Publications

Sep 14, 2026 Practice Insight

Inverting the planetarium: Symbiosis as an immersive performance for communicating microbial biodiversity loss

by Prof. Remco Kort , Gustavo Trujillo Delgado , Maya Fridman , Wim van Egmond , Milo Grootjen

Communicating microbial biodiversity loss is challenging: the subjects are invisible, often linked with disease and disgust, and lack the appeal of macroscopic conservation icons. We describe Symbiosis, an immersive performance integrating live cello, electronic composition, videomicrography, and full-dome planetarium projection with a narrative on the evolutionary connection between humans and gut microbes. We reflect on five iterations between July 2023 and May 2026: a premiere at the First European Planetary Health Congress, three adaptations for documentary, music-festival, and public-festival audiences, and a forty-minute version coupled to the launch of the Feed Your Microbes citizen science campaign, framing dietary fibre and fermented foods as the practical route to restoring gut microbiota. An embedded evaluation of the final staging provides preliminary evidence that the work shifts audience familiarity, attitudes, and action intention. Our central contribution is the inversion of the planetarium itself: turning a dome built to show the cosmos inward onto the microbial world, so that the venue becomes part of the scientific message. We offer this as a transferable strategy for planetary health communication.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Sep 09, 2026 Article

The relationship between news factors in press releases and press release success

by Michelle ten Dam , Nieske Louise Vergunst , Mark Bos

Science journalism has changed significantly in recent years, characterised by an increased reliance on (university) press releases, underscoring the need to understand factors determining press release success. Using news value theory, the relationship between textual and visual news factors in university press releases and press release success, in terms of achieving webpage engagement and media uptake, is investigated. A content analysis of 84 press releases from Utrecht University's Faculty of Science showed that the relationship was highly metric-specific, with different news factors being important for the two success metrics. Novelty, societal relevance, and negativity proved most important for webpage engagement, and fear, mixed valence, and scientific relevance for media uptake. Our findings suggest the need for an adapted news value theory for science press releases and news, both in general and for visuals specifically.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Sep 07, 2026 Article

“You can reach so many young people there, because I think all young people use TikTok”: young people's views on science communication about adverse childhood experiences

by Heta Mulari , Ms Venla Hakala , Prof. Taina Laajasalo , Mrs Laura Mielityinen , Prof. Noora Ellonen

Communicating science to young people in ways that consider their media use, platform affordances and ethics is increasingly recognised as important. We examined Finnish young people's perspectives on science communication, especially regarding adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Based on an analysis of interview and workshop transcripts with young people aged 13–17 years (N = 210), the findings show that young people prefer social media platforms, especially TikTok, for ambient exposure to science communication but content should be linked to longer formats (such as existing research articles). Participants demonstrated an awareness of strategies to tackle mis- and disinformation and clickbait. In the attention economy, researchers communicating about ACE-related research results should pay attention to empathy, hope and making positive changes.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Sep 02, 2026 Practice Insight

Giving space to space: science communication as spatial practice

by Jacob Thorek Jensen , Marianne Achiam

Science communication is not merely hosted in space — it is actively shaped by it. Drawing on observations from a science communication workshop, this practice insight shows how spatial arrangements, from room layout to sensory cues, co-construct participant engagement and meaning-making. By approaching space as relational, polyphonic, and emergent, we demonstrate how space actively guides attention, enables interaction, and shapes who participated in a science communication event, and how. We suggest that recognising science communication as a spatial practice opens new possibilities for more inclusive, effective, and experientially rich science engagement — whether in museums, classrooms, or community events.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 31, 2026 Practice Insight

San ethnoastronomy and cultural memory: reclaiming indigenous cosmologies in the Square Kilometre Array construction area

by Antonie Johannes Binneman

This practice insight examines how science communication engages with San ethnoastronomical knowledge within the context of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in South Africa. Drawing on participatory workshops with descendants of San communities in the Northern Cape, it explores how Indigenous astronomical knowledge persists through fragmentation, reinterpretation, and selective continuity rather than as a fixed historical tradition. The findings demonstrate that meaningful engagement is less about recovering “authentic” knowledge than facilitating dialogue between archival records, living community knowledge, and contemporary scientific practice. The practice insight offers a rare practitioner perspective from within a large-scale scientific infrastructure. It introduces a Dialogical Knowledge Renewal Model that positions science communication as a process of reciprocity, shared interpretation, and the return of knowledge to communities. The model provides a transferable framework for engaging Indigenous Knowledge Systems ethically while supporting cultural continuity, epistemic plurality, and public engagement with science.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 31, 2026 Conference Review

