What is inclusive science communication?

Abstract

Inclusive science communication, variously encompassing ideas of inclusivity, diversity, accessibility, equity, decolonisation and justice, has been gaining increased attention in recent years in both science communication practice and research. What has rarely been explored so far, however, is whether – and how – inclusive science communication is conceptualised and practiced in different contexts around the world, and particularly in non-Western and so-called Global South countries. In other words, what does inclusive science communication mean in a globalised space? This thesis addresses two research questions. First, What is inclusive science communication?, and, second, What are the barriers and enablers of inclusive science communication? These questions are approached through a qualitatively led mixed methods study which interviewed 19 science communicators and surveyed 107 science communicators from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds to explore their perceptions, understandings and attitudes towards the concept of ‘inclusive science communication’. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes relating to how science communicators define inclusive science communication (by audience, by proximity/distance to science communication as a field, as a service). Four interrelated themes (individual, organisational, social, disciplinary) captured the ways that science communicators described the barriers and enablers of inclusive science communication that they’ve experienced and imagined. Study participants identified challenges in science communication that often reflected and interacted with their context. They expressed diverse attitudes towards, and contributors to, (in)equity in science communication practice and research as well as a range of potential interventions. Some science communicators do not see a need for a new approach to science communication, while others have good intentions to create change but lack appropriate resources or mentorship to be able to do so. Others still have sophisticated goals and tangible plans for change to the foundations of science communication as a discipline. This thesis demonstrates that inclusive science communication is not yet well developed theoretically, and is inconsistently accessible in many regions and contexts. As some study participants noted inclusive science communication, as it is currently advocated for in some spaces, risks leaving behind audiences, practitioners and researchers who have needs not yet imagined in the existing literature, potentially perpetuating the very injustices it seeks to redress. This thesis offers both practitioners and researchers an appreciation of how inclusive science communication can conceptually and practically play out in different ways in diverse contexts around the world. Show more