The Science Forum EMF is a project of the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) supported by a scientific advisory council composed of scientists belonging to entirely different disciplines: biology, epidemiology, decision-making research, engineering sciences, communication research, medicine, public health, sociology, statistics, as well as of representatives of civil society.

Objectives of the Science Forum EMF

The Science Forum EMF aims at exploring:

• If and how research objectives can be brought into agreement with society and how research can be brought more into line with the enhancement of risk management
• Which procedures are suitable as a support in decision-making during scientific discourses when indetermination and uncertainties are given
• How conflicts can be overcome to improve the quality and the integrity of research
• How risk communication with the public can be made more effective

In the course of this, there is a central problem: the dispute around the health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF). Through this case you can also learn some more regarding the handling of scientific disputes. The Forum deals not only with the development of innovative approaches for knowledge and information transfer into the various social and political levels, but also wants to make concrete contributions to a sustainable knowledge management in the form of workshops and thinking workshops, network meetings and other scientific discourses. In this way, the forum also contributes to the preservation of scientific competence, to the promotion of the young, to the networking of scientists with the civil society, as well as to the communication among scientists.

Project website: WF-EMF