Application for 'Explaining science and communicating hazards for the public' workshop

Are you a researcher in Earth, Planetary or Space sciences wanting to share your work with wider non-academic audiences? EGU is once again offering  a range of workshop series’ in October and November 2025 to help you develop specific skills for interacting with various public audiences. All workshops will be led by tutors who work as public engagement, science communication and outreach specialists, and cover a range of different approaches. To apply for the Explaining science and communicating hazards for the public workshop with science journalist Vedrana Simičević, please complete this form by 2 October 2025, as places are limited to 35 people. You must be a member to apply.

Workshop details

This workshop series aims to educate scientists on how to efficiently simplify and explain research findings and complex scientific phenomena to the non-expert public and the media. Participants will learn how much needs to be explained for a different type of audience, how detailed the explanations need to be depending on the situation, how to shape the most important data into short explanations and quotes and how to connect more efficiently with the audience. This series will also address the specific challenge of communicating science at the heart of sensitive public issues that tend to be more prone to misinformation. People process explanations differently when the idea of risk is involved, which needs to be taken into consideration while addressing the public. Participants will get tips on the best communication strategies in this type of situation and how to prevent their words from being taken out of context while discussing hazards, probabilities, forecasts, models or consequences of climate change in the media.

This workshop series will take place on 14, 21, and 28 October, 15:00-17:00 CET. The sessions will be divided as follows:

• Session 1: What the public and media usually want to know about scientific findings; reasons behind the misinterpretation of science in the media; examples of inadequate communication; tips for more efficient collaboration with the media.
• Session 2: How to efficiently simplify and explain scientific findings and phenomena for a non-expert audience; communication tools and tricks; using metaphors and storytelling. The practical part – explaining the research/projects of attendees for the non-expert public.                                                       
• Session 3: The challenges of explaining science in sensitive public issues: How to talk about the hazards, probabilities and climate change and how to address controversial, provocative or too-general questions. The practical part - how to efficiently condense complex explanations into short quotes.

For help and assistance, please contact: outreach@egu.eu

Application for 'Explaining science and communicating hazards for the public' workshop

Name *

Contact email *

EGU membership ID *

EGU Division affiliation (main) * Atmospheric Sciences Biogeosciences Climate: Past Present and Future Crysopheric Sciences Earth Magnetism and Rock Physics Energy Resources and the Environment Earth and Space Science Informatics Geodesy Geodynamics Geosciences Instrumentation and Data Systems Geomorphology Geochemistry Mineralogy Petrology and Volcanology Hydrological Sciences Natural Hazards Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences Ocean Sciences Planetary and Solar System Sciences Seismology Stratigraphy Sedimentology and Palaeontology Soil System Sciences Solar-Terrestrial Sciences Tectonics and Structural Geology

Career stage * Please note that an Early Career Scientist (ECS) is a student, a PhD candidate, or a practising scientist who received their highest certificate (e.g. BSc, MSc or PhD) within the past seven years. The seven-year period can be extended to allow for periods when the scientist was not working in science because of, but not limited to, caring and/or parental responsibilities, disability, personal illness, community obligations or national service.

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Why do you want to attend this workshop? *

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