On November 13, 2025, educators and communicators from across Brazil will gather for the Climate Environmental Education and Communication Webinar, a hybrid event connecting participants in Belém and São Paulo and streamed live on Labidecom’s YouTube channel. The event is organized by the University of São Paulo via Labidecom, in partnership with the Revista Letramento Socioambiental and the collective Educom & Clima.

A landmark publication for climate education

The webinar marks the official launch of the special issue “Educação Ambiental Climática: Educomunicação, Justiça Socioambiental e Bem-viver” in Revista Letramento Socioambiental.

This ambitious project brings together:

• 88 original articles across four thematic volumes,

• contributions from researchers throughout Brazil, and

• a focus on justice, media, eco-affective knowledge, and transformative education.

The publication highlights how climate education and communication intersect with issues of social and environmental justice, racial equity, and community well-being—topics increasingly vital to environmental communication practice worldwide.

A regional voice in a global conversation

The simultaneous gatherings in Belém—at the Casa da Educação e Inovação Ambiental e Climática (SEDUC-PA)—and São Paulo—at the Auditório Lupe Cotrim (ECA-USP)—demonstrate Brazil’s leadership in building dialogue between local knowledge and national academic networks. By foregrounding regional perspectives and linguistic diversity, the event offers a reminder that environmental communication is both global in scope and deeply grounded in place.

Although the webinar will be conducted in Portuguese, non-Portuguese speakers can still participate using live AI translation tools. Questions in English will be welcomed in the chat, and organizers will translate both questions and responses during the Q&A session.

Continuing the connection

IECA is proud to support and help promote this initiative as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen regional collaboration and visibility within the field of environmental communication.

A translated summary of the event will be made available to IECA members after the session.

For more information and access to the complete program, visit letramentosocioambiental.com.br.

The Handbook of Ecocultural Methodology and Transformation

– a follow-up to The Handbook of Ecocultural Identity (2020)

Call for Chapters: Submissions due to editors for consideration by 1 December 2025

Deadline for full draft chapters: April 2026

Editors:

Tema Milstein, University of New South Wales

José Castro-Sotomayor, California State University Channel Islands

Mariko Thomas, Skagit Valley College

Lyb Maree, University of New South Wales

Recent major global environmental reports emphasise that humanity’s dominant anthropocentric ways of orienting to the Earth have brought us to today’s global environmental, extinction, and climatic crises (see, e.g. UNEP, 2021). As the species responsible, we must develop the insight and tools to change the life-extinguishing paradigms driving these crises. Systems change theorists (e.g., Meadows, 2015) argue the most powerful leverage point for bringing about massive transformation is in making visible, deconstructing, and reworking these dominant orienting paradigms through which we encounter and shape the world. This book aims to build shared methodological foundations to buoy research across disciplines that challenges dominant anthropocentric paradigms and amplifies enduring and rising paradigms to undergird pluriversal futures (Escobar, 2020) defined by mutual survival and flourishing.

To do this work, scholars across disciplines have crafted an ecocultural theoretical lens, tracing ways in which humans, no matter their cultural identities, contexts, or cosmologies, are always ecologically enmeshed and consequential, whether harmfully or harmoniously (Milstein and Castro-Sotomayor, 2020). Ecocultural inquiry reweaves the two inextricable realms of ecology and culture, which research in Western/ized and/or industrial/ized settings has dominantly viewed and examined as separate strands. This ecocultural reintegration in research acknowledges we “are made of, part of, emerging from, and constantly contributing to both ecology and culture” (ibid, p. xix), widening the scope and aims of inquiry to understand the paradigms we live by as informed by interactions and meaning-making ranging from the complex to the mundane.

An established ecocultural research methodology, however, has been missing, slowing the emergence of ecocultural knowledge at a time it is urgently needed. Outside of important integral Indigenous research approaches (e.g., Cajete, 2004; Country, 2015; Graham, 2020; Kimmerer, 2013; Shay, 2021; Smith, 2021; Whyte & Cuomo, 2016; Wright et al., 2012), transdisciplinary ecocultural research approaches looking at diverse cultural and environmental contexts have required reinventing the analytical wheel with each study. The aim of this book is to collaboratively grow an expansive, inclusive, and supportive ecocultural methodology that will nourish paradigm-shifting research into the future. In doing so, we also seek to build upon preliminary methodological efforts in ecocultural research, including ad hoc mashups of useful existing interdisciplinary discourse and constructivist methodologies, such as Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2013), Cultural Discourse Analysis (Carbaugh, 2007), constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014), Positive Discourse Analysis (Stibbe, 2020), and mindful blendings of ecological, cultural, critical, and creative lenses.

The Handbook of Ecocultural Identity (Milstein and Castro-Sotomayor, 2020; open access 2025) prepared the ground for this work, gathering 40 international authors from across disciplines to apply an identity-focused ecocultural framework to understand and respond to diverse projects, articulating ways individual and collective identities and their emotional, embodied, ethical, and political sensibilities are culturally and ecologically implicated and impactful. As a powerful conceptual tool, ecocultural identity provides researchers a theoretical hub from which to operate and has set off a wave of theory- and praxis-focused research (see Milstein, Castro-Sotomayor, & Carr, 2026).

