The College of the Environment’s Science Communication Program has been advancing on numerous fronts since spring quarter. Guided by our Strategic Directions and the findings of the Science Communication Task Force, the College has been building support and expanding opportunities for our faculty, staff, and student scientists to share the process and products of their research beyond academia.
The College recently hosted a campus-wide and online conversation about the evolving ways that academic scientists can communicate their research on the Internet. The second in our Amplify: Conversations about Science Communication series, a forum to support, catalyze, and increase scientists’ capacity to share their research with broader audiences, the discussion was lively, delving into everything from Twitter-borne collaborations, to the challenge of personal and professional online boundaries as a tenure-track academic, to the importance of finding the platform that works for you—and of taking a break once in a while.
Additionally, earlier in the quarter we held our annual science communication workshop. For an intensive day and a half, fifteen faculty members from around the College worked with the Marketing and Communications team and outside experts to identify how to impactfully share their work with specific audiences, including policymakers and the media. If you wish to strengthen your science communication skills, we will be inviting nominations for next year’s training during the upcoming spring quarter; keep your eye out!
We have also substantially updated our science communication web portal, which now has heaps of guidance, tools, and contacts, whether you’re interested in preparing for a media interview, what open access publication resources are available, which College scientists have engaged in science communication training, or the latest research behind effective science communication methods. And more resources are in the works to support our College scientists in sharing their research effectively with diverse audiences, as we continue to embrace science communication as a valuable and valued activity in our halls and beyond.
Do you have ideas about how we can strengthen our science communication efforts? Is there a topic you’d like to see covered at Amplify or in a shorter workshop, one-on-one-training, or web resource? Let us know—email coenvcom@uw.edu with your thoughts.
