NOVA Medical School was selected for the inaugural edition of the Journalism Science Alliance collaborative research grants with the Factness project – Facts on health, nutrition, and physical exercise. This initiative is developed in partnership with the newspaper PÚBLICO. The project, funded with €50,000, was one of four chosen in Portugal in a competition that received 162 applications from 54 countries.
NOVA Medical School, through the team led by Professor Conceição Calhau, nutritionist and researcher, participates in Factness with the mission of analyzing and counteracting the dissemination of misleading content in the areas of food, nutrition, physical exercise, and well-being.
For the professor, the situation is worrying: “Misinformation in health, especially in the area of nutrition, has become a silent threat, driven by social media that promote quick, unfounded, and potentially dangerous solutions through simplistic messages with no scientific basis.”
Over the course of eight months, the NOVA Medical School team will work closely with PÚBLICO to develop an investigative journalism project based on scientific evidence. The focus will be on the scientific analysis of claims made by influencers linked to fitness, nutrition, and healthy lifestyles, assessing their scientific basis and simultaneously mapping the food supplement market.
The journalistic component of the project is headed by Teresa Firmino, science editor at PÚBLICO, who emphasizes the importance of accuracy: “In an age of misinformation spreading at lightning speed on social media, this project seeks to put journalism—credible and verified information—at the forefront.”
A iniciativa integra também a investigadora em open-source intelligence Inês Narciso, que contribuirá para a compreensão dos mecanismos de disseminação de desinformação no ambiente digital.
Para assegurar robustez e diversidade de perspetivas, o Factness contará com um conselho consultivo composto por especialistas de várias áreas do conhecimento, incluindo direito do consumo, psicologia social, neurociências e ciência de dados.
A equipa explorará ainda formatos inovadores de comunicação que combinam informação científica verificada com elementos de comédia, com o objetivo de alcançar públicos que consomem informação sobretudo nas plataformas digitais. “Acreditamos que este esforço conjunto constitui um passo essencial para proteger a saúde pública e reforçar a confiança no conhecimento, na ciência e na comunicação responsável”, afirma Conceição Calhau.
Com esta distinção, a NOVA Medical School reforça o seu compromisso com a literacia em saúde e com o desenvolvimento de estratégias de comunicação baseadas na evidência científica, contribuindo para sociedades mais informadas, críticas e saudáveis.