Health crisis and academic engagement with society
(HECAES)
About HECAES
HECAES is a research project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research (PID2022-137053NB-I00), from 2023 to 2027.
Its aim is to analyse how academic engagement with society is transformed in contexts of institutional pressure, crisis or social change, with particular attention to knowledge production, the relationships between science and social actors, the forms of knowledge transfer and science communication, the role of art and emotion, and the cultural representations of academic work.
HECAES is led by INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) and continues the UIQual project.
This website is dedicated to Julia Osca Lluch (1956-2024), member of our team.
Research lines and results
The HECAES project is structured around four main thematic areas that combine the research perspectives of the team with the findings obtained so far.
- Scientific knowledge generation and transfer
- Art, science and science communication
- Motivation and emotion in science
- Cultural representations of academic engagement
We study how the ways in which universities generate and transfer knowledge evolve, and what types of relationships are established with different social actors—such as hospitals or companies—under conditions of institutional pressure, social change, or emergency. We aim to understand how scientific collaboration is affected in times of transformation, and what forms of social engagement emerge in the co-production of knowledge.
We explore how researchers communicate science beyond traditional academic channels—through art, for instance—and how these practices relate to scientific impact, gender inequalities, and academic norms. We aim to highlight these alternative forms of engagement and examine the barriers faced by those who practise them, as well as their effects on interactions with society.
We analyse how emotional states, personality traits, and social support influence how science is practised, even in times of uncertainty or pressure. We ask to what extent psychological factors affect researchers’ motivation to engage with society, and how they might facilitate—or hinder—academic work in challenging contexts.
We investigate how the social role of science and academic engagement are portrayed in popular culture, with special attention to narratives about health crises in film. We are interested in how art reflects—and also shapes—societal expectations of researchers, and what dominant images emerge about their relationship with society.
📽️ (Coming soon…)
We are currently analysing pandemic films such as The Seventh Seal and Contagion to understand how public imaginaries of science are shaped in times of crisis.
