European Union of Science Journalists’ Association

EUSJA is a non-profit organisation founded in 1971 in France by seven national associations of science journalists and has its office based in Strasbourg.

The organisation now represents more than 2,500 science journalists from 23 national associations in 20 countries. Member countries are Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The main goals of EUSJA are truly barrier-breaking by aiming to improve communication between the international scientific community and society and to promote contacts between journalists in the field of scientific and technical communication. The national associations, in co-operation with EUSJA, regularly organise international study trips and workshops (debates) in their countries for science journalists. EUSJA is also involved in various projects funded by the European Commission in the field of Science and Society to provide journalistic perspective, media trainings and organising various workshops on different themes. EUSJA organises conferences for science journalists in Europe where professional can meet, debate and share experiences.
Within NUCLEUS, EUSJA contributes valuable insight into how practicing science journalists interact with and relate to responsible research and innovation (RRI).

To explore and better understand these interactions and relations, EUSJA will develop a network of science journalists with three primary objectives:

• Facilitating debate and discussion with the purpose of identifying key professional challenges where journalists could benefit from guidance. Examples may include RRI in social media, cherry picking, emerging technologies, cultural differences, dwindling resources of money and time, or employer pressures.
• Developing practical, hands-on advice that can be implemented in the daily work of practicing journalists.
• Building an awareness and understanding of RRI amongst science journalists, such that they are equipped to foster discussion on RRI as related to universities and research institutions.
• A number of activities will be executed to facilitate and support the NUCLEUS Network and its outcomes:
• A digital platform (Network-specific webpage and social media community) will serve as the common outlet and meeting point to facilitate discussions and debates about RRI between science journalists. It will be used to build an understanding and awareness of RRI, identify key points where science journalists are challenged by or might benefit from RRI, and inform the network about the progress of the project.
• RRI Content, such as videos, podcasts, interviews, articles, etc., developed by the project journalists will be used to support the digital platform, feeding discussion about RRI and the profession of science journalism. This content will also be distributed through newsletters as an additional communication channel.
• Workshops will raise professional awareness of RRI, facilitate dialogue regarding professional challenges within science journalism, and provide a space for development and testing of professional guidelines for the digital toolbox. Outcomes and findings will be fed back into the digital platform for continued discussion.
• A digital toolbox providing tools (checklists, guidelines, procedures, etc.) to guide journalists in professional ethics will be developed from the outcomes of discussions on the digital platform and in workshops.