Bustling public communication by astronomers around the world driven by personal and contextual factors

Entradas, Marta; Bauer, Martín W.

doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0633-7

Cited by 33 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Studies of scientists, although not directly comparable, have also pointed to this issue. For example, a five-country survey of medical scientists showed slightly higher media interactions among Western scientists (USA, France, Germany and UK) [28] than among scientists in Japan, and Entradas and Bauer (2019) [25] found lower interactions with the media and the public more broadly among astronomers in Asia compared to other global regions. This could suggest that science communication has continental features, but this needs further investigation as our data are limited to a small number of countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are regarded as the playground of conspiracy theorists, as well as the place where small communities of opinion constantly confirm their own prejudices in largely closed bubbles. Moreover, many scientists consider it neither possible nor useful to convey the complexity of their research in short news items (tweets) [41], and the use of social media to communicate with the broad public has been found low among scientists, regardless of the discipline [26] [25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This research has pointed to disciplinary cultures in science communication, both in terms of the intensity and the choices of formats of engagement. Natural sciences have often been found to be less active than social sciences [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ]–astronomy [ 25 ], and climate science [ 26 ] may be exceptions. Natural sciences engage more in educational activities for schools and the wider public; social sciences tend to be more active in civic-related activities [ 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility?

et al. 2020

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Leading academic institutions, governments, and funders of research across the world have spent the last few decades fretting publicly about the need for scientists and research organisations to engage more widely with the public and be open about their research. While a global literature asserts that public communication has changed from a virtue to a duty for scientists in many countries and disciplines, our knowledge about what research institutions are doing and what factors drive their 'going public' is very limited. Here we present the first cross-national study of N = 2,030 research institutes within universities and large scientific organisations in Brazil, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. We find that institutes embrace communication with non-peers and do so through a variety of public events and traditional news media-less so through new media channels-and we find variation across countries and sciences, yet these are less evident than we expected. Country and disciplinary cultures contribute to the level of this communication, as do the resources that institutes make available for the effort; institutes with professionalised staff show higher activity online. Future research should examine whether a real change in the organisational culture is happening or whether this activity and resource allocation is merely a means to increase institutional visibility.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility?

et al. 2020

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“…Importantly, these studies including ours presented here, suggest a community of highly engaged communicators amongst climate scientist. The high public communication activity found amongst climate scientists and astronomers (Entradas and Bauer, 2018), put into perspective general claims that natural scientists communicate less than social scientists. This highlights the need to study specific communities to better understand their unique characteristics.…”

Section: Public Communication Activity Of Climate Scientistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public communication by climate scientists: what, with whom and why?

et al. 2019

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Public communication of science has increasingly been recognized as a responsibility of scientists (Leshner, 2003). Climate scientists are often reminded of their responsibility to participate in the public climate debate and to engage the public in meaningful conversations that contribute to policy-making (Fischhoff, 2013). However, our understanding about climate scientists' interactions with the public, and the factors that drive or inhibit them, is at best limited. In a new study, we show that it is the most published and not necessarily the most senior, that often talk in public, and it is primarily intrinsic motivation (as opposed to extrinsic reward), that drive them to engage in public communication. Political orientations, academic productivity, and awareness of controversy the topic raises in the public domain were also important determinants of a climate's scientist public activity. Future research should explore what is required to protect the intrinsic motivation of scientists.

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“…There is generally a lack of formal training for graduate students in science communication, with only a few universities offering communication training courses, and quantitative evaluation of these courses is rare [19,20,21]. A recent study of outreach activity by astronomers indicated that institutional support, including training, is an important factor in determining participation in outreach [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive youth science workshops benefit student participants and graduate student mentors

et al. 2020

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Science communication and outreach are essential for training the next generation of scientists and raising public awareness for science. Providing effective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational outreach to students in classrooms is challenging because of the need to form partnerships with teachers, the time commitment required for the presenting scientist, and the limited class time allotted for presentations. In our Present Your Ph.D. Thesis to a 12-Year Old outreach project, our novel solution to this problem is hosting a youth science workshop (YSW) on our university campus. The YSW is an interpersonal science communication and outreach experience in which graduate students from diverse scientific disciplines introduce middle and high school students to their cutting-edge research and mentor them to develop a white-board presentation to communicate the research to the workshop audience. Our assessment of the YSW indicated that participating young students expressed significantly more positive attitudes toward science and increased motivation to work in a STEM career after attending the workshop. Qualitative follow-up interviews with participating graduate students' show that even with minimal time commitment, an impactful science communication training experience can be achieved. The YSW is a low-cost, high-reward educational outreach event amenable to all disciplines of science. It enhances interest and support of basic science research while providing opportunities for graduate students to engage with the public, improve their science communication skills, and enhance public understanding of science. This YSW model can be easily implemented at other higher education institutions to globally enhance science outreach initiatives.

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Bustling public communication by astronomers around the world driven by personal and contextual factors

Cited by 33 publications

References 19 publications

Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility?

Public communication by research institutes compared across countries and sciences: Building capacity for engagement or competing for visibility?

Public communication by climate scientists: what, with whom and why?

Interactive youth science workshops benefit student participants and graduate student mentors

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