</strong>earch<br />
and developments visible.<br />
Professor Karl Ritz, soil biologist at Nottingham University<br />
and Editor-in-Chief of the high-ranking journal Soil<br />
Biology Biochemistry, has during a CommBeBiz webinar<br />
generously offered his insights into science photography<br />
and what impact it can achieve by letting other see<br />
the unknown. “Its all about to bring seeing and thinking<br />
together”, says Karl Ritz.<br />
Here the key points of his webinar note<br />
“Image-ining for scientific photography”:<br />
• As with all communications, science photography starts<br />
with conveying the key scientific information which has<br />
to be legal, decent, honest and fruitful. The other aspect<br />
then is the twist: Impacting science photography has to be<br />
visually appealing, compositionally great and technically<br />
strong.<br />
• The ideal case is that images reveal not only the theme, but<br />
also the story or the narrative in a wider context.<br />
• Things that have to be thought through before taking<br />
pictu<strong>res</strong> and collating them in a p<strong>res</strong>entation: What`s<br />
context and purpose ?, Who is the audience and what scale<br />
will matter to identify scientific objects and themes ?<br />
• Use stock images to frame a p<strong>res</strong>entation: the longshot of a<br />
landscape showing air, soil and animals is establishing the<br />
story and leads into the theme with a “bigger picture”. The<br />
stock photos always will be helpful for a slide p<strong>res</strong>entation<br />
or as a side bar while showing the scientific objects with a<br />
closeup or macro photo.<br />
• Composite images put together a key theme by cuts of<br />
different exemplars<br />
• Graphic images put appealing landscapes in the forefront<br />
by using graphic lines and balancing the object composition<br />
• Macrophotography of for example small objects or<br />
particles depend on composition, light and technical<br />
soundness. Recommended is to use a scale bar or a real-life<br />
object to demonstrate scales<br />
• For the p<strong>res</strong>entation it is helpful to assemble a series of<br />
photos to develop the story along them. Key is to pick<br />
messenger images which strike through image composition<br />
– a whea grain offset at the bottom right to tell about<br />
the function of corps for soil care – or images that strike<br />
through colours and appealing shapes, as with mushrooms<br />
for example.<br />
• “Good photography is all about composition and knowing<br />
your equipment”, says Karl Ritz who is a jury member in<br />
the annual CommBeBiz Photo Competition.<br />
The webinar “Image-ining for scientific photography” was<br />
held on 25th September 2017 and is posted in <strong>full</strong> version<br />
in the library on the CommBeBiz website<br />
Being a professional as much as a passionate science photographer,<br />
Profeesor Ritz lists his criteria for a good science<br />
picture: “I judge on photographic excellence. It`s composition,<br />
lighting, exposure, and ‘instant’ appeal.”<br />
The overall winner of the 2018 CommBeBiz Photo<br />
Competition is:<br />
Kevin Egan, University College Cork, Ireland, with “It’s<br />
what’s inside that counts“. The winner photo shows a petri<br />
dish with antimicrobial protein or peptide produced by<br />
gut bacteria that can eliminate other bacteria which have<br />
become antibiotic <strong>res</strong>istant.<br />
Comments of the jury:<br />
“It is an out-of-the-box idea how they use the image and what kind of<br />
message they would like to share and it is always good to look what is<br />
behind of the curtain and check also the inner values!”<br />
“Very intriguing and ar<strong>res</strong>ting image – obviously contrived, and graphically<br />
extremely strong. This is literal bacterial illustration! Photographically<br />
perfect in the sense it is visually flawless – only the labelling on<br />
the side of the Petri dish suggests this is a photograph not a computer<br />
rendered image. The creativity is not so much in the photograph as with<br />
the concept.”<br />
“As well as ‘What’s inside’ being a bold photograph, it is also a striking<br />
piece of graphic art.”<br />
The other winners of the 2018 CommBeBiz Photo<br />
Competition are:<br />
• Crystal Ball – Future of vaccine development<br />
Laura C<strong>res</strong>ser, The Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom<br />
• Best of the Best - DNA-based selection<br />
Stephen Byrne, Teagasc, Crops Science Department<br />
Ireland<br />
• Breeding for the perfect crisp<br />
Stephen Byrne, Teagasc, Crops Science Department<br />
Ireland<br />
• Testing use of compost<br />
Pétur Halldórsson, Icelandic Fo<strong>res</strong>t Service, Iceland<br />
• Future homes for bacteria<br />
Conor Feehily, Teagasc, Ireland
The winner photo<br />
Kevin Egan (UCC/APC);<br />
Dr. Paul Cotter (Teagasc/APC);<br />
Prof. Paul Ross (UCC/APC);<br />
Prof. Colin Hill (UCC/APC)<br />
It’s what’s inside that counts!<br />
Antimicrobials produced by gut<br />
bacteria can eliminate antibiotic<br />
<strong>res</strong>istant superbugs<br />
The image shows a bacteriocin<br />
(nisin) producing colonies of<br />
Lactococcus lactis inhibiting<br />
vancomycin-<strong>res</strong>istant enterococci<br />
(VRE), an important nosocomial<br />
(hospital acquired) superbug.<br />
Lauren C<strong>res</strong>ser, The Pirbright Institute<br />
Crystal Ball - Future of vaccine development<br />
In this photo, I have used a crystal ball to illustrate the future of<br />
vaccine development by capturing a <strong>res</strong>earcher using a state-ofthe-art<br />
microscope.<br />
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Stephen Byrne, Teagasc, Crops Science Department<br />
Breeding for the perfect crisp<br />
This image shows the level of diversity for fry colour p<strong>res</strong>ent within a<br />
typical potato breeding programme<br />
Stephen Byrne, Teagasc, Crops Science Department<br />
Best of the Best: DNA-based selection<br />
for the next generation of grass cultivars<br />
Harvesting perennial ryegrass leaves for DNA extraction and<br />
downstream analysis. DNA-based selection identifies individual plants<br />
for cross-pollination and the production of an improved population.<br />
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Pétur Halldórsson, Icelandic Fo<strong>res</strong>t Service<br />
Testing the use of compost for affo<strong>res</strong>tation on degraded land in Iceland<br />
In the photo Mr Daði Lange from the Icelandic Soil Conservation Service is planting<br />
Siberian larch using small mounds of compost on a windy day at Hólasandur.<br />
Conor Feehily, Teagasc, Ireland<br />
Future homes for bacteria<br />
The image captu<strong>res</strong> stacks of agar plates drying in a laminar f<strong>low</strong> hood beside the<br />
flame of a bunsen burner. The plates will be used to grow newly isolated probiotic<br />
bacteria that will improve human health.<br />
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PRACSIS