The new generation of Decide is approaching. In fact, the awarded projects are currently receiving the subsidies they deserve and the applicants currently spring into action to start their new experiences up. Besides the goal of enhancing participatory methods that facilitate knowledge, these brand new projects’ aim is to take up new subjects within our game horizons either.
Projects are widespread across Europe, though some gather in crucial zones like Great Britain, Italy and Eastern Europe. They are already set to achieve results in a wide range of fields, spanning from traditional scientific topics like energy or rare diseases to brand new cutting edge social sciences like adult learning and ethnic minorities inclusion in decision making frames, calling at some hot current events as volcanoes.
In between it’s easy to find some peculiar local characterisations (food in Italy) or concerns about the new media stage where everything appears true and well detailed. Even urban legends!
But let’s cut this long story short and show the 13 winners' abstracts:
Tubercolosis – ROMANIA/MOLDOVA
Speranta Terrei, Stichting Romanian Children’s Humanitarian Foundation (RCHF), Department of Phthisiopneumology of the Clinical Municipal Hospital in Balti, Iasi Clinic, Samarineanul Milostiv
The distance between Balti (Moldova) and Iasi (Romania) is less than 90 km. Apart from distance, though, these two towns are separated by their respective national border which is, as any other boundary, a conventional line. Alas, tubercolosis (TB) doesn’t seem to obey man-made geographical differences. Balti and Iasi, in fact, share the unenviable record of their own country highest rate of incidence.
In order to combat this disease, this web of 5 partners need to found an era of deeper collaboration that Decide will help them shape. Thus Decide will let the different views of patients, NGOs and government health organizations be brought together to identify how their combined expertise can address gaps in TB control.
Linea Curva – ITALY
Muvita, Genoa Science Festival Association, "La Passeggiata Libro Cafè"
One of the most important cutting-edge issues in science-related policy making is with no doubt renewable energy, hopefully enabling us in a short period to cut gasses emissions and tackle our societies dependence on fossil fuel.
This project’s new Decide kit in renewable energy and sustainability, deeply based in Liguria (Italy), will address grass-roots movements, science museums and mayors of the region to collaborate in order to have an important impact on energy policy making.
Thanks to this idea and to the organisations involved, Decide itself will be renewed as a crucial part of a brand new technological game process in which players will be provided with a broad range of information to help them shape their opinion. The entire process will be for Liguria the very first example of deliberative and participative policy developing and could catalyze further similar actions.
DECIDE PUB – ITALY
MTSN (Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali), SF (Slow Food), FEM (Fondazione Edmund Mach)
Decide Pub’s challenge will be to decline the deliberative process based Decide format inside pubs, cafés and clubs in order to discuss controversial issues about food production, distribution and consumption and their ecological, sociological and economical impacts.
According to the applicants, this context might be crowded and noisy but still embodies one of the few moments of the day in which people are more likely to be receptive to informal exchange of ideas, discussions and new stimuli. What gives this project the edge is not only its brand new set but also the brilliant idea to let people taste samples of food and drinks while playing.
This challenge, nonetheless, constitutes a widened horizon for Decide that is involving new audiences through provocative topics. Decide Pub, thus, has the chance to target adults and to make them aware of the new research achievements in the food field.
Animal Experimentation – NETHERLAND
Rotterdam’s Natural History Museum, Erasmus MC, Animal Experiments Information Foundation, Brains@Work
This project aims at developing a new face of Decide thoroughly dedicated to animal experimentation which has lately become a poignant topic. Obscure and wrong information about animal testing in research, in fact, have led to a strong and sometimes violent clash between scientists and animal rights activists.
Policy makers, main characters of social and cultural life, media and researchers will be addressed as well as students of the latter years of secondary schools who will finally have the first opportunity to enter their political life along with the widest and best selection of details about such a burning issue
The brand new Decide game will be played during “Oktober Kennismaand 2010” (“October Knowledge Month 2010”), a wider event where the whole scientific world shows itself. In that occasion, Animal Experimentation for scientific research format will be a proactive and interactive virtual tool that will let all the players become acquainted with that state of the art of that subject, providing them with the chance to freely express and share their own opinions.
DSC – SCOTLAND
Dundee Science Centre, OPEN North East/University of Dundee, Solar Cities Scotland
Dundee Science Centre (DSC) strives for a culture of curiosity, confidence and engagement with science for the community of the town. Their mission includes widening community engagement with science, and creating a culture of lifelong learning. In order to achieve these goals, DSC has a dedicated science communication team that will use Decide to realise their vision of partnership and collaboration.
The Decide resources on climate change and drug topics will be used in this project that will raise interest, empower individuals, and facilitate creation of links between organisations. The project does not seek for DSC to take events into community centres, but to enable citizens and community centre staff to commence their own series of discussions depending on their own interests. It supports a bottom-up approach to community engagement.
Newcastle – UK
The Centre for Life, The Newcastle Science City Community Engagement Project
Decide is a formidable tool to engage a discussion on whatever topic. In fact The Newcastle Science City Community Engagement Project aims to develop a Playdecide game to explore an aspect of health relevant to a Black and minority ethnic community within in this English city.
First they are going to undertake consultations with these communities to identify the topic as a result of the areas of interest in the community. Then they will develop a Decide format to give participants a further understanding of the health issue of interest. In the end, participants will come up with ideas for how they themselves and their community can reduce the risks of this still unknown health issue.