This follow-up volume builds on the groundwork and theoretical implications of ecocultural identity to support and grow research inquiry and insight not only into identity but into myriad scales and areas of ecocultural experience in which humans interrelatedly perceive, communicate, and act with/in/toward the ‘more-than-human world’ (Abram, 1996). Addressing today’s wicked, interlinked planetary problems calls for a broad methodology that cuts across disciplines, cultural contexts, and praxis to illuminate ways cultural orientations and ecological relations interlink, shaping everything from everyday experience to political change to Earthly renewal.

Submission Details

This call invites researchers from across disciplines to collectively articulate an ecocultural methodology. We are looking for chapter submissions that introduce ecocultural methodology tenets, articulations, and elaborations, case studies, practical applications, creative iterations, and reflexive accounts. The resulting volume will comprise a selection of chapters that collectively construct an ecocultural methodology for researching and reimagining ecocultural orientations, relationalities, and implications. We are especially interested in submissions that investigate fertile intersections between an ecocultural research methodology and restorative relations and that explicate ways to apply such a methodology to interactions, spaces, and scales ranging from the interpersonal to the internatural (Plec, 2013). The volume has garnered initial major academic press interest and will likely take the form of a handbook.

Please note, this book has a methodological and applied research focus. Chapters will need to provide a foundation for weaving relational webs and deepening observations between ecocultural scholarship and public praxis to support and sustain efforts toward the massive restorative change needed in the second half of this ‘decisive decade’ (Figueres & Rivett-Carnac, 2020). Successful submissions will exhibit accessible, cross-disciplinary perspectives to explicate and demonstrate ways an emergent ecocultural methodology can be clearly articulated and how such a methodology can be used not only to avoid or reverse dominant anthropocentric ways of doing research but to expand and enhance ecocentric research perspectives, practices, findings, and outcomes. In illustrating these kinds of pragmatic functions, contributors will both outline an emergent supportive ecocultural methodological structure for doing research and demonstrate possibilities that arise from using an ecocultural methodology. Case study submissions, for instance, should not only exhibit applications of ecocultural methodological lenses, foci, data collection and analysis processes, and outcomes, but aim to expand our understanding through the application of an ecocultural methodology of the many ways humans ecoculturally are, how we endure and transform, and how we may engender planetary renewal instead of crises.

Questions submissions could address include (but are not limited to):

●      What kinds of ontological, epistemological, and/or ethical considerations does an ecocultural methodology require and how do these shape core tenets of such a methodology?

●      How do various modes of thought and practice inform and/or emerge from an ecocultural methodology?

●      What kinds of ecocultural methodological reflexivities, frameworks, and tools should inform the practical steps of research, including subject of focus, data collection, analysis, writing, publication, and dissemination?

●      How does the more-than-human world have agency in and inform an ecocultural methodology?

●      How can embracing difference and non-normative ways of being and doing (in terms of ecocultural identity, interspecies relations, language, culture, gender, indigeneity, religion, spirituality, race, disability, sexuality, etc.) strengthen impact of an ecocultural methodology?

●      How can an ecocultural methodological approach contribute to restorative and response-able collaborations, alliances, and coalitions in praxis?

●      How do ecocultural identities (of the researcher, study participants, communities, institutions) become apparent, amplify, or transform when using an ecocultural methodological lens?

●      How could and should an ecocultural methodology transform scholarship, pedagogy, advocacy, and practice?

●      What roles do Earthly emotions – including active hope or despair – play in an ecocultural methodology and transformation?

●      What roles do justice, voice, and reparation have in an ecocultural methodology?

●      How can interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary/transdisciplinary research approaches and/or collaborations nurture a diverse, thriving, and evolving ecocultural methodology?

●      How can various technologies, the arts, and other modes of creative performance, communication, and embodied and sensorial approaches inform an ecocultural methodology?

The volume seeks to have an international and transdisciplinary scope to represent the range of articulations, approaches, and perspectives within an emerging ecocultural methodology. Scholars, educators, and graduate students from across disciplines, as well as ecocultural practitioners, advocates, and artists are invited to submit full papers or abstracts. For consideration, submit: (1) a 200-word author bio (with link, if available, to your official online profile), (2) a 200-word summary of the ecocultural methodology approach, function, use, and take-away tool/s of your submission, AND (3) an extended abstract (400-500 words) OR a complete paper (3,000-7,000 words including references) (in either form, use APA 7th edition for citations/references). In addition to typical research or practice submissions, creative approaches are welcome. Artists may submit 3-5 images with their abstract or paper, clearly explaining how the images relate to their written submission.

For consideration, make your submission by 1 December 2025 using this form: https://forms.gle/SjwyGJMc3eJ69KSi7.

If you have any questions or issues with the form, please email Lyb Maree (l.maree@unsw.edu.au).

References

Abram, D. (1996). The spell of the sensuous: Perception and language in a more-than-human world. Vintage Books.

Cajete, G. (2004). Philosophy of native science. In A. Waters (Ed). American Indian thought: Philosophical essays (pp. 45-57). Blackwell.

