IPHES-CERCA takes part in the 10th Conference on Social Communication of Science (CCSC2025) with a poster on archaeobotany and society

IPHES-CERCA participated in the 10th Conference on Social Communication of Science (CCSC2025), held from 28 to 30 October in Palma de Mallorca under the motto “Creative Science Communication”. The event brought together communication, outreach, journalism and science professionals from Spain, Portugal and Latin America to reflect on the current and future challenges of scientific culture and to promote new strategies to strengthen the link between science and society.

IPHES-CERCA presented the poster “Archaeobotany and Society. Highlighting the social and cultural value of plants in our history through scientific communication”, authored by Andrea Alías, Daniel Gallego Morales, Aina Isabel Martí Peñas, Gerard Campeny, Germain Hello-Laprerie, Rafel Matamales-Andreu, Paula Munar Nuñez, Llorenç Picornell-Gelabert, Prabath Ekanayake, Uditha Jinadasa, R.M.M. Chandraratne, Piyumi Embuldeniya, Aitor Burguet-Coca, Isabel Expósito, Canisius J. Kayombo, Natacha Filippi and Ethel Allué.

The content of the poster is directly linked to the ARCHBOTANKA European project, led by Dr Ethel Allué and coordinated by IPHES-CERCA. This project, which brings together five partner institutions from Spain, France and Sri Lanka, is funded by the European Union through the MSCA–Staff Exchange programme (2023–2027). Its main goal is to study past fuel acquisition and energy consumption practices, exploring their relationship with environmental, economic and social sustainability.

To achieve this, ARCHBOTANKA promotes the integration of methodologies and interdisciplinary knowledge among academic and non-academic institutions from different countries, fostering a sustainable collaboration focused on the study of archaeological charcoal (anthracology), fuel ethnoarchaeology and the diversity of human uses of plants.

Through this research line, IPHES-CERCA underscores how scientific outreach can help highlight the heritage, cultural and social value of plants, while promoting a more sustainable understanding of the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, both in the past and today.

The conference, held at the Auditorium of Palma de Mallorca, addressed topics such as trust in science, risk communication, critical advertising, technology, fiction, entertainment and art, with creativity as a central theme to enhance the quality and impact of science communication.