Posts in: Convening for Solutions

Practice is core to our work. Our trainings revolve around hands-on exercises and feedback in a supportive setting, and are unique in that the practice and feedback comes from trusted partners from other fields, such as journalism, policy, and community leadership. These experts work closely with scientists in small groups and one-on-one as they practice communicat...

At the dawn of the 21st century, I had the privilege of serving as the Founding President of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. It was clear to me then that ocean issues weren’t getting the attention they needed or deserved, but I truly never imagined that the inaugural event—then known as Congressional Ocean Day (COD)—would resonate so strongly in the...

By Dr. Amanda Stanley, Executive Director of COMPASS, and Dr. Laura Lindenfeld, Executive Director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science When you’re addressing urgent, complex problems, it can be hard to step back and look around. Even though every day we work to help scientists reach beyond the ivory tower to communicate their research more e...

If you’re in Washington, D.C. this week for either Capitol Hill Ocean Week or the International Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans Conference, you may be planning to make the most of your time in town by also meeting with some policy makers (and if you aren’t, we hope you’ll consider it!). We’ve pulled together some of our top policy posts to...

By Heather Mannix and Chad English Published January 13, 2015 Title: Want To Get Policy Makers Engaged With Your Field Of Research? Integrate Them Into Your Scientific Conference Categories: About COMPASS, Policy, How To Tags: context, culture, conferences, facilitating, navigating, relevance, So What? Heather Mannix, Chad English Scientific conferences are hotspo...

Conflicting viewpoints are commonplace among scientists. And those studying wildfire are no exception, where perspectives vary among regions, ecosystem types, and disciplines. It’s a hot topic (not to mention incredibly pun-conducive), and the debates among scientists have been heated. As I mentioned last week, differences among the various factions of scient...