Carbaugh, D. (2007). Cultural Discourse Analysis: Communication practices and intercultural encounters. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 36(3), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475750701737090

Castro-Sotomayor, J., & Parks, M. (2025). Ethnographic iterations and seeds of possibilities in environmental communication research. In A. Carvalho & T. R. Peterson (Eds). Handbook of Environmental Communication (1st ed., pp. 109–128). De Gruyter Mouton.

Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing Grounded Theory (2nd ed). SAGE.

Country, B., Wright, S., Suchet-Pearson, S., Lloyd, K., Burarrwanga, L., Ganambarr, R., Ganambarr-Stubbs, M., Ganambarr, B., & Maymuru, D. (2015). Working with and learning from Country: Decentring human author-ity. Cultural Geographies, 22(2), 269–283.

Escobar, A. (2020). Pluriversal politics: The real and the possible (English edition). Duke University Press.

Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical Discourse Analysis: The critical study of language (2nd ed). Taylor and Francis.

Figueres, C. & Rivett-Carnac, T. (2020). The future we choose: Surviving the climate crisis. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Graham, M. (2020). Understanding Human Agency in Terms of Place: A Proposed Aboriginal Research Methodology. Philosophy Activism Nature, 6, 71–78. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.590560058861546

Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Kinefuchi, E. (2023). Recovering the dots of social injustice and ecological violence: A case for Critical Intercultural Communication. In T. K. Nakayama & R. T. Halualani (Eds). Handbook of Critical Intercultural Communication (1st ed., pp. 483–491). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119745426.ch36

Meadows, D. H. (2015). Global environmental politics: From person to planet. Routledge.

Milstein, T., & Castro-Sotomayor, J. (2020). Handbook of Ecocultural Identity. Routledge.

Milstein, T., Castro-Sotomayor, J., & Carr, J. (forthcoming, 2026). Ecocultural identity and Ecolinguistics. In R. Poole, D. F. Virdis, J. Hampton & A. Ghorbanpour (Eds). Handbook of Ecolinguistics. Routledge.

Plec, E. (2013). Perspectives on human-animal communication: Internatural communication. Routledge.

Shay, M. (2021). Extending the yarning yarn: Collaborative Yarning Methodology for ethical Indigenist education research. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 50(1), 62–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2018.25

Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Stibbe, A. (2020). Ecolinguistics: Language, ecology and the stories we live by. Routledge.

United Nations Environment Programme “UNEP” (2021). Making peace with nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity, and pollution emergencies. https://www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature

Whyte, K. P., Cuomo, C. J., Gardiner, S. M., & Thompson, A. (2016). Ethics of caring in Environmental Ethics. In S. M. Gardiner & A. Thompson (Eds). Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (pp. 234-247). Oxford University Press.

Wright, S., Lloyd, K., Suchet-Pearson, S., Burarrwanga, L., Tofa, M., & Bawaka Country. (2012). Telling stories in, through and with Country: Engaging with Indigenous and more-than-human methodologies at Bawaka, NE Australia. Journal of Cultural Geography, 29(1), 39–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2012.646890

Ecocritical Filmmaking foregrounds intersections of creative work, scholarship, and pedagogy to explore the value of environmental documentary as both a sense-making and a future-making endeavor. The collection explores ways that environmental documentary production can complement other forms of ecocriticism to foster political agency, social and environmental justice, interspecies solidarities, and innovative models of historical thought. Authors examine connections between ecocritical filmmaking and three primary concerns: 1) the multidisciplinary perspectives necessary for advancing climate justice; 2) the expansion of multimodal research methods and outputs by scholar-practitioners in many disciplines; and 3) the political and logistical challenges of environmental knowledge-making within and beyond the university. Together, contributions to Ecocritical Filmmaking will explore a range of practices for nurturing ecological thinking through environmental documentary theory and practice.

Scope and Themes

This collection seeks contributions that interweave theoretical, political, pragmatic, and creative concerns arising from experiences of making, teaching, presenting, and writing about environmental documentary film. We are particularly interested in work that engages the following questions and themes:

Theory/Practice: How does environmental documentary filmmaking disrupt traditional boundaries between scholarship, pedagogy, and creative practice? How do disciplines such as Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, Anthropology, and Geography use filmmaking assignments, film screenings, and/or multimodal research?

Documentary Practice as Ecocriticism: What roles do documentary practices such as site visits, interview methods, editing practices, and community-building play in advancing climate justice, fostering interspecies solidarities, and supporting more-than-human perspectives? How do these practices present alternatives to the evolving landscape of algorithmic imaging technologies and the emergence of short-form video platforms such as TikTok?

Documentary Media as Eco-history: How do environmental media histories offer opportunities to reframe the present within broader processes and practices of mediation?

Pedagogy, Care, and Community building: How does environmental documentary filmmaking address challenges of teaching and learning about climate change? How can environmental documentary production promote collaboration through institutional partnerships, filmmaking collectives, community-based initiatives, and public screenings?

Climate Justice: What roles can environmental documentaries play in advancing climate justice? What is the relationship between making and exhibiting environmental documentary films and cultivating political agency?

