Science shops tackle community concerns at a low cost

In 2006, local people approached the University of Groningen in The Netherlands to see if they could help with the issue of noise pollution from wind turbines.

The Dutch government is intending to double its production of wind energy by 2020, and this will mean building 400 large wind turbines on land and a further 2,000 at sea.

One of Groningen’s five science shops took on the problem and researched local residents’ perceptions of noise annoyance from wind turbines during 2007 and 2008.

“We found that government limits weren’t effective for turbines of over 100 m and that noise travels further at night than previously thought,” said Henk Mulder, a lecturer in science communication and science shop co-ordinator at Groningen University, at a workshop on good practice in community engagement at the GUNI conference in Barcelona.

As a result of this study, the government changed the law, requiring that turbines be situated further from residential areas. “So within five years, people’s concerns were addressed and the law was changed,” said Mulder.

Science shops, an idea pioneered by Dutch universities in the 1970s and which has since spread further afield, are a way for universities to carry out research in response to requests from civil society.

This demand-driven and bottom-up approach means groups in society can have their concerns addressed at a low cost or even for free, while researchers get to grapple with interesting real-life material for research, and universities win more visibility from providing a service to the community.