Team WP 2.4. Science Communication in Democracy – Knowledge, Ignorance, and the Role of Authorities in Public Debate
The project team is investigating the crisis of social trust in Western democracies in the context of the credibility of scientific knowledge as a foundation for both individual and collective decision-making. The team's research activities will focus on answering questions about how scientific knowledge is absorbed into social discourse regarding significant transformations in democracy and how the authority of scientists and research institutions influences the perception and shaping of democratic processes in Western countries.
The subject of the research is science communication, understood here as a mechanism for constructing meaning and a tool for negotiating common knowledge. Previous studies in this area have shown that the essence of science communication is not merely access to information about discoveries, trends, or new opportunities resulting from scientific development, but rather the engaged debate that shapes understanding of these phenomena and ensures their proper social reception.
The research will be concentrated around three main thematic blocks:
Development of the conditions influencing the impact of scientists and the role of scientific knowledge in the creation of so-called 'enlightened understanding' as a prerequisite for building a democratic society (Dahl, 1989). (Task 2.1: Enlightened understanding in the conditions of modern democracy – the authority of the Academy);
Examination of the forms of collective conversation (science communication) concerning social processes affecting the condition of democracy in Western countries (Task 2.2: Knowledge-based democracy: the global context of the democracy crisis; the scientific infosphere of the Young; populism and science);
Science communication in the practices of discourse monopolization (Task 2.3: What discourse and for whom? Scientific knowledge as a line of social division).
Leader: Małgorzata Zachara-Szymańska
Małgorzata Zachara-Szymańska - Dr hab, Prof. at the Jagiellonian University, Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora. Her academic work focuses on leadership under globalization, global governance, and U.S. foreign policy. Since 2022, she has been conducting research on science communication in collaboration with the Science Communication Unit at Imperial College. She has led research and taught at many renowned academic institutions, managing international research projects. She was a government of Italy scholar at the University of Cagliari in 2019 and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in 2024/2025. Member of the editorial board of the journal Leadership.
Małgorzata Lisowska-Magdziarz - Prof. at the Jagiellonian University, Press Research Center, Faculty of Communication and Management. Her research interests include media semiotics, mass and popular culture, audience reception practices, especially fandom and other creative behaviors, media research methodology, and media education. She is the author of numerous scientific publications in these areas, such as Signs in Chains: From Semiotics to Media Semiotics (2020, Krakow: Academic Bookstore) and Hate in Media: Diagnosis and Research (2020, Krakow: Libron).
Dr. hab. Beata Klimkiewicz - Prof. at the Jagiellonian University (Department of Political Communication and Media, Faculty of Communication and Management) – conducts research in media pluralism and media freedom, including within Horizon projects such as MEDEMAP: Mapping Media for Future Democracies and PANCOPOP: Pandemic Communication in Times of Populism. She has authored numerous academic publications in this field, including A Polyvalent Media Policy in the Enlarged European Union (2014, Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press).
Dr hab. Garry Robson - Prof. at the Jagiellonian University (Faculty of International and Political Studies) – conducts research on intercultural communication and projects focused on Generation Z and the impact of technology on the perception of social reality, such as Virtually Lost: Young Americans in the Digital Technocracy (2003, London: Routledge) and the NCN Harmonia research project Negotiating Cultural Differences in the Era of Digital Communication.
Dr hab. Jolanta Szymkowska-Bartyzel - Prof. at the Jagiellonian University (Faculty of International and Political Studies) – conducts research in film studies, popular culture, and intercultural dialogue. She has led research and taught at many renowned academic institutions, managing international research projects. Author of numerous academic publications, including Our Imagined America: Polish Encounters with American Popular Culture after 1918 (2015, Krakow: Academic Bookstore).
