Science for Progress

because science is fundamental in the 21st century

sending out the first emails!

A week ago I informed the other organizers and volunteers of the March for Science via an internal email newsgroup. Today I began sending out emails to publicly available email addresses of institutions, asking the recipients to forward the mail as they find appropriate.

Here is the content:

Dear recipient,

with this email I want to inform you about an upstarting science advocacy community for online and ‘real life’ activities based in Lisbon. Please forward this message, if you find it appropriate:

Join the new science advocacy community ‘Science for Progress’!

The fruits of natural and social sciences transcend all aspects of modern life. In the 21st century, humanity is facing challenges at unprecedented scales, and we believe that our best chance to meet those challenges is by investing in research, innovation, and societal progress. However, progress is slowed and hindered for financial, ideological or political reasons, on many fronts.

The goal of Science for Progress is to strengthen the scientific endeavor to the benefit of society.

In a democracy, the power for change lies within the voters. Our predominant aim therefore is to sensitize the public for the importance of high quality research and education, and the challenges researchers in Portugal and Europe are facing. We want to convince the voters to prioritize policies based on established empirical evidence rather than ideology and dishonest lobbying, and to demand a clear commitment of the people’s representatives to financially and structurally strengthen the support for science and education, researchers and teachers. At the same time we want to encourage and facilitate academics and politicians to play their parts in pushing academia to it’s full potential as a force for progress.

There are many ways to get our messages across: meetings, debates, podcasts, videocasts, articles, social media events, and so on. Members are invited to use the community to connect with like-minded people and create their own projects under the umbrella of Science for Progress.

To give the community an ambitious goal right from the start, I am looking for people to organize a 2-3 day science convention for the public to be held in Lisbon. So, if you want to get started right away, willing to commit as a central organizer, or simply help out with experience, connections, or volunteering, there will be many opportunities!

Besides big dreams, motivation, and ambitions, we’ll have social media outlets (@SciForProgress on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter), and a website (www.scienceforprogress.eu), where you can learn more about Science for Progress!

To sign up, you should fill out the survey on the website. If you leave your email address, I can invite you to our first meeting in Lisbon! The meeting is for everybody who is curious about Science for Progress and it will be in a few weeks, and in Lisbon. The exact location and date depends on the number of people interested in attending. Look out for email invitations, and facebook events!

I’m looking forward to meeting you!

kind regards,

Dennis Eckmeier

initiator of Science for Progress

About the initiator: Dennis Eckmeier is a biologist from Germany, with a PhD in Neuroscience. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon. Earlier in 2017, Dennis was part of the organizer team for the March for Science satellite event in Lisbon.

Disclaimers: Dennis Eckmeier and Science for Progress are acting independent from third parties. There is no affiliation with any organization, or group. No funding was applied for, or granted by a third party (yet). Future decisions regarding sponsors for Science for Progress will be made by a funding committee.

Think this is SPAM? This email was not send by an automated newsletter system. It was send to an email address on a public website, or you signed up for notifications in my survey. If you want to be removed from my list of contacts, please send an email to info@scienceforprogress.eu titled ‘remove from email list’.

about Dennis Eckmeier

Dennis founded Science for Progress. He received a PhD in neuroscience in 2010 in Germany. Until 2018 he worked as a postdoc in the USA, and Portugal. In 2017 he co-organized the March for Science in Lisbon, Portugal. Dennis is currently a freelancer.