Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)
Nov 10, 2025

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

ONLY INVITED AUTHORS ARE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT

(submission deadline April 30th, 2025)

This special issue dedicated to exploring the intricate relationship between emotions and science communication.

Guest editors:

Luisa Massarani, Neta Shaby, Daniel Silva Luna

Editorials

Nov 10, 2025 Editorial
Editorial for the special issue on emotions in science communication

by Luisa Massarani, Neta Shaby and Daniel Silva Luna

While substantial research has focused on emotions within classroom activities such as class attendance, studying, and test-taking, less attention has been paid to emotional experience in informal science settings such as media, museums, and public science events. Despite their significant role, emotions are under-theorised and under-researched in science communication. However, there is a growing interest among researchers and practitioners in understanding their role in the public communication of science and leveraging these insights for more effective science communication. This context lead us to propose and organise this Special Issue on Emotions in Science Communication, comprising six manuscripts as detailed in this editorial.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Articles

Nov 10, 2025 Article
Walking the Faultline of Fear: How affect-inducing risk communication can help promote disaster preparedness.

by Caroline Rowe, Caroline Orchiston and Fabien Medvecky

This paper uses New Zealand’s AF8 [Alpine Fault Magnitude 8] program, designed to build resilience and preparedness for earthquakes, as a real-world example to explore how emotional appeals can affect preparedness intentions within the emergency management sector. Drawing on template analysis of 14 artifacts from AF8’s communication material and 34 semi-structured interviews with emergency management stakeholders (the AF8 material’s primary audience), the study examines how emotional appeals are strategically employed and perceived in practice.  Findings contextualize theoretical understandings of how risk communication can balance fear and anxiety with positive emotions like fascination and confidence using tools such as vivid imagery, narrative framing, and certainty. The research offers empirical insights into how emotional appeals are used and perceived in risk communication, providing a foundation for developing future hazard communication strategies grounded in real-world application.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Nov 10, 2025 Article
Feeling uncertainty: Power, knowledge, and emotions in times of crisis

by Evangelia Chordaki and Maria Zarifi

 
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the production and circulation of scientific knowledge, both within the scientific community and in its broader interactions with society. This paper examines the role of emotions in the context of the health crisis, uncertainty, and urgent decision-making. Specifically, it explores how key figures—frontline healthcare workers, institutional experts, and lab scientists—conveyed emotions while simultaneously engaging in knowledge production and circulation. By drawing on Sara Ahmed’s framework on the "stickiness" of emotions and applying an intersectional analysis, the study investigates how emotions became attached to specific bodies of knowledge and practices. We argue that the communication of emotions during times of crisis was not only articulated through direct expression but also through moments of silence, with these emotional dynamics shaping the circulation and organization of knowledge. Additionally, we highlight how (gendered) power hierarchies influenced these emotional exchanges within expert communities during the pandemic.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Nov 10, 2025 Article
Pathos as a persuasive resource for online research funding: Exploring emotion-based rhetorical strategies in science crowdfunding videos

by Ana Cristina Vivas-Peraza

This paper uses the Aristotelian concept of pathos to investigate how scientists can persuade their audiences through emotional appeals in science crowdfunding videos (SCVs). SCVs are short videos created to promote and fund a research project through online crowdfunding platforms, and represent an emerging genre of science communication that connects experts and audiences. By adopting a linguistic and semiotic approach, a sample of 50 SCVs was analysed with qualitative analysis software to identify linguistic and non-linguistic resources that could appeal to viewers' emotions. The findings show a strong emphasis on positive emotional appeals, particularly strategies that foster kindness and friendship between scientists and audiences. In contrast, appeals to fear and pity were minimal, suggesting that SCVs focus mostly on building trust and empowering potential donors rather than evoking urgency or guilt. These results shed light on the role of emotions in science communication, particularly in the context of research funding.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Nov 10, 2025 Article
Empathic, Humorous, and … Trustworthy? A Mixed-methods Study on Real-time Evaluations of Voice-based AI Communicating Science-related Information

by Evelyn Jonas and Monika Taddicken

Two studies, using real-time response measurement and interviews, explore how German recipients assess the trustworthiness of a voice-based communicative AI conveying science-related information with empathic and humorous expressions. In both a laboratory and an online study, humor was associated with short-term declines in trustworthiness, reflecting cultural expectations and appreciation of objectivity and neutrality. In contrast, empathic expressions are rated more trustworthy, but evoke less conspicuous effects. Cluster analysis identified four distinct patterns of evaluation, with two groups largely unaffected by affective cues and two skeptical of humor, underscoring the importance of personalization and adaptation in designing trustworthy communicative AI for science communication.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Nov 10, 2025 Article
Wonder and Disappointment observing the sky: How emotions shape astronomy communication interactions

by Joana B. V. Marques and Andrew P. Carlin

Emotions are key features of observations of the sky, yet studies exploring the characteristics of emotions in these activities remain scarce. In this article we analyse the emotions present in a video corpus of 13 hours of sky observations. These observations were recorded and analysed using a naturalistic approach that provides evidence about their structure and the role of emotions as they happen, in context. Although common throughout our data, emotions are complex and varied. We characterize their form, placement, evocation and role in the interaction. Moreover, findings highlight the collaborative nature and centrality of the sharing of emotions in the interaction and the presence of expressions of intimacy, authenticity, contemplation, reflection, and curiosity in these emotional moments. The identification of diverse emotional interactions and the discussion of their importance to astronomy communication contributes to the literature on emotions, the training of guides, and the evaluation of these activities.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

Practice Insights

Nov 10, 2025 Practice Insight
Theatre and bipolar disorder: dealing with emotions

by Mário Montenegro, Silvia Carballo and Francisca Moreira

Theatre is a privileged medium for expressing and conveying emotions. Emotions play a significant role in audience engagement when communicating to create awareness and knowledge about a given subject. The Marionet Theatre Company has created a series of theatre performances related to health sciences over the past few years, to expand knowledge and reduce the stigma frequently associated with certain diseases. In this report on practice, we present the process of developing the theatre performance Oxymoron, between solstices and equinoxes, exploring bipolar disorder and its consequences. The artistic team devised the performance after a series of interviews with both patients and mental health professionals. In this article, we discuss the process of its creation, identify dramaturgical connections between the performance and the interviews, and examine the emotional engagement it provoked in the audience. We conclude by assessing the effectiveness of theatre in communicating health-related subjects, most particularly by involving the audience emotionally.

Volume 24 • Issue 06 • 2025 • Emotions and Science Communication (Emotions and Science Communication)

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