Vetenskap & Allmänhet, VA

VA (Public & Science) is a Swedish non-profit membership organisation that works to promote dialogue and openness between researchers and the public.

VA’s members consist of some 100 organisations, authorities, universities, companies and associations. In addition, it has a number of individual members. The organisation was founded in January 2002 and is funded through membership fees, project grants and a grant from the Swedish Ministry of Education and Research.

VA's main goals:

• To ensure that the public understands what science is, how research works, and its role in society.
• Researchers to have knowledge of attitudes to science, access to different communication methods and incentives for undertaking dialogue and collaboration.
• Decision-makers to make use of science and recognise the value of dialogue between researchers and other parts of society.
• VA to have a prominent role as a national and international expert organisation and as a civil society organisation with many members representing different sectors of society across Sweden.