Submission Guidelines

We invite contributions from scholar-practitioners, practicing filmmakers, and educators both within and beyond the academy that reflect on the affordances of making, teaching, and theorizing environmental documentaries. We are particularly interested in submissions from individuals outside traditional film and media departments, including Environmental Studies, Indigenous Studies, Anthropology, Geography, and related fields that incorporate media and/or multimodal research methods. Non-academic practitioners, programmers, and educators are encouraged to apply as well. Full chapters will range between 5,000 - 8,000 words. 

Abstracts of 300-500 words and short 100-word biography due July 18, 2025. Notifications will be made by August 1.

Please send abstracts to dillera@uwosh.edu, bam34@pdx.edu, and skhan2@utep.edu; feel free to send any queries to dillera@uwosh.edu.

Collection Editors

Adam Diller, Ph.D. (he, him)

Assistant Professor, Department of Radio, Television, and Film

University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Sabiha A. Khan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Communication

University of Texas at El Paso

Ben Mendelsohn, Ph.D. (he, him, they)

Assistant Professor of Film and Digital Culture, School of Film

Portland State University

As environmental crises escalate, collaboration among researchers, advocates, and policymakers has never been more critical. Yet, during the IECA Virtual Expo, held on May 2–3, 2024, three PhD researchers—Sylvia Hayes, Ella Muncie, and Victoria Y. Miara—posed challenging questions regarding the very nature of these partnerships. Their session, titled "Negotiating Uncomfortable Feelings of Collaboration: Reflections from Early Career Researchers," explored the emotional, ethical, and professional dilemmas faced by those navigating the complex realm of interdisciplinary work. Born out of networking at the 2023 COCE pre-conference, the discussion highlights the importance of these connections within the IECA community.

Sylvia Hayes, a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Climate Communication and Data Science, shared her experience of transitioning from deeply embedded collaborative roles—complete with branded team merchandise—back to the detached world of academia. Ella Muncie, a PhD student at the University of Leicester, reflected on the tension between aligning academic objectives and the urgent demands of advocacy campaigns. Meanwhile, Victoria Y. Miara, from Israel’s Institute of Technology, examined how funding structures complicate the delicate balance between co-creation and service provision.  

The takeaway?  
Collaboration in environmental research is far from straightforward. It requires researchers to continually navigate competing roles, ethical dilemmas, and differing priorities. This discussion reveals that successful collaboration depends on self-awareness, adaptability, and clear communication to bridge the gaps between academia, advocacy, and practice. For environmental communicators, these insights serve as a reminder of the delicate balance essential for creating equitable and impactful partnerships.  
This video is part of our weekly series revisiting the invaluable discussions from the IECA Virtual Expo.  

Watch the full video here.

I am glad to announce the publication of a new book:

Department: Col of Humanities and Soc Science

Classification: 9-month Instructional Faculty

Job Category: Instructional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: N/A - I/R Faculty

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

Mason’s Communication Department has a diverse and collegial faculty committed to excellence, innovation, community and public service, inclusion, and social equity. All department faculty participate in the life of our campus community, including career fairs, faculty functions, recruiting sessions and other events. Located just 15 miles from Washington, D.C., we offer a broad undergraduate program; five minor programs; a vibrant MA program including strategic, health, and science communication specialties; and a highly ranked PhD program emphasizing health, risk, strategic, and science communication, and media and culture. The department also offers a graduate certificate in science communication. We serve a diverse population of undergraduate and graduate students who bring a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds to our classrooms. Additionally, the department supports several co-curricular activities, including debate, forensics, Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ), and a comprehensive student media program.

The research life of the department includes both undergraduate and graduate research, and is reflected in the activities and outreach of its faculty, including those of the Center for Climate Change Communication, the Communication, Health, and Relational Media (CHARM) research lab, the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the Center for Health and Risk Communication, the Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP) research lab, and the Pop Culture Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access Studies (IDEAs) Lab. For more information on the Department of Communication at George Mason University, visit communication.gmu.edu.

About the Center:

The mission of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication (Mason 4C) is to develop and apply social science insights to help society make informed decisions that will stabilize the earth’s life-sustaining climate and prevent further harm from climate change. An academic “think-and-do tank,” Mason 4C conducts cutting-edge climate communication research and develops public engagement programs that support communities of practice of trusted communicators in communities across America. For more information about the center, see the Mason 4C website (https://www.climatechangecommunication.org) and this recent overview: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2024.2304571.

About the Position:

The Department of Communication at George Mason University seeks to fill the position of Director of the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. This is a full-time 9-month tenured faculty appointment at the Full Professor level in the Department of Communication. The additional assignment of 4C Director is a 12-month position that includes summer responsibilities. Our university has a strong institutional commitment to achieving excellence and diversity among its faculty and staff and strongly encourages candidates who will enrich Mason’s academic and culturally inclusive environment to apply.

Working in close collaboration with a range of internal stakeholders (including the leadership of the Department of Communication and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, other Mason climate-related centers [e.g., Virginia Climate Center] and institutes [e.g., Institute for Sustainable Earth], and Mason 4C faculty, program directors, staff, and students) and external stakeholders (including funders, partner organizations, government agencies, civil society organizations, and policymakers), the Director leads the Center’s strategic research and programming initiatives and ensures the necessary resources are in place to advance the Center’s mission to the fullest extent possible.

