1 Jul 2026
The Volkswagen Foundation has decided to continue funding the MSCL for another three years, investing over two million euros in the long-term collaboration between research and practice in the field of science communication in Munich.
During its founding phase, the MSCL played a key role in strategically expanding successful science communication in Munich.
Since then, three research and teaching divisions have been established at the IfKW, focusing on crisis and risk communication, health communication, and strategic communication. With this clear focus on health and science communication, the institute is laying a sustainable foundation for excellent research within the framework of the MSCL. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Lars Guenther, Prof. Dr. Constanze Rossmann, and Prof. Dr. Sophia Volk, the successful work of recent years can now be consistently continued.
Research at the MSCL is dedicated to the question of how science communication can be designed to be effective, resilient, and constructive. Among other things, the research examines how different formats of science communication are perceived by the public, how individuals and institutions can develop resilience against attacks, and how constructive communication on scientific topics can be achieved.
As in the first funding phase, communication on planetary health remains a central focus of the MSCL. In the future, however, this focus will be expanded to include additional pressing issues, including artificial intelligence, antibiotic resistance, and dealing with uncertainty in science communication. At the same time, the particularly fruitful link between health and science communication is to be further deepened.
The close integration of research and practice remains a key feature of the MSCL. To effectively translate scientific findings into
practical applications, the MSCL collaborates in particular with the Communication Department at LMU, the Deutsches Museum, and AHA—The Science Communication Hub.
The evaluation of science communication will continue to play an important role in this regard. The MSCL aims to strengthen the application of evaluation methods and make the insights gained from them more accessible. In this way, the MSCL intends to continue making a decisive contribution to the transfer of knowledge from communication studies into practice.
In the long term, the funded project is intended to give rise to a permanent interdisciplinary laboratory for science communication research at LMU. To this end, the MSCL brings together research, evaluation, training, and knowledge transfer—while simultaneously strengthening the exchange between LMU, partner institutions in Munich, and the national and international science communication community. Looking ahead, the MSCL aims to assume a leading role in science communication research through innovative research and practice-oriented teaching.