Our passion lies in helping science make a real-world difference — by ensuring it reaches the right audiences, through trusted messengers, using the most engaging methods, at the right time. Our portfolio highlights some of our most exciting and impactful work.
Communicating how to make nature-based solutions more equitable and sustainable
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
From 2021 to 2024, we supported the IDRC-funded Towards Equitable and Sustainable Nature-based Solutions project (TES NbS), synthesising the project’s scientific and technical material into understandable and compelling content for researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
Key activities and outputs included:
Distilling the project’s final research results into a set of concise and action-oriented key findings paired with striking data visualisations. These findings are currently only available in the final technical report for TES NbS, but will be disseminated more widely once key results are published in peer-reviewed journals.
Authoring and co-editing stories, and conceptualising imagery for a storybook highlighting how social inequities play out in nature-based solutions. This storybook helped inform funding calls and policy negotiations (e.g., in South Africa and at COP).
Designing an extensively used infographic to visually convey the project’s conceptual framework on nature-based solutions and social equity.
Designing an infographic to summarise the findings of an online survey of researchers, practitioners and policy makers working in southern Africa’s environmental sector.
Strengthening the science communication capacity at the United Nations Environment Program
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the global authority that sets the environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
In 2022, the Office of the Chief Scientist recommended that a science communication training programme be offered to staff involved in the production of publications to bolster their existing skill set, and support UNEP’s aim of increasing the uptake of science for transformative action in line with its Medium-Term Strategy. To inform such a training program, and working together with Brendon Bosworth from Human Element Communications, we used a literature review, organisation-wide survey and interviews with key staff members to better understand UNEP’s science communication needs.
Since then, we have been running an online, module-based science communication training programme for UNEP, which we developed to improve the impact of UNEP’s publications. To date, we have trained over 300 researchers on key science communication skills, including communication strategy, writing and editing, and data visualisation.
Strengthening the science communication capacity of researchers everywhere
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
Together with Brendon Bosworth from Human Element Communications, we offer tailor-made communication training for organisations, covering topics like writing for the media, public speaking, presenting, data visualisation, and more. We have trained researchers from a wide range of specialisations.
These include: sustainable development (School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan), climate change and development (African Climate and Development Initiative and ARUA Centre of Excellence in Climate and Development), mineral law (South African Research Chair: Mineral Law in Africa), and conservation (South African National Biodiversity Institute / Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries).
Supporting researchers working at the intersection of people, nature and climate
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
We provide ongoing science communication support to the People in Nature and Climate Lab. Researchers at the PiNC Lab collaborate with partners to generate evidence, ideas and guidance that enables nature-based actions for local and planetary health. Our support includes knowledge translation and synthesis, editing, data visualisation and design.
Creating a short online course on multistakeholder collaboration
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
We worked with multiple researchers from different disciplines to synthesise their research into an online course on multistakeholder collaboration for equitable and climate-resilient landscapes. Her work involved project management, knowledge synthesis, copy editing, and design. The resulting course was provided as a free, open-access resource to boost the capacity of students, researchers and practitioners to engage in meaningful and effective landscape collaboration processes.
Supporting the pan-African response to the continent’s climate and development challenges
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
The ARUA Centre of Excellence in Climate and Development (ARUA-CD) is an African-led and pan-African response to the continent’s climate-related development challenges and the knowledge and capacity urgently needed to address these.
We supported ARUA-CD over a three-year period, developing and implementing a communication strategy, producing multiple specialist communication products (including infographics, information briefs and videos), and strengthening early-career researcher capacity for online presentation and facilitation through the design and facilitation of short online courses.
We also synthesised 10 journal articles into a set of key messages that formed the basis of an editorial on collaboration and multistakeholder engagement in landscape governance and management in Africa. This was paired with a standalone infographic for non-specialist audiences, which was used extensively in a short course on the same topic.
Guiding the strategic direction of neuroscience communication
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
The Neuroscience Institute (NI), based at the University of Cape Town, is an interdisciplinary and international network of scientists, clinicians, students and civil society stakeholders that uses research and innovation, training and capacity development, and advocacy and engagement to develop the knowledge, skills and expertise needed to help understand the human brain and advance healthcare in the African context.
Drawing on the insights and communication needs of NI team members, we developed a five-year communications strategy for the NI that articulates the institute’s communication goals and target audiences, and that sets out a work plan that is implementable given funding and capacity constraints. We also used the NI theory of change and research strategy to write a foundation narrative for the institute, and infused this content into their website while improving the website’s layout and functionality.
Sharing the challenges and successes of cape leopard research
Strategy | Outputs| Capacity
The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) is a not-for-profit organisation that for 15 years has been working to ensure the long-term survival of leopard populations for the benefit of nature and society. They use a combination of research, conservation, and education to better understand leopards, mitigate human-leopard conflict, promote biodiversity conservation and habitat connectivity, uplift and upskill community members living in leopard areas, and inspire the next generation to become conservation ambassadors.
We developed a narrative version of the CLT theory of change for use on all front-facing communication material, and wrote stories of impact for the CLT’s 15 year report (pgs 10, 14, 18 and 26). Through this work we identified strategic ways of framing the organisation’s key activities and impacts, as well as new avenues for research. We developed website content for each of these focus areas, and proposed a new structure for the website that could more simply and effectively convey the organisation’s purpose, impact and needs. Lastly, we worked with the CLT team to develop a mid-term communication strategy with clearly-articulated communication goals, objectives and activities.