The Director advances the Center’s mission and the Department of Communication’s educational responsibilities by:
●Establishing the Center’s research and communication programming priorities;
●Being ultimately responsible for all Center activities and operations;
●Leading the collaboration between the Center and internal and external stakeholders, including the Center’s Advisory Council;
●Leading Center development and fundraising activities and ensuring that Center fiscal resources are utilized strategically and in compliance with university and sponsor regulations;
●Supervising the Center’s faculty, Associate Director, and program leads;
●Overseeing all core functions of the Center including marketing and communication activities, program management and reporting to program sponsors, administrative infrastructure including IT and financial management support systems, and financial operations and human resource requirements; and
●Building and sustaining community and engagement among Center faculty, staff, students, and collaborators.

Responsibilities:

Center Leadership and Management 

Research 

Teaching and Mentoring

Service

Required Qualifications:

Preferred Qualifications:

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Full Professor and Director, Center for Climate Change Communication at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Letter of Intent which includes a vision statement for 4C and a complete Curriculum Vitae for review.

Posting Open Date: October 24, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  January 5, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes

Mason is currently the largest and most diverse university in Virginia with students and faculty from all 50 states and over 135 countries studying in over 200 degree programs at campuses in Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William, as well as at learning locations across the commonwealth. Rooted in Mason’s diversity is a campus culture that is both rewarding and exciting, work that is meaningful, and opportunities to both collaborate and create.

If you are interested in joining the Mason family take a look at our current opportunities and catch some Mason spirit at jobs.gmu.edu/!

George Mason University, Where Innovation is Tradition.

George Mason University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, committed to promoting inclusion and equity in its community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any characteristic protected by law.

Mason’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available at http://police.gmu.edu/annual-security-report/

The Candidates and the Voting Process

Starting today, members can begin reviewing the profiles of these candidates. During this October 16-31 interaction period, members will also have the chance to participate in virtual “Meet the Candidate” forums. These sessions will provide a unique opportunity to hear directly from the candidates about their vision for IECA and the future of environmental communication. Dates will be shared soon.

IECA encourages all members to engage in this important part of the election process.

Key Dates to Remember

The election ballot will open on November 1, with members receiving a direct link to the anonymous voting poll via email. The ballot will remain open until November 15, allowing ample time for members to make informed decisions. Results will be announced on December 1, pending the confirmation of IECA’s bylaws regarding result announcements.

Engaging with the Process

This year’s election promises to be a critical moment for IECA as it embarks on new growth and directions. Members are urged to take part in this process by connecting with the candidates and ultimately casting their vote.

Stay tuned for updates on the virtual forums and make sure to review the candidate profiles. The election process is now in motion—be sure to play your part in shaping the future of IECA.

The Rita Allen Foundation works to advance discovery science, collaborative philanthropy, and innovative approaches to strengthening the connections between science and the public. We seed ideas and relationships, incubate prototypes, and seek to catalyze institutional and systemic change.

The Foundation seeks a purpose-driven writer, editor, and narrative strategist to support our dynamic work in civic science, discovery science, and philanthropic practice. This new team member will play an important role in our collaborative work with rising stars, cross-sector networks, and the philanthropic community by applying exceptional writing and editing skills to share emerging insights and expand partnerships.

If you bring a systems lens and highly collaborative approach to narrative development across a range of mediums—from topic summaries and high-level communications to insightful blogs and in-depth reports—we invite you to apply. This new position will be a valued part of a deeply collaborative team, bringing editorial excellence, accuracy, consistent tone, and thoughtful analysis to several parts of the Foundation’s core work. Our programs feature field-leading philanthropic initiatives, including the Rita Allen Foundation Scholars program and the Civic Science Fellows program, a signature effort co-created with a vibrant cross-sector community.

About the Role

We are seeking a storyteller with outstanding editing skills who will generously contribute to team efforts to support innovative leaders and networks along with philanthropic excellence and impact. This role will work closely with our President and team as well as partners pursuing transformative ideas in science, expanding its benefits and horizons.

PARTNERSHIPS AND PROGRAMS COMMUNICATIONS

• Develop and refine narratives, language, and core impact stories of our programs and collaborative partnerships. Review and advise on materials created by other team members and partners, with the goal of aligning shared purpose and communicating results with current and potential partners.
• Edit a wide range of written materials for diverse audiences to support effective communications across our team and partnership networks.
• Plan, research, and write materials, in partnership with the President and other team members, to build shared learning and collaborative impact with current and new partners. Many of these materials will be rooted in science, and they may include blog posts, articles, reports, correspondence, materials for advisory committees, case studies, and other related work.
• Engage with our broad network of external partners, listening carefully to their ideas, tracking developments in their work, and coordinating internally to follow up.
• Participate in meetings and working groups, prepare summaries, ensure follow-up for various stakeholders, and identify insights to inform learning and decision-making for the Foundation and our collaborative partners.
• Support key meetings and other activities, including preparing materials to inform conversations and decision-making, researching and identifying potential speakers, drafting questions to guide their remarks, and creating summaries of discussions and insights to capture progress and inform next steps.

