Science Communications

You don’t need to have thousands or even hundreds of connections for social media to pay off for you, and finding your flock will very likely not mean surrounding yourself only with others in your discipline.

There is widespread acceptance among the scientific community that human activities are the primary cause of present day climate change. But, how a changing climate impacts ecosystems is still a source of confusion to the public. Some of this confusion is associated with a lack of clear communication among journalists and scientists, particularly when it comes to addressing variability and uncertainty in ecological datasets.

Expressing perspectives, opinions or even recommendations about the implications of your science can be a bit uncomfortable, even scary. But if you want your science to be relevant and useful, you need to make sure it gets out of pages of peer-reviewed journals and into real-world discussions. Connecting with policymakers and having an ask is one way to do this. Writing an op-ed is another great way to start to get your science, and ideas, into the public discourse.

When a gigantic threat is staring you in the face, and you can't act upon it, it's safe to assume there's some sort of mental blockage happening. So what's the hangup? That's what a new report from ecoAmerica and the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University's Earth Institute -- entitled Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication -- seeks to help us better understand.

In recent years we have seen enormous growth on our social media streams, particularly Twitter. With so many Fellows active on the service now, we thought it would be interesting to see who they think is worth following. The following are the top 50 answers from our recent Fellow poll on environmental organizations and environmental thinkers worth following.

Much more goes into promoting a publication than simply writing a press release. Max Moritz is the lead author of a paper on coexisting with wildfire he believes holds real-world implications for people's health, safety, and financial well-being. He reached out to our communications training partner COMPASS and spent the last two weeks of October working with Liz Neeley to think through what he wanted to say.

The policy “cycle” is made of complicated interactions between individuals, each with their own knowledge, perspective, and network. The process stops and starts, doubles back on itself, and gets stuck in iterative loops that appear to defy progress. The role science plays is equally complex

Want to know the top ten things that you can start doing – from light lifts to larger investments – to improve your communication skills in grad school?

Our communications training partner COMPASS offers their top ten practical resources, tools, tips and tricks to be an effective scientist communicator today.