A project that will help Decide broaden its horizons and engage with the the hardest-to-reach and most disadvantaged groups in English cities. The Centre for life are then keen to empower these communities to make a change in their own and their community’s lives.
HealthGovMatters “See, Play, Decide” – UK
Department of Anthropology, University of London, Goldsmiths College.
Epilepsy Action, The Migraine Trust, The National Autistic Society (NAS)
“See, Play, Decide” will focus on migraine, autism and epilepsy which are the most common neurological disorders affecting children. These disorders bear significant societal costs (more than 30 billions pounds per year) and are often widely neglected. They can lead to social and cognitive impairments for young people who, then, are more likely to experience problems with learning in the classroom environment, forming relationships with other students or developing a healthy self image. Besides, much stigma is still attached to the disorders. They are also likely to begin a costly relationship with a variety of pharmaceutical and other treatment, which have the potential to alter their lives considerably.
HealtGovMatter propose to employ the Play Decide model to increase debates on Common Neurological Disorders in Childhood amongst patients’ organisations and members of the public. That is why they aim to develop a variation of the ‘Play Decide’ game around the theme of Neurological Disorders in Childhood, substituting the cards with audio-visual material.
Estonian vaccines – ESTONIA
NGO Cinema-bus (Kinobuss), Tartu Health Care College (Tartu Tervishoiu Kõrgkool), University of Tartu (Tartu Ülikool) Chair of Immunology, Family Forum (www.perefoorum.ee), Science Centre AHHAA
Nowadays people are provided with a wide selection of stimuli from every kind of new media. Among information several urban legends hide. Especially in scientific fields like immunology and virology where the footprint of medicine companies is huge and the conflict of interest fear is gaining ground.
In order to tackle urban legends and highlight the benefits of vaccines, the University of Tartu (Estonia) is keen to use Decide to provide open public, including parents and parents to be, with scientific evidence and data in a country where the vaccination is not compulsory anymore and the risk of picking up avoidable diseases is rising high.
Decide is a tool either to give information to people and to let them confront each other. In other words, a virtual place where a different kind of freedom occurs instead of free evidence of ignorance.
Austrian Science Netzwerk - AUSTRIA
Austrian Science Netzwerk, The University for Applied Arts Vienna, The Pensionistenverband Österreich (PVÖ)
The Austrian Science Center Netzwerk wants to connect to the target group of elderly people because among them there are many who would like to know more about current research topics, since they hear about these issues in the media, but they would not actively look for more information fearing they might not understand it.
Earlier Decide experiences were successful for Austrian Science Center Netzwerk, with some other elderly people too. That is the reason why they will use Decide again to spark interest and enthusiasm among retired people, establish cooperation between them and pensioner organisations.
A chance for this Network to expand itself from kids to adult learning strategies that can tap Decide in order to make better connections and provide players with an enjoyable and useful environment.
Dublin – EIRE
The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI), The Dublin Adult Learning Centre (DALC), DCU in the Community
This project will provide useful information about the interests and concerns of adult learners on the topic of self-testing diagnostics, which will assist in the development of new science outreach programmes.
This project will build upon existing expertise by the lead applicant in engaging audiences on issues in contemporary science. Thanks to their previous experience, they suggested to make Decide go multimedia, an evolution that will enable the Irish network (composed of DALC and DCU) to engage a wider selection of people, including adults with low reading and writing competence and non-native English speakers to participate in dialogue on health topics of personal relevance.
Volcano – ITALY
CodiCS, University of Naples, Department of Earth Sciences, W.i.l.lab associates, Boarding School “Francesco Denza”
In these dark days where Icelandic Volcanoes’ ashes are grounding planes and causing several problems to the world, CodiCS are keen to build up a new Decide kit focusing on current volcanic risks in Naples, the Italian city of Vesuvius.
This project represents an opportunity to engage Naples’ citizens, promoting scientific and technological culture. In fact, a debate on these topics within the Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei limits is essential to reduce the risks of ignorance about geology and volcanology.
Decide, thus, is the perfect tool to draw high school students’ attention and to spark their scientific passion. But even though these players won’t be future geologists, at least they will become more aware of what living next to a Volcano means.
Copernicus – POLAND
The Copernicus Science Centre
Poland has been working on progress since the day the Decide format was chosen to engage a broader range of people that are not currently being involved in discussions about science and its problems.
Copernicus Science Centre, then, will spread Decide’s ideas and methods all through the YEC (Young Explorers Club), a kind of school clubs where pupils can quest for knowledge by means of independence, self-discovery and self-experience but always being supervised by teachers.
This project aims at developing awareness about modern capabilities of human-related science, their potential impact on individuals and societies and, at last, to discuss ethical aspects of the problems they raise.
13. Hungarian Polka - HUNGARY
Rare Diseases Hungary (HUFERDIS)
The EURORDIS successful POLKA project on rare diseases gets to Hungary. Thanks to Decide, Hungarian rare diseases organization will be able to train activists and facilitate cooperation between local actors and experts.
A mission so important to achieve now, being the Hungarian political elections year. Furthermore, Decide’s entertaining sessions will provide tool to involve patients and general public in decision-making process in ethical questions regarding rare diseases.
Awareness will spread from big cities to small towns in the countryside and will help collect views and suggestions to discover the best way to deal with rare disease during the International Rare Disease Days.
FUND is a project funded by the European Commission (