Specificities and themes
CERFE is involved in many activities geared to understanding and disseminating the results of its own studies and training projects. These activities serve to promote scientific communication (which is, in any case, a two-way communication process) and information on themes lying at the heart of CERFE activities and of the research programme it is taking part in.
It must be stressed that CERFE considers these communication and information activities constitutive of the scientific basis of research.
CERFE’s scientific communication has several components: - An intra-epistemical one, meant as relations and exchanges of CERFE researchers with the scientific community of sociologists.
- A trans–epistemical one, that is to say, exchanges with the scientific community in general – researchers of related disciplines (economics, anthropology, etc.) or of other scientific disciplines.
- A social one, that is, exchanges with the unions, civil society organisations and with the many actors who, in various ways, are involved in the sectors in which CERFE conducts its research and training activities.
- A political one, that is, exchanges with political institutions, public administrations, organisations and movements that can affect public policies in the spheres of CERFE’s activities.
- A network one, that is, communication with actors such as research managers, technical and administrative staff, consultants working in support of research institutes, but also subjects involved in research evaluation mechanisms or experts involved in analysing and interpreting scientific and technological research processes.
- A general, or divulgation, one – that is, communication with public opinion.
Scientific communication is thus a complex activity involving exchanges with different audiences.
CERFE carries out its scientific communication activities both within projects and in the cultural activities it conducts in line with its non-profit aims.
That is why it uses a broad range of tools: - Journals; immediately after its foundation and until 1984, CERFE issued the journal Laboratorio di scienze dell’uomo; from 1989 to 1996 it supervised the editing of the journal Democrazia diretta and, finally, from 1997 to 1999, the journal Omega. CERFE recently promoted also online journals: from 2001 to 2003 it published 4 issues of the journal "African Societies" in 3 languages; journals have always been one of the main instruments of interaction with the scientific community.
- Conferences, seminars and workshops; in its projects, CERFE organises initiatives for presenting and discussing issues and results at the heart of its own research and training activities with members of the scientific community; along with journals, the organisation of these activities is one of the ways CERFE researchers interact with fellow sociologists and with experts and scholars of other scientific disciplines.
- Essays, articles and papers; interaction with the scientific community and with other important actors in the research process (see above) also takes place through the production of written materials by CERFE researchers on the request of other agencies and institutions.
- Internet and e-conferencing; in recent years CERFE has been actively present on the internet through e-conferencing. This kind of activity is often envisaged in specific projects but CERFE also uses it within its own self-financed scientific and cultural research activities (such as when deeply analysing the theme of epidemiological transition within an urban context).
- Books; over the years, CERFE researchers have written books on issues linked to the various studies conducted.
- Newsletters; in its activities, CERFE often publishes newsletters (in recent years also with an online version) in order to inform its readers (the various communication target audiences, see above) of its activities.
- Press, radio and TV; many CERFE activities often have an impact on the media; CERFE’s public initiatives are often reported in the national and local press; it is worth recalling that this happens in Italy and in the countries where CERFE conducts its activities.
Some themes
For all the above reasons, scientific communication does not merely consist of exchanges on CERFE’s results in its research and training activities, but also on themes of a general cultural scope that are important for the research programme it promotes together with other organisations.
CERFE has carried out activities of this kind since it was first set up, and it would thus be difficult to list all the themes dealt with. In recent years, the topics increasingly proposed for the attention of various target audiences have concerned international cooperation for development, migrations and the brain drain, social exclusion and poverty, the city and urban development, small-size enterprises and corporate social responsibility, social capital, and scientific and technological research. (…)
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