We are looking for:

• An intellectually curious problem solver and storyteller who embraces the complexity of new ideas, fresh voices, compelling examples, and diverse ways of thinking to facilitate connections between different partners and areas of work, inspiring thoughtful action.
• An exquisite writer and editor, who can efficiently develop materials and thought-leader communications that capture the essence of our work, the promise of future partnerships, and clear next steps, varying tone and complexity by intended audience.
• An agile collaborator who excels when working with a diverse mix of people, enjoying an iterative team-based process of content creation and decision-making, and advancing projects with enthusiasm for working in partnership.
• A highly organized and efficient self-starter with exceptional attention to detail, who is committed to excellence, can work independently, and effectively prioritizes and balances multiple priorities against tight deadlines.
• An empathetic colleague and relationship-builder with a high level of emotional intelligence, a high sensitivity to confidential matters, and the ability to maintain consistent professionalism, tact, and diplomacy in written materials and interpersonal interactions.
• Experience working closely with leadership in an editorial, communications, development, analytic, or programmatic role for a minimum of seven years in academic, philanthropic, media, government, community organizing, public-benefit, or nonprofit spaces.
• Able to learn and use tools and processes to advance our relationships and communications.
• Preferably, an advanced degree in a STEMM field, the social sciences, humanities, communication, journalism, administration, or interdisciplinary studies or equivalent lived and professional experience.

To Apply

Please email Ritaallenfoundationapply@ritaallen.org to indicate your interest in the role and submit:

• A résumé
• A cover letter describing your interest in this position
• A short written piece (no more than 3 pages) that showcases how you make a complex topic, preferably in science, accessible to a more general audience
• A brief written description (no more than 1 page) that describes who your audience was, why this piece was important, and how it represents your writing process and style

For full consideration, please apply by the priority application deadline of November 1. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

The salary range for this full-time position is $120,000 to $140,000 annually, depending on experience. We also offer a highly competitive benefits package, including health, dental, and life insurance; a defined-contribution retirement plan; and a generous paid-time-off program.  

Our office is located in downtown Princeton, New Jersey. A hybrid working arrangement is possible for this position; the employee may work remotely and in the office, as needed.

About the Foundation

The Rita Allen Foundation is a venture philanthropy organization that invests in transformative ideas in their earliest stages to leverage their growth and promote breakthrough solutions to significant problems. It enables early-career biomedical scholars to do pioneering research, seeds innovative approaches to fostering informed civic engagement, and develops knowledge and networks to build the effectiveness of the philanthropic sector. We support discoveries in their earliest stages that will ultimately improve human health, democracy, and understanding.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds. The Rita Allen Foundation is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation or expression, gender, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, military status, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic as established under law. All individuals are welcomed and encouraged to apply.

The IDEA Vision Statement identifies our strengths and weaknesses while outlining the challenges and opportunities we face in becoming a more inclusive organization. Despite our diverse board and membership, we recognize the dominance of English and Western perspectives in our communications. We aim to better understand and address barriers to accessibility, ensuring broader participation from all our members, including those from non-academic and underrepresented groups. Our vision is anchored in the IECA's mission to connect research, practice, and art related to environmental communication, striving for a vibrant community that embraces diverse viewpoints and traditions.

As a learning organization, the IECA is committed to continuous improvement. We welcome feedback and contributions from our members to shape our advisory document, which will set tangible goals and actions for the next few years. By embracing inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility, we aim to enrich our understanding and capacity for environmental communication. For more details and to join us in this initiative, please visit our IDEA page. Together, we can build a more inclusive and equitable future for environmental communication.

Overview 

The National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications will encourage high-quality science communication and build a diverse community of science communicators, science journalists, and research scientists that will help society meet the challenges and realize opportunities posed by complex issues such as climate change, future pandemics, human genome editing, and artificial intelligence.

The program will confer 24 awards totaling $640,000. These awards will go to individuals who were working at the frontlines of science communication or journalism who have developed creative, original work that addresses issues and advances in science, engineering, or medicine for the general public, and who are in career stages or settings where the recognition could have a significant impact on their future career.

Schmidt Sciences will help foster the vibrant and expanding community of science communications awardees by partnering with renowned journalistic institutions to provide ongoing training and professional development opportunities.

Submission Categories

Submissions are accepted from individuals who have developed content and were working at the frontlines of science communication, science journalism, or practicing research in 2023 in eight subcategories.

Eligibility Criteria & Submission Guidelines

The application incorporates ways of looking at the individual* holistically through narrative responses and work examples. Both the narrative components of the submission and the work example(s) provided will be included in the evaluation. Reviewers are not only looking at what an applicant has done, but also their commitment to continuing work in the field of science communication, science journalism, or practicing research science.

Entries must be submitted through the online submission form in the category that most closely fits the submitter’s background by 11:59 p.m. ET, March 31, 2024. Works and applications translated into English are welcome. The program accepts one application per individual. There is no submission fee.

For more information visit: https://www.nationalacademies.org/awards/excellence-in-communication/for-applicants

Journalists linked to media outlets in Latin America can apply to this call.

Fundación Gabo and Fundación Avina organize the ColaborAcción Scholarships for Investigative Journalism 2024, which seek to strengthen journalistic research on environment, sustainability and science in Latin America.

This year the program will focus on democratic innovation, climate action and fair and regenerative economy. The program will support six projects: three collaborative projects, which will receive US$3,000 each, and three individual projects, which will receive US$1,000 each, to undertake research. 

