Collaboration between scientists and journalists was pivotal during COVID-19. In Indonesia, the key concern for Indonesian science journalism has shifted to climate change and the effects of the environmental crisis on health. This project promotes collaboration and  capacity to build Guidelines for best practices of the sciencemedia interface. The advancement of knowledge sharing through communication technologies is key to the SDGs and reinforced through UNESCO’s Recommendation on Open Science. 

Focusing on planetary health, this program considers how Indonesian journalists can best collaborate with scientists to advance effective science communication. The University of Sydney and Universitas Airlangga—in partnership with the Society of Indonesian Science Journalists—will bring science journalists, science communication experts, and bioscientists together to evaluate best practices of collaboration, uses of open data, and knowledge transfer to advance a set of best practice Guidelines. Core activities involve a workshop in Surabaya and a symposium in Sydney (followed by a meeting to formulate Guidelines).

Program participants will develop a deeper understanding of planetary health and the ethical challenges of open data practices in the Indonesian health sector. The program’s orientation session covers: (1) conceptual issues in planetary health; (2) key issues in open science initiatives focused on health within developing countries; and (3) integrated approaches to science communication in responding to planetary health issues. The session will draw from cross-disciplinary analyses and insights in History of Science, Anthropology of Science, Critical Public Health, Political Economy, Sociology of Medicine, and Science and Technology Studies.

Up to 10 early-career science journalists will complete a writing project relevant to their interests. During the workshop, the distinguished Indonesian science journalist Dyna Rochmyaningsih and the executive director of SISJ Melvinas Priananda will brief participants on how to identify stories and link it to broader issues in (global) society.

Participants will work on their writing project as part of the program. During the joint workshop in Surabaya, participants will give a short presentation of their project. Participants will have the opportunity to share and learn from each other as they develop their projects with theme leads from SISJ and science communicators from a diversity of academic disciplines and institutions. This will build capacity for the next generation of science journalists in Indonesia. 

The program will enhance the dissemination of scientific knowledge in Indonesia within a global push to open science. This push has consequences for indigenous data sovereignty on the one hand and the privatisation of data on the other. One of the core tasks for the group of science journalists and science communication experts is to produce Guidelines for how science journalists can best work with scientists and how they can ethically access, understand, navigate, and use data from various platforms. This will improve long-term scientific assessment and strengthen science communication for planetary health and sustainable development more generally.

For more information about this project, please see Advancing Science Communication in Indonesia.