25 YEARS OF ENGAGING WITH THE MEDIA AND SOCIETY

The Media Resource Centre is administered by MSSRF and is headquartered in Chennai. It is supported through an endowment from The Hindu Group of publications in 1998. The Centre is a joint recipient of the 2008 Jawaharlal Nehru Prize for Science Communication conferred by the Indian Science Congress Association.

Vision: Serve as a LINK between research, media and society so as to enable knowledge-sharing and discourse on scientific issues for sustainable change.

Mission: To be a PLATFORM that facilitates exchange of ideas between scientists and the media; promote public understanding of critical development issues, and provide space for interaction between media personnel and scientists through public forums, conferences, lectures, seminars, workshops, etc.

Strategic Objectives: The year 2023 marks 25 years of engaging with the media and society through media discourses, capacity development and media outreach. With the specific intention of building a greater understanding of science and development subjects among media professionals, the MSSRF Media Resource Centre also expands focus on strengthening the science-to-practice and science-to-policy linkages in India.

The Three Pathways

Science to Policy – using knowledge management principles to translate and co-produce evidence-based knowledge products like policy briefs, impact briefs, concept notes, syntheses briefs, etc.

Science to Practice – taking science-based knowledge to communities (farmer/fisher/tribal) using participatory methods or channels such as the Community Radio Stations

Science to Society through the Media Resource Centre for Science-Society Interface with capacity strengthening workshops, field exposure visits, co-producing articles that de-jargonise science, op-eds, etc.

Outreach Through Communication Tools

Websites MSSRF, CAbC, and BPTAbC

Social Media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Flickr

E-Newsletter Monthly updates to stakeholders and the media about MSSRF research and developmental activities

Public events (in-person / virtual) Seminars, Conferences, Events with communities, etc., drawing attention to issues / subjects

Visual aids Dissemination with brochures, flyers, posters, etc

Outcome / impact stories Thematic narratives that describe results of MSSRF research and developmental work

Testimonials AV presentations that reflect transformative changes among communities

Knowledge products Briefs for policymakers / donors / researchers / academia, etc., to bring together interventions, successes and lessons learned along with recommendation for policy change or further research.

Outcomes*

Engagement data from 2022-23 derived from Google and Social Media analytics indicate presence of MSSRF increased by >100% from the previous year

In 2022-2023, MSSRF website had 45363 new visitors accessing 164185 webpages, and viewing 70578 sessions

320 news articles and feature stories published in print, television, radio, and online media in several languages, and included state-level and national editions, plus international coverage

*(as on August 2023)

Contact: mediacentre@mssrf.res.in