Conference: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases 2023: Celebrating Successes and Challenging Conventions

This award will fund a workshop for graduate students and post-doctoral scholars on “Communicating Novelty and Controversy in the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases.” The workshop will be held in conjunction with the annual EEID meeting at Pennsylvania State University in May 2023. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to develop strong relationships and trust between the research community and these various constituencies before a crisis. The workshop will be organized around 3 sessions: 1) case studies of innovation and misinformation in focal pathogens and “gain of function” research, 2) communicating novelty and risk, 3) tailoring communication to different audiences. It will focus on skills and strategies for communicating infectious disease science effectively to varied audiences and settings using the trainees own research. Doing so will develop individual skills in communicating science and formalize training in science communication, which can become standard practice for future cohorts. The workshop will train 30 early-career scientists in effective communication to broad audiences including lay public, agency, and policy-makers. Participants will represent a wide diversity of backgrounds, including students and post-doctoral scholars from groups underrepresented in STEM. The workshop will provide an opportunity for networking among junior researchers, particularly those from institutions with limited EEID research programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.