Samuel Michael Illingworth

Edinburgh Napier University · Department of Learning & Teaching Enhancement

With the onset of climate change, adaptive action must occur at all scales, including locally, placing increasing responsibility on the public. Effective communication strategies are essential, and adaptation games have shown potential in fostering social learning and bridging the knowledge–action gap. However, few research efforts so far give voic...

Academic writing is essential for disciplinary learning, academic success, knowledge creation, social status, and career advancement within academia (Fang, 2021). Academic research, writing, and publishing form the foundations of the majority of academic positions and remain primary considerations for hiring, renewal, promotion, and tenure in most...

With the onset of climate change, adaptive action will have to occur at all scales, including locally. This implies a growing responsibility for the public and, therefore, a need to spread awareness and inspire climate action. Communication via adaptation games shows potential in achieving social learning and addressing the so-called knowledge-acti...

Science communication is an important part of research, including in the geosciences, as it can benefit society, science, and make science more publicly accountable. However, much of this work takes place in “shadowlands” that are neither fully seen nor understood. These shadowlands are spaces, aspects, and practices of science communication which...

This review article is a written contribution to accompany the 2023 Katia and Maurice Krafft Award from the European Geosciences Union. Through a consideration of my own practice and that of the wider literature, I explore how creative approaches (primarily poetry and games) can enhance the diversification of geosciences and facilitate broader enga...

Transdisciplinary sustainability science integrates multiple perspectives, promotes internal reflexivity and situated learning, and engages with multiple stakeholders to solve real-world sustainability challenges. Therefore, transdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning for sustainability science have traditionally focused on promoting core...

Empathy is an important aspect of therapeutic relationships in health and social care settings. Health educators can foster empathy development in learners through creative writing activities. Drawing on the humanities, specifically poetry, this paper offers strategies for educators to support empathy development in learners, with a focus on servic...

Citizen science, though well established in Australia has not yet found wide use in tertiary science education. We offer case studies to illustrate that Citizen Science approaches are slowly being adopted and we highlight the spectrum of experiences in higher education from undergraduate to alumni. Courses that integrate citizen science methods ten...

This article is a written contribution to accompany the 2023 Katia and Maurice Krafft Award from the European Geosciences Union. Though a consideration of my own practice and that of the wider literature, I investigate whether employing creative approaches can enhance the diversification of geosciences and facilitate broader engagement in its resea...

Higher education business schools in the UK have needfully sought to service new international student groups, away from non-EU countries and other traditional markets. Often the students from these areas have learning and teaching needs, and contextual understanding and values, that may challenge the easy application of pedagogy for responsible bu...

The impact of individual identities on university staff's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic has been profound. We conducted a survey of 118 staff members at one Scottish university to explore how their identities were impacting on their experiences. Results from qualitative content analysis showed that existing inequalities had been exacerba...

The incubation period is a stage in the problem-solving process where attention is distracted from the problem in question and is instead focused on something else. Engaging with this incubation period has been shown to foster creativity in problem solving. However, such strategies inevitably adopt a rather passive approach. What this chapter propo...

In this study we investigate how first-year chemistry/biology undergraduate students’ original poetry can be used as a reflective tool for others to understand their course experiences. By inviting students from an integrated first-year chemistry/biology course to write poetry about their experiences, we use poetic content analysis as a qualitative...

There is still a significant lack of diversity and equity in geoscience education, even after decades of work and widespread calls for improvement and action. We join fellow community voices in calls for improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the geosciences. Here, in this manifesto, we present a list of opportunities for educators t...

Purpose This purpose of this study is to explore the voices of women in conceptualizing a city with clean air, and how this relates to urban structural changes being made more environmentally and socially sustainable. Design/methodology/approach A growing body of research suggests that gender is central to placemaking, and in dealing with environm...

A survey was completed by 11 geoscience students in order to explore their experience of writing poetry as an aid to their science education. A thematic analysis found that themes could be categorised as being related to either the “Task Process” (“Identification of Significant Information”, “Distillation of Information”, “Metamorphosis of Text”) o...

Higher education institutes (HEI) face considerable challenges in navigating how to respond to the escalating and intertwined socio-ecological sustainability crises. Many dedicated individuals working in the sector are already driving meaningful action through rigorous research, teaching, knowledge sharing, and public engagement, while there is a g...

There is still a significant lack of diversity and equity in geoscience education, even decades after widespread calls for improvement and action. We propose an approach and specific opportunities for educators to improve diversity in geoscience 20 education within higher education: 1) advocating for institutional change, 2) incorporating diverse p...

The study presented here employs thematic analysis to explore geoscience students’ experience of writing poetry as an aid to their science education. It was found that themes could be categorised as being related to either the ‘Task Process’ or ‘Task Meaning’. The results of this study present evidence that writing poetry can aid geoscience student...

