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Key research themes
1. How does scientific uncertainty and public trust influence climate change perceptions and engagement?
This research area investigates how scientific uncertainty is represented, communicated, and managed in public discourse, particularly through media channels, and how trust in scientists affects beliefs about global warming. Understanding these dynamics is crucial because they shape public engagement, policy support, and the effectiveness of climate change communication strategies.
Key finding: This study reveals that scientific uncertainty was prominently framed in US popular press articles from 1986-1995, and that such uncertainty was deliberately constructed to establish rhetorical boundaries delegitimizing lay... Read more
Key finding: Analyzing nationally representative panel data, this study found that trust in scientists mediates the impact of media consumption on global warming beliefs: conservative media use erodes trust in scientists, reducing belief... Read more
Key finding: Using extensive surveys from 2010 to 2016 in New Hampshire benchmarked against national data, the study demonstrates a gradual, approximately 10-point increase in public belief both in the reality of anthropogenic climate... Read more
Key finding: Comparative survey analysis of US citizens, climate scientists, and policy advisors revealed that scientists and policy advisors more frequently affirm anthropogenic global warming existence compared to the general public.... Read more
2. What are the effective communication strategies and challenges for climate scientists engaging the public?
This theme focuses on how climate scientists and communicators perceive and enact public engagement, the challenges they face, and the role of new media platforms such as social media and video-sharing sites in shaping climate change discourse. It emphasizes the interaction patterns, message framing, and emotional dimensions in climate communication, thereby informing best practices and understanding communication barriers.
Key finding: Based on mixed-methods research in Portuguese and Spanish universities, this paper identifies that scientists and communication professionals primarily adopt a dissemination-focused, deficit-model approach to climate change... Read more
Key finding: Network and content analysis of climate scientists’ Twitter interactions reveals that scientists predominantly engage with peers using neutral, certainty-expressing language, while when interacting with journalists,... Read more
Key finding: In an exploratory qualitative analysis of 200 YouTube videos related to climate change and climate engineering, the majority of videos opposed scientific consensus views, including denial and conspiracy theories, with... Read more
Key finding: This recent commentary argues against the dominant paradigm separating scientific objectivity from emotions, asserting that climate change scientists experience and cycle through worry, despair, hope, and optimism.... Read more
3. How can education and citizen science enhance climate change understanding, interdisciplinary learning, and inclusive engagement?
This theme addresses educational strategies and participatory scientific approaches aimed at improving climate change literacy among diverse audiences, including students and young people. It surveys methods such as interdisciplinary STEM curricula, refutation texts to correct misconceptions, and citizen science engagement to empower marginalized constituencies and foster inclusivity, recognizing their contributions to scientific knowledge and policy.
Key finding: This study advocates using climate change as a vehicle to promote interdisciplinarity in STEM education, citing examples of inquiry- and problem-based learning modules focused on climate issues designed for early... Read more
Key finding: Experimental validation of three refutation texts addressing common climate change misconceptions showed these texts effectively increased knowledge and conceptual change among undergraduates, with sustained improvements at... Read more
Key finding: This commentary argues for the inclusion of young people in climate-related citizen science to augment IPCC and UN climate data and policy processes. It highlights that youth engagement in citizen science can empower... Read more