Researchers need to reach a new academic normal in which virtually every piece of scholar-facing humanities work generates a public-facing writing component. This essay recounts interactions with a colleague who, in a curriculum meeting, described public humanities as “a hobby.” I suggest arguments and strategies to lead skeptical colleagues to re-envision the value and possibilities – and occasional dangers and pitfalls – of the public humanities. Public writing is a practice that academic humanists should regularly engage in and a mode we must be willing to teach in order to win back public trust in higher education and to reinvigorate humanities research at a time of precarity.

This manuscript addresses a critical topic: navigating complexities of conducting clinical trials during a pandemic. Central to this discussion is engaging communities to ensure diverse participation. The manuscript elucidates deliberate strategies employed to recruit minority communities with poor social drivers of health for participation in COVID-19 trials. The paper adopts a descriptive approach, eschewing analysis of data-driven efficacy of these efforts, and instead provides a comprehensive account of strategies utilized. The Accelerate COVID-19 Treatment Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public–private partnership launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic to develop clinical trials to advance SARS-CoV-2 treatments. In this paper, ACTIV investigators share challenges in conducting research during an evolving pandemic and approaches selected to engage communities when traditional strategies were infeasible. Lessons from this experience include importance of community representatives’ involvement early in study design and implementation and integration of well-developed public outreach and communication strategies with trial launch. Centralization and coordination of outreach will allow for efficient use of resources and the sharing of best practices. Insights gleaned from the ACTIV program, as outlined in this paper, shed light on effective strategies for involving communities in treatment trials amidst rapidly evolving public health emergencies. This underscores critical importance of community engagement initiatives well in advance of the pandemic.

Marine litter poses a complex challenge in Indonesia, necessitating a well-informed and coordinated strategy for effective mitigation. This study investigates the seasonality of plastic concentrations around Sulawesi Island in central Indonesia during monsoon-driven wet and dry seasons. By using open data and methodologies including the HYCOM and Parcels models, we simulated the dispersal of plastic waste over 3 months during both the southwest and northeast monsoons. Our research extended beyond data analysis, as we actively engaged with local communities, researchers and policymakers through a range of outreach initiatives, including the development of a web application to visualize model results. Our findings underscore the substantial influence of monsoon-driven currents on surface plastic concentrations, highlighting the seasonal variation in the risk to different regional seas. This study adds to the evidence provided by coarser resolution regional ocean modelling studies, emphasizing that seasonality is a key driver of plastic pollution within the Indonesian archipelago. Inclusive international collaboration and a community-oriented approach were integral to our project, and we recommend that future initiatives similarly engage researchers, local communities and decision-makers in marine litter modelling results. This study aims to support the application of model results in solutions to the marine litter problem.

Service providers have a unique understanding of older homeless adults’ challenges and service needs. However, research on the experiences of health care providers (HCPs) who work with this population is limited. We aimed to gain a better understanding of the experiences (roles, challenges, and rewards) of HCPs who work with older homeless adults (age 50 and over) in outreach settings. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 10 HCPs who worked in these roles. Four themes emerged: (a) the client–provider relationship as an essential building block to HCPs’ work; (b) progression of care that acknowledges the “whole person”; (c) collaboration as integral to providers’ work; and (d) the importance of system navigation. Providers found their work personally and professionally fulfilling but were frustrated by system-level challenges. Findings can be used to identify strategies on how to further support providers in their roles and enhance service provision for older homeless individuals.

Invasive species can have disastrous effects on the ecosystems they invade, requiring costly, labour-intensive mitigation. Public awareness campaigns are often used as a tool to reduce these species’ impacts. While heralded as useful and cost-effective, little evidence suggests that these campaigns contribute to meaningful biological outcomes. Furthermore, awareness campaigns are relatively understudied despite their usage as a common approach to mitigating invasive species. We conducted a literature review to assess publications that evaluated the efficacy of public awareness campaigns for managing invasive species. Out of 4382 papers initially extracted for analysis, we determined that 24 of them included studies conducted on awareness campaigns for invasive species. Four public awareness campaigns were deemed a ‘success’, and the other campaigns’ success was indeterminable due to study design. Our study revealed that inconsistencies in defined end points, unclear procedures and variability of campaigns contribute to there being insufficient evidence to determine the efficacy of public awareness campaigns. To evaluate the true efficacy of public awareness campaigns, we recommend that organizations conducting such campaigns implement rigorous and standardized assessments (e.g., Before–After Control–Impact designs or Bayesian analyses) that include measures of not just changes in the knowledge and behaviour of target audiences, but also relevant biological outcomes.

