Posts in: Tools & Resources

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is well known for its leadership in the social science of science communication. I spoke to Dr. Dietram Scheufele, a communication expert at UW-Madison on the public and political interfaces of emerging science, about what we are learning from social science research and how researchers can better communicate for societal impact....

Our executive director, Brooke Smith, was interviewed by Andrea Watts for the May 2016 issue of The Forestry Source, a publication by the Society of American Foresters. This wide-ranging Q&A shares some of our tips, insights on working with media, thoughts about science and advocacy, a bit of our history, and inspiration for starting to engage. This was particu...

“Scientists are under increasing pressure to show the impacts of their work. They need to be able to hear from people who are speaking to the public so they can understand what the story of their research is and why - from the public’s perspective - it matters.” - Geri Unger, Executive Director of the Society for Conservation Biology Scientific confere...

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dr. John Besley (Michigan State) and Dr. Anthony Dudo (University of Texas at Austin), two social scientists interested in the intersection of science, public engagement and communications. Their recent PLOS One paper described how scientists prioritize their communications objectives for public engagement. John and Antho...

Have you ever found yourself at a conference, and noticed that the person sitting next to you in a session or waiting in line behind you at the coffee station had “PRESS” on their name tag? Next time you do, introduce yourself! It’s a pleasant change for journalists to have scientists actually approach them. Even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to coverage o...

Most of us have found ourselves in a capital city at some point for work or a conference, but how often have you taken advantage of the location to meet new people and expand your network? Each trip can be a great opportunity to network and start to build relationships in the policy world. Regardless of where you are in your research, it’s useful to be plugged...