Report about communication between researchers and stakeholders: a case study in the agrifood sector

Abstract

Aim of this study was to gather the point of view of researchers of the National Research Council of Italy and stakeholders who work in the agrifood field collaborating with them on science communication. By means of two questionnaires addressed respectively to researchers and stakeholders, respondents let emerge a picture of science communication in the agrifood field in Italy. Among the insights obtained: the interest in communication between researchers and stakeholders, most of which were farmers and administrators, is reciprocal and no problems in understanding people from other sectors are declared; both researchers and stakeholders would like to communicate more also with politicians; the main ways of acquiring research results by stakeholders is participation to collective events like conferences and individual contacts with researchers. Moreover stakeholders suggest some proposal to improve communication of research, which are summarized in the report.