Science, Policy, and the Media: working together to tackle misinformation and disinformation in environmental policy
April, 2023, Workshop at ICTA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalunya.
Main Organizers: Letícia Lima (UAB), Thiago Medaglia (AmbientalMedia), Raoni Rajão (LAGESA-UFMG)
Funded by the "María de Maeztu" Excellence Program (ICTA-UAB) & Voices for Science Program (AGU, USA)
Main Organizers: Letícia Lima (UAB), Thiago Medaglia (AmbientalMedia), Raoni Rajão (LAGESA-UFMG)
Funded by the "María de Maeztu" Excellence Program (ICTA-UAB) & Voices for Science Program (AGU, USA)
Context
Misinformation and disinformation and their impacts on environmental policies have been a central issue worldwide in recent times. While uncertainty and open debates are a fundamental part of science, low-quality information (ill-intentioned or not) and biased narratives disrupt healthy debates and the design of better policies. In this project, we gather three groups of fundamental importance on this matter: scientists, journalists, and policymakers.
Through a 2-days workshop (dates to be announced), we aim to explore how each group, with its own agenda of interests, pressures, and demands contributes to mis/disinformation production, dissemination and its impacts on policy making. Moreover, we want to explore the potential synergies through which these three groups can work together to tackle this issue. The workshop is designed to be a kick-off debate and to prompt potential further activities via connecting different actors, identifying existing initiatives and creating new combined strategies among these groups.
Through a 2-days workshop (dates to be announced), we aim to explore how each group, with its own agenda of interests, pressures, and demands contributes to mis/disinformation production, dissemination and its impacts on policy making. Moreover, we want to explore the potential synergies through which these three groups can work together to tackle this issue. The workshop is designed to be a kick-off debate and to prompt potential further activities via connecting different actors, identifying existing initiatives and creating new combined strategies among these groups.
Potential collaborations
Are you interested in exploring the impacts of disinformation on environmental policies around the world? Are you eager to explore potential strategies to tackle this issue in a transdisciplinary way? We are in touch with potential participants for the workshop and will be announcing the opening of the application process soon. Keep in contact if you are: environmental journalist; politician or government officer providing support for the design of environmental policies; STS researchers; Communication researchers; environmental or political scientists working with policies.
References
Raoni Rajão, Antonio Donato Nobre, Evandro LTP Cunha, Tiago Ribeiro Duarte, Camilla Marcolino, Britaldo Soares-Filho, Gerd Sparovek, Ricardo R Rodrigues, Carlos Valera, Mercedes Bustamante, Carlos Nobre, Letícia Santos de Lima (2022) The risk of fake controversies for Brazilian environmental policies. Biological Conservation 266, 109447.