Identifying, disentangling and reflecting on traditions in science communication
We invite presenters at the PCST 2025 Conference to submit original research and/or practitioner articles, commentaries, and essays for a special issue of Cultures of Science dedicated to “Identifying, disentangling and reflecting on traditions in science communication”.
We welcome contributions from both research and practice that focus on how traditions associated with science communication help us to make connections between the past, the present and the future, between science as a distinct set of cultures within the context of wider societal and cultural perspectives, and between scientists and other communities. Explorations of traditions can help us to 'co-create common ground' with wider constituencies in society or exacerbate pre-existing forms of disadvantage and discrimination. In this sense, our understanding of traditions as science communicators calls on us to expand our horizons in how we come to know, allied with the imperative to co-construct equitable principles with wider constituents to underpin our shared endeavours.
We are particularly interested in contributions that:
- Identify traditions relevant to science communication: How many useful and relevant traditions are 'hidden in plain sight'? What can we learn from identifying and exploring traditions in the context of science communication?
- Disentangle traditions related to science communication: What can we learn from exploring science communication as a (multi)cultural phenomenon? How can research into (de)colonialisation, diversity, difference and globalisation drive positive change in science communication?
- Reflect on the values of traditions that are, or could be, associated with science communication: Do science communicators share the same traditions? Do traditions in science communication help or hinder research and practice? What can we learn from recognising, reflecting on, and revising traditions?
Submissions can be original Research and/or Practitioner Articles (not more than 10,000 words), Commentaries or Essays (not more than 2,000 words).
Interested authors should submit a title and abstract (between 300 and 500 words) by 30 June 2025.
Please note in your submission which type of contribution you intend to submit (research/practitioner article, commentary or essay). Please send your submission to Richard Holliman (Richard.Holliman@open.ac.uk) and Heather Doran (h.doran@dundee.ac.uk) with the subject “Special issue on Traditions in Science Communication”.
If you are invited to submit a full draft of your paper for peer review, this will be required by 30 November 2025.