Communicating Empirical Risks To A Sceptical Public:  What Works And What Doesn’t

Remediation experts sometimes have to front up to community meetings and explain what they are doing to an often sceptical, sometimes hostile audience. Community expectations around risk management are often out-of-line with what is reasonable and achievable, but experts do not always   have what it takes to convince people that they are competent and can be trusted to undertake a remediations project without significant risk to public health or safety.

Mistakes in expert risk communication are common. Too much information, too little information, poor language, poorly selected graphs, diagrams or tables, bad location, bad timing… these are all things that render an expert’s efforts to communicate with non-experts a failure. People go home dissatisfied and might trust the expert even less than they did before. So what does it take for experts to communicate effectively with non-experts? This webinar introduces new research findings about expert risk communication based on a series of interviews with Australian remediation experts, most of them being ALGA members. Key messages are around choice of imagery, use of language and the social context of risk. The limitations of current approaches to risk communication are outlined and recommendations made regarding easy-to-do improvements.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Kate Hughes,

Communication and Social Engagement Specialist

Ecology Data Bank Services

Kate Hughes has acquired a unique approach to risk communication and social engagement during her life as an industry professional. Kate was around when dioxin in Homebush Bay was the topic of the day, and when the Sydney Olympic site was undergoing broad-acre remediation. She worked as Special Advisor to the Director of this landmark project and later was appointed Independent Advisor to the community during the remediation of the dioxin-contaminated sites on the Rhodes Peninsula, Sydney. She has worked as community advocate on other remediation projects concerned with asbestos, heavy metals and POPs contamination, and most recently has been assisting the Richmond NSW community address PFAS contamination of surface and groundwaters. Kate is multi-skilled, but her strongest suite is around language and communication. 

With deep connections to community, a lived experience as a community advocate and a thirty-year connection with the remediation industry, Kate Hughes offers historical and social insights about the current state of expert communication with the public.  Her recent doctoral research finds, not surprisingly that some remediation experts can communicate well whilst others cannot. Kate’s webinar presents some findings from the research, offering a unique educational experience around key aspects of communication, including language, imagery and the social context of risk. Kate also has a PhD in Politics from The University of Adelaide and PhD in Sustainability from the University of Technology Sydney.