The historical and contemporary trajectories of societal change and transformation on socio-economic and sociocultural indicators of inequality – on race, gender, social class, and other parameters – demonstrate that progressive systemic change is neither inevitable nor to be taken for granted and presumed as sustainable in an ever forward-moving direction. Given the cautionary lessons of these historical and contemporary trends, advocates of systemic change where inclusion is concerned should continuously interrogate seemingly progressive developments. They should, furthermore, also engage their fields through solidarity, to assert reflective spaces for the considerations of innovative, globally inclusive, and actionoriented approaches that further advance the pace of change. This is the rationale and ethos that has guided and framed the conceptualisation and development of this edited collection for the science communication field.

The growing engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the science communication field, as demonstrated by the programmes of various national, regional, and global conferences, workshops, webinars, and symposiums, are signposts of an emerging field-wide recognition of the pressing need for sociocultural inclusion. Alongside these developments, the increase in science communication journal publications and other platforms by scholars, practitioners, and advocates attests to robust scholarly efforts to engage the field with these challenging issues (Lewenstein, 2019).

Given the global political climate on issues of race and sociocultural inclusion that has emerged as a result of the exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic, there now seems to be an even greater appetite and interest in insightful knowledge to drive, inform, and advance lasting global change and a willingness to listen to others across the divides of race, region, power, and economic wealth with mutual respect and consideration.

The cautionary aspect here is that the mainstream international discourses on diversity, equity, and inclusion in science communication are in danger of generating much handwringing and concern without seeming to drive consistent change and systematic transformations of the field. This book seeks to elucidate the various ‘elephants in the room’ of these seemingly circular discourses surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion and thereby address critical gaps in the literature, practices, capacity building, and scholarship within the science communication field regarding race and sociocultural inclusion. It also brings to the fore the many marginalised voices of so-called racialised minorities and those from Global South regions to further interrogate the globalised footprint of the science communication enterprise.