Applicants must submit a description of the project and a detailed budget. The journalistic investigation must cover up to two and a half months of work.

Applications are open until Feb. 29.

Full information here.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community is currently inviting proposals for our 2025 issue on Rights, Conflict, and Water. Water is vital for people in myriad ways: drinking, cultural practices, food sources, industrial and agricultural practices, sanitation services, and more. The United Nations (UN) recognizes the human right to water and sanitation, but not everyone has equal access to safe, clean water, both because of ecological variables and because of sociopolitical conditions. Whether unable to find adequate water or unable to access culturally specific waters, these inequities create disputes and upheaval. As freshwater supplies are depleted, contaminated, or made inaccessible, tensions around water grow. Climate change will only intensify these problematic water conditions and result in more challenges and conflicts.

Intersections of Water Rights and Conflicts

Open Rivers seeks contributions that foreground the complexities and intersections of water rights and water conflicts. How is the right to water enacted in different contexts? How do “rights” and practices reciprocally inform each other? How are water rights allocated? How is water mobilized in sociopolitical practices and how is it weaponized? How does water contribute to larger social discord? How can our sociopolitical structures facilitate better relationships with people and place? What do we learn about water rights and conflicts from history? From art? And what are the rights of water itself?

We invite proposals from scholars, activists, artists, professionals, policymakers, community members, scientists, and practitioners who offer insight on rights, conflicts, and water broadly conceived. We encourage prospective authors to share work that furthers our understandings of the intersections of ecological and sociopolitical systems. We aim to publish content that will provoke thoughtful reflection, meaningful action, and ongoing public discussion.

Possible themes for submission may include:

·      Cooperative management of water resources

·      Water-sharing agreements

·      Transboundary water disputes

·      Militarization or weaponization of water

·      Rights of nature claims, practices, and campaigns related to water

·      Water insecurities that erupt as social and political conflict

·      Historical water conflicts

·      Environmental histories of places with water-stress or complex water rights and practices

·      Water access during COVID-19

·      Impacts of water stress on public health and sanitation services

·      UN Sustainable Development Goals and rights to water

·      Ecological and climatological conditions contributing to water stress and sociopolitical tensions

·      Experiences of women, children, LGBTQ, and gender nonconforming people in situations of water conflicts

·      Work at the intersection of water rights, crises, conflicts, and BIPOC communities

·      Analysis of water and ecological conditions as contributors to larger conflicts

Submission Process

To submit a proposal for consideration for this issue of Open Rivers, please prepare a short abstract (250 words or fewer) and complete the form at z.umn.edu/OpenRiversRights. A committee will review the submissions and we will contact you within about a month of the submission deadline with more information. Before submitting, please review our submission guidelines and descriptions of our column types.

Deadlines for Abstract Submissions

·      For authors interested in writing peer reviewed feature articles (3,000-5,000 words): Monday, January 29, 2024 (full articles will be due June 15, 2024)

·      For feature articles (without peer review, 3,000-5,000 words) and columns (1,000-2,000 words): rolling deadline accepting submissions until 6 months before publication in 2025

If you have any questions, please contact us at openrvrs@umn.edu.

About Open Rivers Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place & Community is an open-access digital journal of public scholarship that provides a forum for critical conversations about the interconnections between ecological and social systems. Open Rivers is published by the Institute for Advanced Study and the University Libraries at the University of Minnesota. Learn more.

The focus is on communication that is not one way but involves contestation—or unexpected synergies—among multiple stakeholders about particular environmental problems and about related social and economic issues in neighbourhoods, regions, organisations, markets, and societies.  For example, provide a case study of interactions among ‘strange bedfellows’ in development of a city’s circular economy or tackling an emerging biosecurity problem. 

Address challenges or opportunities, such as literacy and expertise, different ways of knowing and social imaginaries, historical marginalisation by gender or social class, and procedural fairness, as well as attachment to place.  Address contexts ranging from climate change impacts to population growth, decline or migration, or look at evolving technologies for engagement. 

Submissions are welcome from a mix of fields—such as social studies of natural resources and the environment, science communication, and impact assessment.  They are also welcome from various mixtures of cultural, communication and media studies, social psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, political economy, and organisational studies. 

Manuscripts should be drafted in order to be accessible and sensible to people outside your field and discipline.  Co-authorship with partners in other disciplines and outside universities is welcome, and articles are invited that feature ‘multiple voices’. 

Prof. Dr. Will Rifkin
Dr. Heather J. Bray
Dr. Martin Espig
Dr. Robert Perey
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to send you the link to the call for papers of the international and interdisciplinary conference

"Overcoming Obstacles to Climate Change Mitigation: a cross-cutting approach by human and social sciences"

https://change4climate.eu/conference/

The conference will take place on May 23 and 24, 2024, in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, and online.

This conference is an opportunity to present the results of a research project fundend by JPI Climate (https://change4climate.eu/), and it offers a space for the presentation of other research projects – in the field of human and social sciences – on transition aimed at mitigating climate change and managing its inevitable effects.

We welcome abstracts related to the following topics:

- the analysis of obstacles and disincentives to actions and changes in favor of climate change mitigation and adaptation,

- the research of ways and solutions to fight against these obstacles.

