Dear Colleagues: Participate in a survey on barriers researchers face when communicating with non-expert audiences

Dear Colleagues,

We are seeking biologists, political scientists, and language scientists (all broadly construed) to participate in a survey about the barriers researchers face when attempting to communicate with lay audiences about their specific research area, and how those barriers may be similar or different across fields.

The survey doesn’t target the usual things about barriers to public engagement like lack of time or incentives, but rather the actual content of our work that can make it feel tough to connect with members of the public. Findings will clarify key science communication challenges and inform targeted strategies. Participants may also find that being asked to reflect on one’s own science communication practice can be a meaningful exercise.

Researchers from all career stages (PhD to professor) in any country, who have done some sort of public engagement or outreach in the past 3 years are eligible. Completion time is 10-20 minutes, depending on the thoroughness of your responses. This research has been reviewed according to the University of Maryland, College Park IRB procedures for research involving human subjects.

Feel free to forward this to anyone in your networks who may be interested and get in touch if you have any questions.

Dear Colleague Letters are guest essays on the Civic Science Observer that feature calls to action by stakeholders from across the civic science landscape. Please note that the opinions expressed in these letters are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Civic Science Media Lab and/or its partners. If you are interested in sharing your perspective, please email us at team@csmedia.org.

Charlotte Vaughn, PhD

Dr. Charlotte Vaughn is a sociolinguist and public engagement researcher. She is assistant research professor at University of Maryland, and is director of the Language Science Station, a pop-up lab at Planet Word museum in Washington, DC. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation. She is the 2026 recipient of the Linguistics Society of America’s Linguistics, Language, and the Public Award. Together with Sharon Unsworth, she is writing a book about public engagement in the language sciences.