The Experience of the Science Shop and the Living Knowledge Network in Europe

The objectives of the Living Knowledge Network are as follows:

• To create spaces for debate and discussion among Science Shops in their local and national contexts. These spaces should promote shared learning.
• To provide tools for improving and perfecting the activities of every Science Shop.
• To promote the activities carried out by the different Science Shops and expand the experience throughout Europe.
• To establish projects and initiatives that involve international cooperation.

The general objectives of a Science Shop are as follows:

• To provide civil society with research knowledge and skills.
• To offer free or low cost social consultancy services.
• To promote and support society's access to science and technology.
• To create equitable and stable relationships with civil society organizations.
• To link the knowledge of the governing class and of research and educational institutions to civil society's research and training needs.
• To link up the skills and knowledge of students, community representatives and researchers.

The Science Shop was first established in the Netherlands during the counterculture and student movements of the 1970s. A group of Dutch chemistry students decided to help non-profit organizations to use scientific research and knowledge to solve problems. This first initiative had a major impact. With the support of university lecturers, the experience was expanded to other areas of knowledge. In the next 10 years, the experience spread to all of the universities in the Netherlands. However, the Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam are benchmarks in this area. In 1990, there were 40 Science Shops in Dutch universities, as all universities became required to establish a Science Shop.

Many European countries were inspired by this initiative and began similar programmes. Currently, Science Shop experiences can be found in almost all European Union countries. All of these experiences aim to respond to the needs of the local society by adapting knowledge to its immediate surroundings. As a result, the experiences vary greatly according to their context.

In general terms, the process of a Science Shop can be described as follows:

• A request is made by a civil society organization. These organizations are usually unions or employee organizations; NGOs; professional associations; charities; popular organizations; citizen organizations linked to municipal and local life; churches and religious committees; and organizations that undertake economic activities of a markedly social nature, such as cooperatives and small companies involved in social and labour integration.
• Once the request has been received and positively assessed by Science Shop members, the university members who will participate in the project are identified.
• Subsequently, university researchers and students and the commissioning institution define and plan the research project with the collaboration of the Science Shop. The project may be carried out at no cost to the institution or for a non-commercial fee.
• The Science Shop is based on the idea of community-based or participative research. Therefore, the active participation of the organization that commissions the project is expected. However, this collaboration depends on different factors, such as the topic, the characteristics of the organization and the specific experience of the Science Shop.
• Once the project has been concluded, a communication campaign is carried out to disseminate the results.

In 2000, a network of Science Shops was created on the basis of previous experience and with the conviction that, despite the marked local slant of projects, practices should be disseminated on an international level. In 2003, in the framework of the European Commission programme Training and Mentoring of Science Shops (TRAMS), the Living Knowledge project was consolidated as an international network of Science Shops and similar organizations. The Network is defined as a meeting place for all of the organizations and individuals interested in community-based research and in the relationship between science and society. Some of the most important initiatives include international cooperation projects and the database of Science Shops worldwide.

International cooperation projects focus on two main areas:

• Promoting spaces for debate, reflection and shared knowledge, such as:
• International conferences attended by all Network members as well as academics and researchers interested in community-based research.
• The Living Knowledge Newsletter, which contains the latest news about Science Shops and community-based research.
• The magazine Living Knowledge: International Journal of Community Based Research, which gives detailed analyses of specific aspects of the Science Shop.
• Joint projects that have two main objectives: to make cooperation in cross-border research viable, thus promoting learning and providing common solutions to problems; and to develop concepts and procedures for cooperation between Network members.

In addition, a database of Science Shops has been created: (http://www.bio.uu.nl/sspid/). This tool is useful for international projects as it can help members and collaborators to meet. It enables different organizations to contact each other and find out the main characteristics of each Science Shop. In addition, it is a mechanism for disseminating projects, not only in Europe , but also in other countries of the world where this experience is relevant.