Once upon a time there was a graduate student who thought she’d become an ecological modeler. She studied how wetland flora and fauna changed in response to natural and managed water level fluctuations and worked with scientists and engineers to build models used in planning dam operations. But as she attended meetings alongside members of the public, representatives from various industries that relied on the rivers and lakes, and scientists and engineers who studied the ecosystem, she became more interested in the ways that these groups worked together (or didn’t). She shifted her focus from building models to studying the overarching decision-making processes that the models supported, and the ways in which various stakeholders participated in these processes. From there, a science policy fellowship focused on capabilities and gaps for ocean models led to a decade of work in climate change – first coordinating ecology research activities across federal agencies, then to focusing on how to engage the public in research planning, and ultimately to leading public participation and communication for the Third National Climate Assessment. Then she leaped again – to a position where she focuses on building scientists’ and institutions’ capacities in science communication and public engagement.
Results/Conclusions
Successful decision-making about environmental management – and many other issues at the nexus of science and society – requires dialogue among scientists, policy-makers, business and industry representatives, landowners, recreational users, and others. For scientists who participate in such discussions, especially when their research supports decision-making, employing best practices for science communication and public engagement is essential. However, scientists may not have received training in these fields as a part of their education, they may not track recent research, or they may not receive support from their institutions to do science communication and public engagement. This is where organizations such as scientific societies and boundary organizations come in. Public engagement practitioners at such organizations collaborate with social science researchers to study best practices, develop training programs that provide in-person and online support to scientists who would like to improve their skills and practice, partner with scientists to create science communication and public engagement activities that further dialogue about issues like climate change and gene editing, and design and manage capacity-building initiatives that seek to embed public engagement within the institutions where scientists work. For an ecologist with a passion for public engagement, this might just be a perfect niche.