WP11: Communication

The level of social transformation required for the development of the bioeconomy means that there is a need to generate and monitor public debate on future bioeconomic development. The role of the Communication Officer in WP11 will therefore be two-fold:

1. To ensure that key findings from the project are disseminated rapidly to stakeholders and the wider public via a variety of popular media including newspapers, TV and relevant blogs.
2. To monitor the public debate and conduct a content analysis to explore how the debates on bioeconomic development are portrayed and constructed (e.g. Upretia & van der Horst, 2004) in collaboration with WP4 (societal acceptability).

In addition the Communication Officer will be responsible for ensuring the web-page is up-to-date and monitoring response to articles posted (encouraging feedback will be part of the design of the website).

Finally, the Project Manager (WP1) and Communication Officer will be a co-editors of the project book. This will compile chapters from ALL of the scientific work packages, as well as selected governance organisations, biosector industry organisations, and consumer/citizens organisations involved in WP2b. In addition, representatives of key Bionær projects funded in 2013 will be asked to submit a chapter on the implications of their findings for bioeconomic development. It is our intention is that this publication should present key issues of bio-economic development in a popular style to promote the kind of informed social debate required to facilitate a society-wide transition.

Outputs: An edited book, a content analysis of public debate on the bioeconomy, and numerous media outputs.

WP leader: Rob Burton, Ruralis