Nuestra NEBRIJA 27 - Octubre 2018

28 Article “Scientific advancement is not a solitary, heroic enterprise. Newton did not conceive the theory of gravitation when an apple fell on his head; he was part of a network of Cambridge and London thinkers who pondered the workings of the world.” Niall Ferguson, professor and researcher at Stanford and Harvard – two of the most prestigious universities in the world– is not a journalist. He is a historian, a specialist in economic and financial history. I am not a historian, I am a journalist; a journalist specialized in science and health. However, we are both professors and researchers. We are united by the fact that we both share the same vision of how scientific advances occur: through collaboration between scientists, and between scientists and journalists. I would like to elaborate on this second collaboration, which requires an issuer (the scientist) and a first receiver (the journalist), so that then the latter can be the qualified and necessary bridge –today more than ever– between scientists and the global recipients. But the qualification and the need do not arise overnight: they require the journalist to possess knowledge, understanding and mastery of the functioning of scientific reality and specific sources, so that he or she can then report with rigor and veracity. The ecosystem of science is vast, and growing every day. Therefore, in the School of Communication and Arts we have always known that we had to create a research group focused on prospective journalism in science and health, seek collaboration with companies in the sector, and form –as in Newton's– time a network of professionals in journalism and science and health. The results are, after over a decade, very positive. I take the opportunity offered by the magazine Nuestra Nebrija to talk, even briefly, about two of our collaborative projects and some of their results: the Nebrija-MSD España Classroom on Communication and Health Sciences (the oldest collaboration) and the Nebrija- BMS España Classroom on Prospective Journalism in health (the most recent collaboration). Our collaboration with MSD, the Spanish subsidiary of Carlos Cachán. Principal Investigator of the Nebrija Research Group in Analytic and Prospective Journalism J ournalists are the qualified and necessary bridge between scientists and society Journalists must have knowledge, understanding and mastery of the functioning of scientific reality and specific sources, so that they can then report with rigor and veracity When science and journalism come together to serve society