International Communication Association meeting in Cape Town, South Africa: a promising start and a practitioner challenge for science communication

by John C Besley , Jennifer Metcalfe

The new Science Communication Interest Group (SCIG) of the International Communication Association (ICA) met for the first time on June 5–8, 2026, in Cape Town, South Africa. Presenters shared a diversity of research with a significant proportion focused on trust, especially trust in scientists, academics or experts in the face of increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and rising mis- and disinformation. However, despite frequent mentions of practical implications in research abstracts, there appeared to be little emphasis in the presentations on who projects specifically sought to help and what problems researchers were seeking to solve for other researchers or practitioners. Our hope is that future conferences will integrate the sub-field's growing methodological and theoretical sophistication with an equal focus on the needs of practitioners and audiences.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 24, 2026 Article

From Lady Jane Franklin to marvellous Mrs Mac: a brief history of trailblazing women in early Western science communication in Australia

by Isabel Richards

The history of women in Australian science communication has thus far received little attention. While there is a growing body of research on the history of Australian women in western science, scholarship on the early history of colonial science communication in Australia is scarce, and research on women's roles in the field even more so. Despite this research gap, several colonial women played critical roles in educating on and communicating science to Australians from the 1830s through to the 1930s, particularly their fellow women and children. They took on various science communication roles that sometimes differed from men's approaches, such as scientific administration, visual artistry, and domestic education, and have therefore been overlooked. This article makes these science communication activities visible and aims to be a starting a point for filling the gap in the literature on the history of women in Australian science communication. It also aims to broaden the understanding of what counts as science communication.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 20, 2026 Book Review

Review of the European Commission Joint Research Centre report on trustworthy public communication

by Byron Hyde

The Joint Research Centre's recent report offers communicators ten actionable recommendations organised around a “trustworthiness-first” principle: that communicators should build trust by being trustworthy rather than by deploying trust-building as a strategic technique. The report draws on behavioural science, values-based audience segmentation, and original empirical research, and takes a firm stand against manipulation. Its central weakness is that trustworthiness and trust have a weaker empirical relationship than the report acknowledges: being trustworthy does not reliably produce trust, and can sometimes paradoxically decrease trust Hyde2025,Hyde2026c.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 17, 2026 Article

Making science part of `The Conversation' — benefits and barriers experienced by researchers as authors writing for The Conversation Africa

by Dr Lili Rademan , Marina Joubert , Lars Guenther

As an online platform for scientists to share their expertise with diverse audiences within a journalistic context, The Conversation provides a novel link between science and society. This study examines the benefits and barriers experienced by researchers who write for the African edition of this platform. We analysed 3560 author profiles, 5392 articles, and conducted 21 interviews with authors. We found that authors were motivated mainly by moral duty but also wanted to enhance the policy impact of their work. Becoming an author was perceived as beneficial for visibility, networking, and career development. Key barriers included time constraints, concerns about oversimplification, and a lack of institutional rewards. Authors valued the editorial process that allowed them to initiate an article and control the final version before publication. The study contributes to understanding how researchers experience and engage with novel science communication platforms.

Volume 25Issue 62026

Aug 12, 2026 Article

How can citizen science reduce psychological distance to science? Insights from three projects in contested environmental contexts

by Kirsten Vegt , Dr Janneke Elberse , Dr Bastiaan Rutjens , Prof. Laurens Hessels

Citizen science (CS) is a participatory mode of knowledge production, enabling non-scientific actors to contribute to and sometimes contest scientific agendas and interpretations, making it a way to bridge science and society. This paper examines how that potential unfolds by analysing the individual perspectives of citizen scientists through the lens of Psychological Distance to Science (PSYDISC). Drawing on three case studies of contested environmental CS, we identify which contextual aspects of CS shape citizen scientists' experiences of social, spatial, temporal, or hypothetical distance to relevant science, and how these experiences may relate to trust. Our findings underscore the role of science communication as both a channel for dissemination, and as a constitutive element of participatory research; crucial for reducing psychological distance and enabling socially robust knowledge production, especially in contested, policy-relevant science settings.

Volume 25Issue 62026

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