Communicating geoscience in uncertain times

Gibson, Hazel; Roberts, Jennifer J.

doi:10.1144/geosci2018-031

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…In the same year, the conference “Communicating Geoscience: Building Public Interest and Promoting Inclusive Dialogue”, held at the Geological Society of London, discussed some of the main concerns on the topic, illustrating the current challenges of geosciences communication (Gibson and Roberts 2018 ), that can be summarized in two main issues: How can geoscientists take their investigations to diverse audiences, discussing specific techniques and strategies (“how to talk”); Geoscience communication is more than effective transfer of information from scientist to audience (“how to listen”). …”

Section: Geoscience Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This second challenge introduced the idea of the co-production of geoscience communication, with dialogue-based practices in order to encourage the public engagement (Gibson and Roberts 2018 ). Geoscientists as a group need to accept that only by “working together with the public” they can engage society in a constructive participatory way that will make geoscience reach public respect (Rosenbaum and Culshaw 2003 ).…”

Section: Geoscience Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Constraints in communicating geoscience constitute an obstacle to develop new geological technologies for society, related, for example, to topics such as energy, mineral resources, or water (Gibson and Roberts 2018 ). Yehl ( 2016 ) argued that communication (together with commitment and collaboration) is one of the backbones of geoscience.…”

Section: Geoscience Communication Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the significant growth of geoenvironmental concerns, scientists face the major challenge of knowing how to communicate effectively such a complex body of knowledge (Illingworth et al 2018 ). In order to address these challenges, geoscientists need to understand that objection and controversy are not merely a factor of bad communication (Gibson and Roberts 2018 ).…”

Section: Geoscience Communication Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

2023

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Geoscience and geodiversity, two sides of the same coin, deal with very poor social visibility and recognition. Ensuring the protection of geodiversity is not only in the geoscientists’ hands and all of society needs to be involved. Therefore, public engagement with geodiversity demands new solutions and a change of paradigm in geoscience communication. Most of the science communication activities undertaken by geoscientists, even when they use modern approaches and technologies, are mainly designed based on empirical experience, laid on didactical approaches and assuming the public’s knowledge deficit. In order to engage the society with geodiversity, it is not enough to focus on scientific literacy and deficit models in which lack of knowledge is considered to be the main obstacle between science and society. It is fundamental to establish a commitment between society and science based on dialogue where lay public is not seen anymore as a single entity with a knowledge deficit. Non-experts must become also protagonists in scientific decisions with social impact and integrate their knowledge and concerns in public participation and decision-making. Engagement with geoscience and geodiversity would benefit from more effective and targeted communication strategies, with different approaches to engage with communities, local stakeholders, media, students and teachers, scientific community, tourists, politicians or policy-makers, and groups with different concerns and distinct relations with science. In the last 20 years, science communication research has made many relevant contributions in order to promote more participatory processes with which society is asked to engage. Regarding geoscience communication as a discipline, it is a very recent Earth science branch that also incorporates social science, behavioral science, and science communication, but still lacks a clear and formal definition. This study provides a comprehensive review of the literature in order to develop a conceptual framework for geoscience communication research, identifying the main challenges and opportunities.

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Section: Geoscience Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geoscience Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geoscience Communication Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geoscience Communication Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

2023

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“…Geoscientists need to play a role in communicating how geoscience is integral to providing solutions to the challenges that society faces in the energy transition, and in moving towards an integrated whole systems approach to offshore wind. Effective communication of the importance of geoscience and geoscientists requires close collaboration with social and environmental scientists in order to drive coproduction of research, sustainability assessments, and engagement with all stakeholders (Gibson and Roberts, 2018).…”

Section: Integrated Whole System Perspective To Move Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geoscience Solutions for Sustainable Offshore Wind Development

Velenturf¹,

Emery²,

Hodgson³

et al. 2021

Earth Sci. Syst. Soc.

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Low carbon energy infrastructure, such as wind and solar farms, are crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C. During 2020, 5.2 GW of offshore wind capacity went into operation worldwide, taking the total operational capacity of global offshore wind to 32.5 GW from 162 offshore windfarms, and over 200 GW of new capacity is planned by 2030. To meet net-zero targets, growth of offshore wind generation is expected, which raises new challenges, including integration of offshore wind into the natural environment and the wider energy system, throughout the wind farm lifecycle. This review examines the role of geosciences in addressing these challenges; technical sustainability challenges and opportunities are reviewed, filtered according to global governance priorities, and assessed according to the role that geoscience can play in providing solutions. We find that geoscience solutions play key roles in sustainable offshore wind energy development through two broad themes: 1) windfarm and infrastructure site conditions, and 2) infrastructure for transmission, conversion and energy storage. To conclude, we recommend priorities and approaches that will support geoscience contributions to offshore wind, and ultimately enable sustainable offshore wind development. Recommendations include industry collaboration and systems for effective data sharing and archiving, as well as further research, education and skills.

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“you just look at rocks, and have beards” Perceptions of geology from the UK: a qualitative analysis from an online survey.

Rogers¹,

Giles²,

Dowey³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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In the last few decades, Geology courses, particularly in the Global North have seen a decline in student enrolment. Geologists have linked this downturn to a lack of exposure to the subject at school and college level. This work seeks to understand the public’s relationship with Geology and draws on over 5000 open-ended question responses to a survey disseminated in 2021. The survey asked both those who had, and had not, studied geology as a subject a series of questions in order to explore their perceptions of the discipline. Our findings indicate that individuals ‘outside’ of geology see the subject as old fashioned, boring, and environmentally damaging; simply the study of rock samples with nothing new to be discovered from; and with poor job prospects outside of the oil and gas industry. Geologists who responded to the survey paint a picture of a broad, interdisciplinary subject, with vibrant employability opportunities – yet struggle to coherently and collectively describe this when asked, ‘what is geology?’. In addition to the identified perception of geology as boring, and notions of poor employability being a barrier to prospective students, diversity and inclusivity issues are highlighted as significant barriers by those who study geology. Our findings indicate that both geologists and the geology curriculum need to coherently describe what geology is more effectively. We need to develop and better communicate the subject's interdisciplinary nature and links to critical societal issues, such as the role of responsible mineral extraction in the energy transition and the importance of geology in vital areas such as climate change science, water resource management, environmental conservation, and sustainable urban/built development. Finding new ways to show that, far from being boring, geology is a subject that can fundamentally change the way you see and interact with the world around you is of central importance to achieving this. Efforts to make the subject more equitable are also highlighted as being critical in creating a more inclusive and accessible discipline.

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Communicating geoscience in uncertain times

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

How Can Geoscience Communication Foster Public Engagement with Geoconservation?

Geoscience Solutions for Sustainable Offshore Wind Development

“you just look at rocks, and have beards” Perceptions of geology from the UK: a qualitative analysis from an online survey.

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