This Chapter will help you to consider why you want to write science poems, the audience who you want to write for, and the scientific topic that you want to engage with. It also provides an overview of what makes a poem, and how you can use various poetic forms to help build your confidence as a writer. This Chapter concludes with practical advice...

This Chapter has presents an outline of poetic content analysis, a research method for developing and interrogating science communication research questions by using poetry as data. As well as introducing this method and how to use it in practice, this Chapter also discusses the importance of considering your theoretical perspectives, and the need...

This Chapter has been designed as a confidence builder for engaging with poetry, providing an introduction for how to find different science poems, as well as guidance for how to read and analyse them in relation to the science that they involve. Some basic scaffolding and structure for creating your own science poems, and the benefits for doing so...

This article considers players’ experiences seeking out new games to play, and their use of the Australian National Classification Scheme in doing so. The global video game industry is booming, with hundreds of games being released each month across numerous platforms. As a result, players have an unprecedented number of games available when choosi...

In this Chapter, I introduce a six-point manifesto for interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists and poets. In doing so I demonstrate why such a manifesto is necessary, and apply it to two well-established interdisciplinary collaborations to demonstrate how it works in practice, highlighting the merits and the areas for improvement in bot...

This Chapter introduces poetic transcription as a qualitative research method. Beginning with the core principles on which it is formed, I outline a specific research method for using poetic transcription in science communication research, highlighting the importance of ensuring that the transcribed poem is truly representative of the data and its...

Science Communication Through Poetry aims to explore how we might communicate science effectively both to and with non-scientific audiences across the spectrum of science communication, from dissemination to dialogue, via the medium of poetry. It has been written for scientists, science communicators, public engagement practitioners, and poets, so...

In this Chapter, I present a detailed explanation of how to develop, deliver, and evolve poetry workshops. I also discuss why these poetry workshops are an effective format for developing dialogues between scientific and non-scientific audiences, and how they can be used to level hierarchies of intellect.

If you are a geoscientist doing work to achieve impact outside academia or engaging different audiences with the geosciences, are you planning to make this publishable? If so, then plan. Such investigations into how people (academics, practitioners, other publics) respond to geoscience can use pragmatic, simple research methodologies accessible to...

In the early months of 2020, as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) swept across the globe, millions of people were required to make drastic changes to their lives to help contain the impact of the virus. Among those changes, scientific conferences of every type and size were forced to cancel or postpone in order to protect public health. Included in...

If you are a geoscientist doing work to achieve impact outside academia or engaging different audiences with the geosciences, are you planning to make this publishable? If so, then plan. Such investigations into how people (academics, practitioners, other publics) behave can use pragmatic, simple research methodologies accessible to the non-special...

In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus swept across the globe, millions of people were required to make drastic changes to their lives to help contain the impact of the virus. Among those changes, scientific conferences of every type and size were forced to cancel or postpone in order to protect public health. Included in these was the European...

Science communication is often perceived as an opportunity for scientists to broadcast their expertise and knowledge to a general public, so that this lay audience might better understand a specific field of study. However, in order for science to be made more accessible, science communication initiatives need to move away from this one‐way discour...

In this study we investigate what poetry written about volcanoes from the 1800s to the present day reveals about the relationship between volcanoes and the societies and times represented by poets who wrote about them, including how it evolved over that time frame. In order to address this research question, we conducted a qualitative content analy...

We, the executive editors atGeoscience Communication, sincerely hope that this message finds you and your loved ones in good health. We are in the midst of a global-health crisis, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This affects all of us, and we truly hope that you are remaining safe and taking all necessary precautions. We all are facing difficu...

We, the Executive Editors at Geoscience Communication, sincerely hope that this message finds you and your loved ones in good health. We are in the midst of yet another global health crisis, the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This affects all of us, and we truly hope that you are remaining safe and taking all necessary precautions. We all are fac...

By conducting a qualitative content analysis of 72 poems written about climate change by poets from across the world, this study demonstrates how these poets have interpreted the, at times, esoteric principles of climate change. The results of this study indicate that these interpretations highlight the need to re-position humans at the epicentre o...

Sam Illingworth explains how poetry can help to communicate and celebrate your science. Sam Illingworth explains how poetry can help to communicate and celebrate your science. Poet Vachel Lindsay reads with one of his relatives. Credit: Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Vachel Lindsay with a nephew

This file contains the cards required to play Carbon City Zero. Illustrations by Tony Pickering, design by Matt Bonner.

This file contains the draft rules for the game Carbon City Zero.

Carbon Tracker for Carbon City Zero.

In this study we investigate what poetry written about volcanoes from 1800 to the present day reveals about the relationship between humanity and volcanoes, including how it evolved over that time frame. In order to address this research question, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of a selection of 34 English-language poems written about...

