Where and when did science shops start?
The contemporary history of science shops in Europe was initiated by critical university staff and students in the Netherlands in the 1970s, ideologically linked to the movement of 1968; their establishment coincided with the emergence of project-based education in universities, and was fed by an emerging environmental awareness in society. The approach had wide appeal, and within 10 years science shops had been established at all Dutch universities as a bureau of the institution, serving many scientific disciplines. Although the science shops professionalized further in the 1980s, they managed to maintain their original mission even in the changing 1990s – albeit with some reorganisations. More information about the history, sucesses and failures of science shop initiatives can be found in report 2 of the first EC funded project on Science Shops (SCIPAS).
