About Us
SciComm is a conference dedicated to understanding and promoting effective communication of science to diverse audiences – including students of all levels as well as the general public – across all venues.
our history
SciComm was initiated as a one-day symposium in 2015 led by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Program of Excellence Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Matthew Wilkins. The symposium was tremendously successful and drew in faculty, teachers, and education-focused professionals from across the state of Nebraska.
Due to the excitement and energy that came from the one-day symposium, SciComm programming in 2016 was expanded to a day and a half. Again, excitement and energy was palpable and in its second year, SciComm attracted attendees from multiple states. In 2018, UNL transformed SciComm into a two-day professional conference that attracted attendees from across the country. Following its success, Kansas State University asked to partner with UNL and the two universities are now working together to alternate the conference between campuses yearly. In 2019, SciComm was hosted by KSU. In 2020, SciComm went virtual and had its largest registration yet with attendees from across the globe. In 2022, UNL is proud to host SciComm once again with an event that is mostly virtual (with some in-person events) and an excellent lineup of keynote and featured speakers, workshops, talks, panels, a Science Slam, and film festival.
a conference on effective science communication.
sharing science
We believe the communication of science is of the utmost importance. For that reason we want to provide a conference that will enable communicators to clearly and effectively share information.
bringing communicators together
We hope to bring together a diverse group of communicators (journalists, educators, scientists, etc.) to promote collaboration, provide feedback, and disseminate tools and research to improve the ability of all to communicate scientific concepts.
communicating science for learning and engagement
our mission
- Train scientists, educators, journalists and the public in effective science communication
- Disseminate cutting-edge research, tools, evaluation instruments, programs, and activities for science learning and evaluation inside and outside of classrooms.
- Forge new connections between university instructors, discipline-based education researchers, K-12 teachers, informal and formal science learning sites (e.g., museums, libraries), science learning researchers and evaluators, and science disseminators (e.g., science writers, film makers).
- Engage with the public, policy makers, and people who use science communication in a diversity of careers.
- Provide opportunities for practitioners of science communication to implement communication strategies and receive critical feedback.