"No one will protect what they don't care about: "Examining participation strategies for public engagement with climate discourse

Evidence indicates public climate concerns have reached record-high levels, with 27% of the UK population finding it to be the third biggest concern for the country and 45% of 18-24 year olds citing it as the second biggest concern (YouGov, 2019, paras.1-2). This climate awareness creates the need for a two-way approach to public science engagement to ensure climate research and policy reflect the public's perspectives and concerns.

My project will examine new approaches to co-production of climate discourse between the public and science communicators. I will question what is meant by "engagement" in the context of climate communication, considering what research theories and strategies underpin public climate engagement programming. I aim to uncover gaps between objectives and outcomes in current engagement strategies. To consider how these gaps may be closed, I will draw new connections between participation theories and practices drawn from recent work in environmental sociology, citizen science projects and cultural studies.

My thesis will address the following four research questions:

1) What objectives and strategies underpin current uses of engagement modes in science public programming, and how do these reflect challenges particular to public engagement with climate discourse?

2) Can science and technology studies (STS) draw on engagement strategies from other areas, such as the cultural sector (where the concept of "scaffolding" stands out), to tailor public engagement with climate discourse to the topic's specific challenges and aims?

3) What role and significance do democratisation, discussion and dissent have in public programming for climate discourse, and how can different public engagement formats offer opportunities for these?

4) Can higher levels of participation in public engagement with climate discourse contribute to changes in lay involvement with climate policymaking?

Through case studies drawn from current public engagement activities, my study will provide an in-depth examination of participants' motivations for attending climate engagement events, their experiences of participation opportunities, and what they take away from their participation. I will employ an embedded multiple case-study design (Yin, 2009, pp.47-54) using mixed methods (Bryman, 2012, pp.635-636) combining qualitative and quantitative data sources. Each case study will be analysed using an iterative, inductive-deductive approach through the Template Analysis method (King and Gibbs, 2012; Brooks et al., 2014). Each case study will employ digital surveys, participant observation, focus groups and interviews. Following analysis of intra-case findings, cross-case findings will be compared to identify contrasts and meta-themes across the wider study.

My thesis will help fill a gap in STS by establishing an evidence-based foundation for identifying how public perspectives can be integrated beneficially into science communicators' engagement strategies. My study will contrast how co-production occurs in institutional and non-institutional climate engagement, and critically examine how ideas of scientific and institutional expertise influence the mutual shaping of climate knowledge between participant and science communicator. Ultimately, I aim to advance STS understandings of how the scaffolding of engagement activities can impact public participation during climate events. Based on my findings, I intend to produce a set of guiding principles for climate communicators regarding the use of conscious and explicit scaffolding, supporting critically engaged public participation in climate discourse. Furthermore, I mean to use my thesis to highlight the need for a coherent, national strategy for public engagement with climate discourse akin to White Papers set out for cultural policy covering public participation initiatives in the cultural sector (DCMS, 2016).