The needs for science communication to diverse stakeholders are changing rapidly in an era of dramatic global change, shifting human demographic trends, and the widespread digital nature of communication and networking. This award supports a new and nimble Communications Office that will bring, to the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, innovative capabilities to interact, share information, synthesize data, and collaborate in all areas of research, communication, and education both within and outside of the network. New programs and activities will encourage and promote diversity in education and training to enhance communication and outreach to the public; to local, regional, and federal agencies; and to non-governmental and non-profit agencies. The support services provided to the scientific community and to society will take full advantage of recent technological innovations that are informed by emerging socio-cultural insights to develop new strategies for effective communication and for enabling more creative collaborative research.
Project goals for communication and outreach are to cultivate relationships and synthetic team science within the LTER community, broaden engagements between the LTER community and other researchers and stakeholders outside the network, and disseminate LTER scientific discoveries and policy- and management-relevant knowledge to targeted audiences. The Communications Office will develop an effective and engaging web presence featuring online research fora, multi-media research highlights, and access to tools and services that build awareness and participation in the LTER Network. Partnerships with the Strategic Environmental Communications and Media Program at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and with a new, state-of-the-art facility in environmental communications and media (Outreach, Communication, and Training for Ocean Science) will leverage sophisticated science communication and education resources. The Office will identify and deploy resources to maximize opportunities for synthesis across the LTER network. Synthesis working groups and distributed graduate seminars will be supported, with topics identified by the LTER and other research communities. Additional networking will be supported through the triennial All Scientists’ Meeting, annual meetings held in conjunction with other professional meetings, and promotion and enabling of virtual LTER network interactions and team science. The Communications Office will support LTER education and training using a combination of in-person and virtual training in science communication and environmental media, training in facilitating collaboration skills, and graduate/early-career training in open synthesis science. Through support and coordination of the LTER Education Committee, the Communications Office will serve as an information hub on topics such as best practices, evaluation metrics and tools for student tracking. It will help identify and cultivate new partners for LTER education and training efforts, and will encourage and promote diversity through collaboration with multiple societies and organizations that promote participation by under-served groups. All activities will be evaluated using contemporary formative and summative assessments, facilitating an adaptive approach to advancing communication, synthesis, and education across the LTER network.
