Big Bang

Since kicking off in June 2024, the BE SciComm Freelancer community has already met five times, and it has become a lovely ritual. Every few months, we get together in a different city. Every time, there’s a new face and some familiar faces. Shared projects and wilde ideas have taken shape, hard-won experiences exchanged, and plenty of practical tips traded over coffee. It’s great to see the local sci-comm community thriving beyond institutions. Independent actors comparing n

The fourth edition of Big Bang is now out. In this edition we focus on the ethics of science communication. Like Ariadne’s thread aided Theseus to escape King Minos’ labyrinth, we aim to provide some guidance through the maze that can be the ethics of science communication. From personal anecdotes to interviews, career stories, and deep dives in the literature: all articles underline the importance of ethics.  In this issue, we warn against scientism and aim to go beyond mer

In an age where science talk competes more and more with misinformation for public trust, the ethical compass guiding science communication has never been more critical. Insights from three influential books—Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari, and Influence by Robert Cialdini—can shed some light on how we communicate science, and more importantly, how we ought to or ought not to.

On Wednesday November 20th, 2024, Els left home early in the morning, as she always did. She got on her bike, ready for another busy but exciting day at Hasselt University. The preparations for Dag van de Wetenschap were in full swing. A yearly highlight on the calendar, she had poured herself into the preparations for weeks.

For over three decades, Hilde Van den Eynde shaped how Flemish readers understood science. As a science journalist for De Standaard , she...

For years, Els Smeyers shaped how science was shared and celebrated at Hasselt University. An engineer by training, she had an intuitive gift for connection, bringing people, ideas, and disciplines together with ease.