Environment, Science & Risk Communication Working Group

The objective of this Working Group is to provide a forum at IAMCR conferences and beyond for scholars researching in the field of environmental, science and risk communication to present and discuss their research. A second objective is to provide a focal point - through the visibility afforded via IAMCR for contact and networking among scholars interested in this sub-field of media and communication research.

Co-chair: Kerrie Foxwell-Norton (Griffith University, Australia) [contact]
Co-chairMaitreyee Mishra (Manipal Institute of Communication, MAHE, India & Universität Heidelberg, Germany) [contact]
Vice-chair: Joana Díaz-Pont (Autonomous university of Barcelona, Political Science and Public Law, Spain) [contact]
Vice-chair: Pieter Maeseele (University of Antwerp, Belgium) [contact]

As environmental challenges, notably climate change and its impacts, rise exponentially in all parts of the world, communication becomes ever more critical to developing our responses to realised and impending crises. From local communities to the global network of communication and media that crisscross the globe, communication about our local places and environments is pervasive. The Environment, Science and Risk Communication working group of the IAMCR held its first session in 1988 and has since focused its attention on interdisciplinary and multi-methodological approaches to environmental and science communication, such as political ecology; social and deep ecology; feminist theory; public sphere; political theory; political economy; cultural studies; geography, science, and technology studies; history; literary studies; film studies and many others.

Deeply international in nature, we explore the role of media and other stakeholders in reporting and communicating about a plethora of environmental issues that include climate change, energy-related conflicts, conservation, and others. Examples of topic areas include: environmental and science communication, activism and journalism; social and political constructions of Nature; corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting; spin and news management of environmental conflict and scientific controversies; public understanding, participation and engagement with science and the environment; risk and disaster communication; Indigenous perspectives on Nature and the non-human.

As a WG, we are particularly committed to the inclusion of diverse ontologies and epistemologies that capture the global environmental experiences and the human/nature relations therein. Our working group pursues issues of social and environmental justice - in our own conduct and in supporting a global community of researchers who in various ways, seek the same.

See the list of all current members of the Environment, Science & Risk Communication Working Group. For more information about a given member, go to https://iamcr.org/members-contact (accessible only to IAMCR members).


ESR Newsletter April 2021

The Environment, Science & Risk Communication Working Group regularly issues newsletters with information of interest to its members. The April newsletter includes information about IAMCR 2021 reviewing process, a CfP and a call for expressions of interest of an ESR webinar.

IAMCR 2021 call for proposals - Deadline 9 February

IAMCR's Environment, Science & Risk Communication Working Group invites the submission of proposals for single papers and multi-paper sessions (the online conference equivalent of a panel in a face to face conference) for IAMCR 2021, which will be held online from 11 to 15 July, with a regional hub in Nairobi, Kenya. The deadline for submission is 9 February 2021, at 23.59 UTC.

CfP - Environmental Communication

Proposals for papers to be published in a joint initiative of the Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group of IAMCR and the Science and Environment Communication Section of ECREA will be received until 15 February 2018. The book will be published in the IAMCR/Palgrave Series "Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research".

IAMCR 2013 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group - Call for Papers

The Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites submissions of abstracts for papers for the 2013 IAMCR conference to be held from June 25-29, 2013 at Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.

The deadline for submissions is January 28, 2013.

The conference will be held under the general theme, ‘Crises, 'Creative Destruction' and the Global Power and Communication Orders’. The general conference theme is thus highly relevant to the increasingly global communication, power and crisis themes and concerns that are central to the Environment, Science and Risk Communication Group.

IAMCR 2012 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

erythrina_caffraThe Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites submissions of abstracts for papers for the 2012 IAMCR conference to be held from July 15-19, 2012 at the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. The deadline for submissions is February 14, 2012.

The conference will be held under the general theme, 'South-North Conversations'. The theme reflects the asymmetry of global communication flows, but without implying the negatives that usually accompany discussions of the 'digital divide'. The theme also calls for balanced and empowering narratives that do not regard those in ‘the South’ as victims primarily in need of handouts from the more affluent. The general conference theme is thus highly relevant to the increasingly global communication themes and concerns that are central to the Environment, Science and Risk Communication Group.

Istanbul 2011 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

istanbulThe Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2011 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, 13-17 July 2011.

Papers from the full range of environment-science-risk-communication topics and perspectives will be considered, and those relating to the conference theme 'Cities, Creativity, Connectivity' will be particularly welcome.

Braga 2010 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

braga_2010The Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2010 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Braga, Portugal, July 18-22, 2010.

Papers from the full range of environment-science-risk-communication topics and perspectives will be considered, and those relating to the conference theme 'Communication and Citizenship: Rethinking Crisis and Change' will be particularly welcome.

Mexico 2009 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

The Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2009 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, July 21-24, 2009.

Papers from the full range of environment-science-risk-communication topics and perspectives will be considered, and those relating to the conference theme ‘Human Rights and Communication' will be particularly welcome.

Stockholm 2008 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

EXTENDED DEADLINE: 15 FEBRUARY 2008!

The Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2008 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, July 20-25, 2008.

Papers from the full range of environment-science-risk-communication topics and perspectives will be considered, and those relating to the conference theme 'Media and Global Divides' will be particularly welcome.

Paris 2007 - Environment, Science and Risk Communication Working Group Call for Papers

The Environmental Issues, Science and Risk Communication Working Group invites proposals for papers to be presented at the 2007 IAMCR Conference in Paris (23-25 July).

Following the well attended, lively and successful sessions of the
Environmental Issues, Science and Risk Communication Working Group at
the IAMCR Conferences in Budapest (2001), Barcelona (2002), Porto
Alegre (2004) and Cairo (2006), it is a pleasure to be able to announce
that space has been secured for this Group to be active also in this
year's 50th Anniversary Conference in Paris.

Subscribe to Environment, Science & Risk Communication Working Group