As a precautionary measure in response to the spreading of the coronavirus the SILBERSALZ Science & Media Festival has been postponed from June 2020 to 14 October until 18 October 2020.

The third edition of the Conference of the SILBERSALZ Science & Media Festival 2020 takes place on 17 October as a hybrid event: online and at the Leopoldina. This year, the Conference is designed as an interactive laboratory for media & science bringing together international scientists looking for new ways to communicate their research with the broader public and media professionals seeking new stories from the frontline of science and technology. We will tackle rebuilding public trust as a common challenge for both contemporary science and media and create a space for crucial interdisciplinary collaboration. New ways of coproduction could become key as societies face the double challenge of accelerating climate change and growing populism, even democratic backsliding.

With a program guided by science and media as the two faces of trust, we are delighted to already announce three outstanding scholars as headlining keynote speakers, who will explore the challenge of trust from their respective backgrounds:

• Prof. (ETHZ) Dr. Gerald Haug ML, President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius ML, Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar und Meeresforschung
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Renn ML, Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
• Hossein Derakhshan, Iranian-Canadian journalist, blogging pioneer, research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center, research associate at the MIT Media Lab
• Dr. Jeanine Reutemann, independent researcher, filmmaker and lecturer
• Frank Schätzing, science fiction-novelist

Be inspired by standout keynotes and engage in enlightening interactive formats. Discover new projects: the science & media pitch on 18 October is a unique opportunity to hear about the latest concepts, research, discoveries and science projects in development – for commissioning, coproduction or distribution on all platforms. The Call for Science Projects is still open. Apply with your project by 14 August 2020.

As a combination of festival and conference, SILBERSALZ makes science accessible in a clear and vivid fashion while simultaneously serving as a platform for the exchange of ideas and mutual inspiration. The aim of SILBERSALZ is to provide the general public with access to scientific topics and to allow them to ask questions, thereby promoting a lively and active engagement with science in general. The SILBERSALZ program is extensive, varied and is aimed at anyone who is interested, whether young or old, layman or expert, science fan or sceptic. This year's third edition focuses on our home - Planet Earth - its diversity, (eco)systems and special characteristics.

ML – Member of the Leopoldina