Externe Publikationen

Applications of science communication in science diplomacy: communicating (for) Arctic marine mammal governance

Gehrke, Charlotte
Externe Publikationen (2024)

in: Polar Geography, first published 17.09.2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2024.2403673
Open access

The study of science diplomacy is a relatively new field, having only gained popular scholarly and journalistic attention in recent decades. The term is so new that practitioners often equivocate science diplomacy with the related practice of science communication. Academic accounts are similarly guilty of ignoring or glossing over the contributions of science communicators to science diplomacy. This paper builds on Leach’s framework combining science communication activities and science diplomacy functions to highlight applications of science communication in science diplomacy, using empirical examples from the realm of Arctic marine mammal governance. Based on interviews with researchers, journalists, policymakers, and science diplomats with expertise in Arctic marine mammal governance, the paper highlights three such applications: (1) raising awareness of research projects, (2) policy-facing communications, and (3) public outreach. Herein, the article draws attention to science communicators whose contributions to science diplomacy are overlooked in the subject literature at times, including the work of journalists, Indigenous representatives, and NGO workers.