Making the science around COVID-19 accessible for the benefit of our communities

Science engagement is crucial in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; it demands coordination and communication among multiple actors such as politicians, local authorities, the media, public health experts, and of course researchers and scientists. Through science communication, complex argument, scientific jargon and concepts are translated and made accessible to the broader public, including policymakers, who can use it for evidence-based decision-making. It also mitigates fake news and misinformation, and empowers the general public to make rational decisions, as citizens and in their personal lives. Science journalists, health journalists and science communicators inspire open communication between scientists and politicians, between scientists themselves (open science), and between scientists and society (science communication). Researchers need to make evidence-based information available to increase the understanding of different communities, and science engagement should be included in all research projects. In the COVID-19 research context of this proposed project, science engagement will be key to disseminating scientifically based information to the public in a timely manner, ensuring that there is coordinated communication of factual information from the different research groups linked to the programme. The proposed project will bring together science engagement practitioners (health and science journalists and communicators) to work with COVID-19 research teams to produce and disseminate science communication outputs that will inform multiple publics, whilst challenging misinformation. Expected Outputs A key focus of the project is on building a network of early career scientists who are the future science leaders in future research activities. This will include a focus on diversity of researchers and communicators from across the region (western, northern, eastern and southern Africa), in language (intentional inclusion of Lusophone and francophone countries) and gender (priority given to woman researchers). We are currently engaging with other universities in Africa to identify possibilities to engage with active research communities in order to build regional balance in the collaborative programme. A further focus is on the beneficiaries and users of the knowledge. This includes government actors, private sector, health and social protection actors, as well as communities themselves, where particular attention will be paid to women as participants.