Research theme: “Environmental communication in the context of global threats”
The research will cover the period of 2020-2022. That was a time of global threats which contributed to disturbance of the international order and forced so-called content “pump-valves” into the global discourse (Entman & Usher, 2018). These could have significant effect on perception of climate change and measures taken by political actors before 2020.
The scholars will attempt to answer the question how the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine affected communication about environmental and climate issues? Was (is) it a time of intensified international actions for green transformation or a time of negligence?
The research team will diagnose:
– what subjects and problems associated with the climate crisis were referred to by political actors, media and celebrities;
– whether the question of security was highlighted in environmental communication of the studied entities, and if yes, what type of security;
– whether media communication and activities of the analysed political actors (including EU, NATO, UNO, Russian Federation) support the scientific message or interrupt it;
– what role is played by scientists specialising in climate change, how they perceive themselves as a source of information, what barriers and restrictions they encounter.
The analysis axis will involve content published in English-language internet and Russian-language internet (RuNet).
The project includes tasks within four scientific disciplines: political science and administration (study of the processes of politicisation of environmental issues), social communication and media (study of media communication), security sciences (analysis of media communication and actions by political actors concerning presence of issues related to information and environmental security) and sociology (especially considering sociology of science – study of scientists’ activities).
The team members are prof. Marcelina Zuber of the Institute of Sociology, dr Julia Trzcińska of the Institute of Political Science and mgr Otylia Bieniek of the UWr Doctoral School (Doctoral College in Security Science). The project leader is dr Bartłomiej Łódzki of the Institute of International Studies.
