Communication, contestation and cooperation
Contemporary societies are increasingly pluralistic, in the sense that organisations in the private and public sector and in civil society have to communicate with a wide range of different audiences. These audiences have diverse, often contradictory professional and cultural backgrounds, identities, values and worldviews. Political, moral and epistemic authority have become increasingly contested. New media and online technologies facilitate easy and fast communication, which allows citizens to organise themselves around themes, viewpoints and interests. This plurality fundamentally affects how societies engage with questions around food, health or the environment.
What we do
We study articulation of conflict, contestation around issues and
conditions for this contestation, and how pluralism shapes the nature of cooperation. One research area is the increasing role of civil society advocacy in international development, by focusing on questions of collaboration, inclusiveness and effectiveness. Another research area is science communication, including the integration and contestation of different knowledges.
What we aspire
Our research helps to develop a reflexive understanding of societal conflicts and cooperation around food, health and the living environment. We contribute to practical improvements to conflict management, space for contestation, development of mutual
understandings and cooperation, and the empowerment of citizens and practitioners.
We publish in journals such as: Global Environmental Change, Environmental Communication, Development Policy Review, Political Studies, Journalism Studies, Science Communication and Public Understanding of Science.
Staff members on this theme
Research themes
Communication, organisation and change
We study the interplay between the construction of meaning in interaction in situated practices- including discourses, conversations, stories, dialogues and frames - and the social networks that emerge out of these interactions.
Communication and behaviour
Central to our research is improving the fundamental understanding of the origins of perceptions and behaviours in relation to life science topics, and how these psychological and communicative insights can be strategically used to create change.
Communication, contestation and cooperation
We study articulation of conflict, contestation around issues and
conditions for this contestation, and how pluralism shapes the nature of cooperation.
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