We appreciate abstracts (in English or French) from different human and social disciplines and in particular those based on multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches in this field.

In particular, analysis and (reflexive) presentation of concrete actions, campaigns and devices aimed at overcoming obstacles and supporting transition are very welcomed.

Abstracts for papers reporting on research should clearly outline aims, method(s), and results.

Abstracts for conceptual papers should offer a presentation of how the paper contributes to the field.

A scientific publication is planned following the symposium; more information will follow on this publication.

Confirmed Keynote speakers: prof. Edwin Zaccai (ULB); prof. Elodie Vargas (University of Grenoble Alpes).

Please, do not hesitate to spread this information in your networks.

We remain at your disposal,

Best regards,

Prof. Andrea Catellani, UCLouvain, Belgium

To be published by Routledge in 2025, The Handbook of Climate Crisis Communication aims to provide readers with a single, authoritative source of information about key fields, concepts, approaches and debates. Edited by Professor Alison Anderson and Dr Candice Howarth, the handbook will be a go-to guide for established and newly interested researchers, for government and policymaking bodies, and for students and their instructors.

The goal of the handbook is to explain theoretical, conceptual, and empirical developments that have been made in recent years; describe their origins and connections to broader topics, and highlight emerging areas where new and/or additional research and reflection are warranted. It seeks to grapple with unique and deep-seated communication challenges that extend well beyond research on how to most effectively convey information. In doing so, it widens the lens to include a focus on power dimensions and issues of perception, cognition, and self-identity and social-political positioning with regards to attitudes and action.

Due to the addition of extra themes, we are seeking contributors for the following chapter topics:

• ‘Cultural cognition, risk perception and climate change’ 
• ‘Climate change and behavioural science’
• ‘Visual research methods and audience reception of climate change’
• ‘Climate pedagogy and climate activism’
• ‘Climate change communication in Asia’
• ‘Climate justice, indigenous communities and the media’
• ‘Influence of political ideology on news media representations of climate change’
• ‘Social media networks and climate change’
• ‘Climate journalism, the shifting media landscape and media reform’ 

Each chapter will be in the region of 5,000 words (including bibliography), will be written in plain, accessible prose with short sentences and between 5 and 8 sections. They will need to be models of clarity and brevity with up to 40 visual aids envisaged for the whole Handbook. The titles are not set in stone and we the Editors work with chapter authors to agree these. The intention is that there should be many productive overlaps between chapters, with different authors often touching upon similar material but with different emphases. All authors will receive a free copy of the handbook.

The deadline for a strong first draft is 1^st March 2024 and the deadline for 200-word abstracts is 13^th December 2023.

Abstracts to be emailed to: aanderson@plymouth.ac.uk

We will let you know whether or not your abstract has been accepted by 15^th December.

The IECA is proud to announce the hire of our new Association Manager, Valentina Martinez-Valdes! 

Valentina brings more than 15 years of professional experience in administration, project management and public outreach. Her background in science and environmental communication makes her a terrific addition to the organization. 

We will be hosting an open meet-and-greet with Valentina via Zoom on Thursday, November 9 at 8pmEST. All are welcome to pop in and say hello! Please join us in giving Valentina a warm welcome.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98559208087?pwd=V095NnZvK0U0S0J1TDFNaXUyenNlQT09
Meeting ID: 985 5920 8087
Passcode: 225368

To contact Valentina, email staff@theieca.org. For all other questions or other IECA-related needs, email admin@theieca.org.

The strength of the IECA is due to the commitment and support of our members, whose work drives global environmental change efforts. Over the past year, our association made many significant accomplishments including COCE and our new website. 2024 promises to be another fantastic year of growth and success! 

We are excited to unveil a suite of membership benefits for 2024, including:

· An online subscription to the Environmental Communication Journal.

· Reduced registration rates for our new on-demand online course series, EC Foundations.

· Access to all members-only resources on our new website, such as EC syllabi and bibliographies, the IECA Archive, and more!

· All 2024 membership benefits can be viewed here.

In addition, we have created new membership categories:

• A dedicated Founding membership type for those who helped launch our organization.
• A Sustaining membership type for those who prefer the ease of an annual automatic renewal.
• A LIC Organization membership type for environmental organizations based in low-income economy countries.
• View all membership categories and rates here.

Existing IECA members can visit the Renew Your Membership page for details and special instructions for paying dues.

Contact us with any questions or concerns: admin@theieca.org

We are excited to announce the launch of our redesigned website! This new site has a clean and updated look, improved navigation, and expanded functionality! We encourage you to explore all our new site has to offer.

New features include:

• The EC Bookshelf, showcasing new and recently published books by IECA members.
• The IECA Jobs Board, listing a variety of open positions in EC around the world.
• The E-Learning page, introducing a suite of on-demand courses set to launch in January 2024.
• The Member Benefits page, highlighting the advantages of joining our association. 

Current dues-paying IECA members should have received an email with information about members-only resources, accessing the online member community, and logging in. If you need assistance, please contact us.

Our updated online presence is a significant step forward for our organization. We invite you to help us make this new site a timely, engaging space for sharing EC information and forging professional connections.