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Dear Geoscience Education Research Colleagues


We hope that this message finds you and your families in good health.  We are writing to call your attention to a session that we are going to be co-chairing at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America on October 10-13, 2021.  


Our session, titled T156. Building Trust Using Science Communication and Education within Diverse Communities”, will focus on calls for more authentic collaborations between geoscientists and historically marginalized communities. This includes research and examples of community engagement efforts that involve direct benefits for local communities, local community members that are part of project leadership teams, and research methodologies/questions that support community cultural values and a virtuous exchange between communities and researchers.  

 

This year, GSA’s Annual Meeting will be taking place in person, with select hybrid sessions (sessions held both online and in person). Abstract submissions are currently open and closes July 20th at 11:59PM (PT) (submit abstract here). 

 

Please see below for more information about the session. If you have any questions regarding this session, please let us know ([log in to unmask]).  

 

We look forward to gathering and discussing this topic in person--we hope to see you in Portland! Have a great summer!


On behalf of the session chairs, 


 

Leila M. Joyce Seals ([log in to unmask]), PhD Candidate, Department of Geology, University of Kansas

 

Michael Buck ([log in to unmask]), Human Dimensions of inland fisheries restoration and  management at Yakama Nation Fisheries

 

Darryl Reano ([log in to unmask]), Postdoctoral Associate, STEM Transformation Institute

Florida International University

 

Ángel A. Garcia Jr. ([log in to unmask]), Assistant Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Science, James Madison University

 

 

Endorser(s):

GSA Geoscience education Division, GSA Geoscience information/communication Division, GSA Geoscience and public policy Division, and GSA Karst Division

 

Rationale:

GSA conference sessions that focus on diversity have been garnering increased interest in recent years; one of last year’s diversity sessions (session T238 GSA 2020) had ~30 abstracts submitted. While this was a valuable session for many GSA participants, it has become clear that there is enough support within the geoscience community to hold multiple diversity sessions that bring a nuanced understanding for how physical geoscience research can be contextualized and applied within real-world contexts, which necessarily involve non-academic communities.


The majority of geoscience engagement with non-academic communities is done through geoscience communication and education (Canfield et al., 2020; Pandya, 2014; Stewart and Lewis, 2017). Important forms of community engagement in their own right, geoscience communication and education could also be used as steps toward the highest level of community engagement: community-based/driven research (Pandya, 2012, 2014; Button and Peterson, 2009; Bueno Watts et al., 2014). Community-based/driven research emphasizes the need for building trust with community members who participate and/or who are impacted by geoscience research taking place in their geographic spaces. Geoscience communication and education can be powerful trust building pathways, but are often one directional; information is provided to communities rather than done in concert with communities or with consideration for their self-defined needs or interests. Even when greater engagement is attempted (most often undertaken by geoscientists working within their home communities), efforts typically remain contractual rather than collaborative. David-Chavez & Gavin (2018) and others (e.g., Reo, 2019; NCAI Policy Research Center and MSU Center for Native Health Partnerships, 2012; Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium, 2011; Queensland Government, Dept of Communities, 2005) have helped clarify differences between collaborative and consultative community levels of engagement and offer a vision of higher levels of community engagement in geoscience. 


Multigenerational engagement with historically marginalized communities, and non-academic communities more generally, is an often overlooked component of making geoscience research and geoscience education more inclusive, equitable, and just. Higher levels of community engagement, particularly by researchers who are not a part of the communities they work with, would alleviate some of the burden on both research-affected communities and the geoscience researchers from those communities, leading to greater outcomes for all involved parties (David-Chávez et al., 2020; Dawson, 2014; Dudo and Besley, 2016; Pandya, 2012; Reo, 2019). This session will focus on projects that have attained relatively high levels of community engagement (David-Chavez & Gavin, 2018) using science communication and education to build trust within diverse communities. In addition, we will explore research and examples of community engagement efforts that involve direct benefits for local communities, local community members that are part of project leadership teams, and research methodologies/questions that support community cultural values and a virtuous exchange between communities and researchers.



Darryl Reano, Postdoctoral Associate
STEM Transformation Institute
Phone: 305-348-7683 | [log in to unmask]


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