联合国卡林加科普奖的获奖人物特征及评奖机制研究

A study on the Winners and Award Mechanism of UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science

摘要:

科学普及与科技创新对国家的发展具有同等重要的作用，但科普奖励在中国的科研评价体系中仍然处于边缘地位。联合国教科文组织设立的卡林加科普奖被誉为科普领域的“诺贝尔奖”，是最具权威性的科普国际奖励。本文从国别特征、职业和教育背景、学科特征、科普贡献和科普媒介变迁过程等方面分析了自设奖以来联合国卡林加科普奖的获奖人物特征及评奖机制。研究发现：根据世界银行的国家收入标准，高收入国家比非高收入国家的获奖者仅多2位，国别分布相对平均；各国科学家占总获奖者人数的78%，其中院士占比36%，诺奖得主占比约10%，但出版者、政客、电视节目主持人等其他职业的占比也高达22%，获奖者的学科分布与特定时期的科技热点密切相关，跨学科背景更容易获奖。科普媒介演化呈现出“纸媒-纸媒为主-广电为主-多媒体和机构融合”的演化趋势。本研究并进一步归纳了卡林加科普奖的评奖机制，为中国相关部门和组织推动科普奖励政策改革提供建议。

Abstract:

Science popularization is as important as technology innovation for national progress, however, the establishment of reward on science popularization is underdeveloped in Chinese science research evaluation system. UNESCO Kalinga Prize is known as the “Nobel Prize” in the domain of science popularization and is the most authoritative international award for science popularization. This paper analyses the features of the laureates of UNESCO Kalinga Prize and its award mechanism since the establishment of the Kalinga Prize in terms of national features, positions, educational background, disciplinary subject characteristics, contributions of science popularization of laureates and the changes process of science popularization medium. The study found that only two more laureates of high-income economy than non-high-income economy according to the national income standard of The World Bank, and the national distribution is relatively even; scientists from various countries account for 78% of the total laureates, of which academicians account for 36%, the Nobel Prize laureates account for about 10%, but other professions, such as publishers, politicians and TV program hosts account for 22%. The discipline distribution of laureates is related to the scientific and technological hotpots in the specific period, and the interdisciplinary backgrounds of candidates are more likely to win the prize. The evolution of science media presents an evolutionary trend of “paper media to paper-based media to radio and television-based media to multimedia and institutional integration media”. Finally, we further summarized the award mechanism of Kalinga Prize and proposed advices for China’s relevant departments to promote policy reform in science popularization reward.