Some colleagues and I recently started setting up a small but ambitious project under the theme: Public Communication of Climate Science in the Social Media Age. We’re very pleased to have received funding via the Pathways to Sustainability strategic theme at Utrecht University.
This is an interdisciplinary initiative between Humanities and Science scholars at Utrecht University, with active involvement by external colleagues and societal stakeholders, as well.
We’re really looking forward to realizing our plans for this project. Here are the main outcomes we hope to realize within the coming half year:
- A new, interfaculty thematic network on climate communication. This resource will feed into joint and/or individual grant applications that benefit from interdisciplinary networking.
- A workshop on the project theme: “The Public Communication of Climate Science in the Platform Era.” This event will invite academics and societal stakeholders to think about a key problem: how is the rise of social media platforms transforming the way scientific knowledge about climate change is communicated with the public?
- An interactive field guide/online tool for science communication. This will function as a checklist-cum-manual for academics already engaging, or looking to engage, publicly about their knowledge.
- A course module that brings together knowledge from media studies and science communication education to help students gain basic experience with media analytical approaches and “dos and don’ts” of navigating the media landscape for the purpose of science communication.
Donya Alinejad 