Summary of Expected Contribution of the Research Network

Modern societies performs their understanding of issues in conferences, opinion polling, scoping exercises, everyday conversations and mass media coverage where the sciences are granted variable cultural authority. This Indo-European network will construct a system of science culture indicators based on news analysis and on attitude measures. Trends in science news (1990-2010; intensity, positioning, issues) are linked to trends in public attitudes to science (interest, attitude, knowledge, engagement: Eurobarometer surveys, 1989-2010 & India’s National Science Survey (2003), ). The network mobilises and develops joint expertise in discourse analysis, computer-assisted text analysis, large scale survey research, and sophisticated statistical techniques to track the cultural authority of science.