This is a review of the activities and successes of the 42nd residential JACT Latin Summer School, run in July 2022. Specifically, it covers our typical teaching arrangement, lectures, trips and events and acknowledges the generosity of our sponsors.

Many universities, commercial companies, and science organizations who use microscopy have outreach programs. The members of such generally love to share their enthusiasm and passion with the next generation. Content and confidence on providing such a program often comes from sharing ideas with like-minded scientists. These programs are typically delegated with the acronym STEM or STEAM: science, technology, engineering, art, and math. One of MSA's outreach programs is ProjectMICRO. Included are some STEAM ideas to share.

Several papers have highlighted the potential of network science to appeal to a younger audience of high school children and provided lesson material on network science for high school children. However, network science also provides a great topic for outreach activities for primary school children. Therefore, this article gives a short summary of an outreach activity on network science for primary school children aged 8–12 years. The material provided in this article contains presentation material for a lesson of approximately 1 hour, including experiments, exercises, and quizzes, which can be used by other scientists interested in popularizing network science. We then discuss the lessons learned from this material.

It is our contention that industrial-organizational (I-O) science can do many great things for the world of work, but we must first get it out there more readily and fully into the hands of decision makers, policy makers, and the public. This focal article addresses the following topics: (a) Why isn’t I-O science reaching the public? (b) What are good mechanisms to bring I-O science to the public? (c) What are some keys to translation and public consumption? Specific public-facing activities discussed include writing a trade book, writing for trade magazines (e.g., Harvard Business Review [HBR]) and online blogs (e.g., Fortune), leveraging social media (e.g., LinkedIn), submitting op-eds, doing podcasts as a producer and/or guest, and joining a speakers bureau. We also discuss barriers to these activities such as time, reward structures, and skill deficits.

In response to the requirements imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we developed a remote learning undergraduate workshop for 44 students at the University of Newcastle by embedding scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of Maratus (Peacock) spiders into the MyScope Explore environment. The workshop session had two main components: 1) to use the online MyScope Explore tool to virtually image scales with structural color and pigmented color on Maratus spiders; 2) to join a live SEM session via Zoom to image an actual Maratus spider. In previous years, the undergraduate university students attending this annual workshop would enter the Microscopy Facility at the University of Newcastle to image specimens with SEM; however, in 2020 the Microscopy Facility was closed to student visitors, and this virtual activity was developed in order to proceed with the educational event. The program was highly successful and constitutes a platform that can be used in the future by universities for teaching microscopy remotely.

The education of children, particularly in scientific inquiry, is a powerful force that has shaped humanity's history and holds the key to our future. Given their power to provoke wonder and awe in child and adult alike, microscopes have proven to be transformative as tools for education. Exploratory learning using microscopes has helped to overcome critical barriers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and to broaden participation in these vital fields. Since its inception, the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) has recognized this and made education and outreach to children a priority. Here, we provide a brief review of MSA's efforts in this direction, focusing on current efforts aimed at improving STEM education through the greater adoption and utilization of microscopes.

The Warwick Classics Network (WCN) was created in July 2018 with funding from the Warwick Widening Participation Development Fund and the Warwick Impact Fund. Further funding from Widening Participation (WP) and the charity Classics for All secured the continuation of the position of Research Fellow in Outreach and Impact for the Dept. of Classics and Ancient History, a role given to Dr Paul Grigsby; WP funding was also used to cover the expenses of events such as our 2nd July 2018 WCN Launch event and the 2019 Warwick Ancient Drama Festival. For the period April 2019-April 2020 the WCN received further funding from WP, Classics for All, and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, and this report will detail the activities that this funding supported.