COMUNICATING SCIENCE VIA VIDEO
FI(na)LMENTE project promotes the use of video as a communication tool for scientific research. The project was created in continuity with and includes the Aldo Fasolo National Prize for Communication in Neuroscience.
From the beginning, the Aldo Fasolo Prize was characterised by the video mode of scientific communication, encouraging young researchers to express the content of their research through short films produced by themselves.
In the last edition, the prize was hosted by the CinemAmbiente festival, a now historic event of Turin cinema dedicated to documentary and environmental films, which opened a dialogue on the use of video as an effective tool for science communication.
Thanks to this collaboration, it was also possible to get in touch with the Science Filmmaking Marathon di Zurigo, an important international event that hosted three neuroscience PhD students from the University of Turin in September 2022.
The project aims to improve the effectiveness and usability of scientific knowledge in a popular language without changing or distorting the content. In particular, the large (and sometimes contradictory and complicated) flow of information about the pandemic and health that we have experienced in recent years has highlighted the importance of communication in science, not only by popularizers and science journalists, but also by those who do first-person research, in keeping with the university’s “third mission.” The model proposed by the PhD in Neuroscience through the Aldo Fasolo Award pioneered video as a tool for scientific communication many years before the pandemic, a path that this proposal aims not only to maintain but also to enrich professional skills and extend to other scientific disciplines.
FI(na)LMENTE, in this perspective, is proposed as a pilot project to develop a training and cultural pathway mainly aimed at young PhD students, with the following objectives
1) to train young researchers of the Doctoral School of the University of Turin in the use of the video medium, in order to promote the communication of scientific research to non-specialists and to develop appropriate communication skills, which are increasingly important in a multimedia world.
2) To give visibility to the research of doctoral students through the screening of the films they produce in an ad hoc session dedicated to science communication, as part of the CinemAmbiente festival.
3) To promote the meeting and dialogue between different professionals (directors, researchers, science communicators) in order to create new synergies and make the communication of scientific research more efficient and of higher quality.
4) To ensure continuity and promote the attractiveness and visibility of the Aldo Fasolo Award at the national level, by providing useful tools to establish a high quality standard for videos and by holding the award ceremony in the framework of the CinemAmbiente 2024 Festival.
FI(na)LMENTE consists of three distinct but interrelated actions:
Action 1. Workshop Communicating Science: Pills of storytelling & filmmaking
will be carried out in collaboration with national and international experts, and aimed at 15 PhD students in any field of the Doctoral School of the University of Turin, who will produce short videos on scientific research topics.
– Click here to check the call and apply –
Action 2. Round table during the CinemAmbiente festival
on “Video and Science Communication (potential, limits and challenges)” with the participation of professionals from different fields, from research to communication. On the same day, the videos produced during Action 1 will be shown in a section of the festival dedicated to science communication, where the new edition of the Fasolo Prize will also be presented.
FI(na)LMENTE goes to CINEMAMBIENTE – 8 JUNE 2023, Circolo dei Lettori Torino
– Click here to see the videos produced during the workshop and shown at CinemAmbiente 2023 –
Action 3. Sixth edition of the Aldo Fasolo Prize
aimed at doctoral students and young researchers who have recently obtained a doctorate in Italy.
– Call 2023 –
The main funder of the initiative is Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.