By conducting a qualitative content analysis of 72 poems written about climate change by poets from across the world, this study demonstrates how these poets have interpreted the, at times, esoteric principles of climate change. The results of this study indicate that these interpretations highlight the need to re-position humans in the epicentre o...

Aims and Objectives To explore student nurse and educator perspectives on the use of poetry writing as a way to reflect on important nursing practice issues. Background Reflective practice is a well-established method of learning in pre-registration nurse education although student nurses can find reflection a challenging process. Design An explora...

From the wilderness of Hyrule, the continent of Tamriel, and the geographies of Middle Earth, players of video games are exposed to wondrous, fantastic, but ultimately fake, landscapes. Given the time people may spend in these worlds compared to the time they spend being trained in geoscience, we wondered whether expert geoscientists would differ f...

‘Catan’ ® (1995) is a multiplayer tabletop game with global sales of over 20 million copies. Presented here is an exploration of the steps that were taken in the development of the ‘Catan: Global Warming’ expansion, from prototype to final design. During the playtesting of the game the feedback that we received from a variety of playtesters indicat...

A sonnet to science presents an account of six ground-breaking scientists who also wrote poetry, and the effect that this had on their lives and research. How was the universal computer inspired by Lord Byron? Why was the link between malaria and mosquitos first captured in the form of a poem? Who did Humphry Davy consider to be an 'illiterate pira...

Understanding how different publics within society perceive and experience air pollution is key in designing communication efforts able to catalyse positive behavioural changes at the individual level. The literature suggests that place, age, educational level and income all shape, to some extent, how citizens perceive air pollution. The role of ge...

Urban centres worldwide are adversely affected by flooding and air pollution. Better-prepared citizens are crucial to limiting the impacts of these hazards, and both lay knowledge and personal experiences are important in complementing and challenging expert opinion. For the first time, this study offers a critical comparison of how different two-w...

This research presents three case studies, through which a creative approach to developing dialogue around climate change is outlined. By working with three distinct communities and encouraging them to discuss and write poetry about how climate change affects them, we demonstrate how such an approach might be adopted at this level. By analysing the...

This research presents three case studies, through which a creative approach to developing dialogue around climate change is outlined. By working with three distinct communities and encouraging them to discuss and write poetry about how climate change affects them, we demonstrate how such an approach might be adopted at this level. By analysing the...

Urban centres worldwide are adversely affected by flooding and air pollution. Better prepared citizens are crucial to limiting the impacts of these hazards, and both lay knowledge and personal experiences are important in complementing and challenging expert opinion. For the first time, this study offers a critical comparison of how different two-w...

In this article, we argue that tabletop games provide a helpful means of rethinking the affordances of digital games in pedagogy. We argue that tabletop games offer a distinctive technology from digital games in exploring the idea of play as experience, providing a sociable, accessible and tactile platform that can easily be adapted by players to s...

Air pollution is a major environmental concern for many populations worldwide. Communication efforts so far have been based on a one-way provision of evidence and information from experts to society, and have arguably failed in their mission to foster a more aware and engaged society, or to result in cleaner air. Globally we are facing both an air...

The effects and consequences that environmental change will have on our society are not solely dependent on the ways in which the Earth system responds to anthropogenic effects. They are also affected by the way in which our society decides to mitigate against them. Similarly, the way society reacts to global environmental change is not wholly depe...

This paper describes the development of a new sampling and measurement method to infer methane flux using proxy measurements of CO2 concentration and wind data recorded by Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The flux method described and trialed here is appropriate to the spatial scale of landfill sites and analogous greenhouse gas emission hotspots, ma...

The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which student nurses use self-authored poems to think about important aspects of nursing practice. Being a nurse can be rewarding in that it affords opportunities to care for and communicate with others. However, it can also yield challenges, and nurses are often faced with practice filled with uncer...

The aim of this special issue on science communication is to inspire and help scientists who are taking part or want to take part in science communication and engage with the wider public, clinicians, other scientists or policy makers. For this, some articles provide concise and accessible advice to individual scientists, science networks, or learn...

This work is a systematic literature review analysing how two-way communication formats, such as social media and forums, have been used in engaging the public with flooding and pollution worldwide. We aim to ascertain what makes each format effective and how they could be applied to a local context in order to have more prepared citizens, as well...

Airborne measurements of a methane (CH4) plume over the North Sea from August 2013 are analyzed. The plume was only observed downwind of circumnavigated gas fields, and three methods are used to determine its source. First, a mass balance calculation assuming a gas field source gives a CH4 emission rate between 2.5±0.8x104 and 4.6±1.5x104 kg h−1. T...

Airborne measurements of a methane (CH4) plume over the North Sea from August 2013 are analyzed. The plume was only observed downwind of circumnavigated gas fields, and three methods are used to determine its source. First, a mass balance calculation assuming a gas field source gives a CH4 emission rate between 2.5±0.8x104 and 4.6±1.5x104 kg h−1. T...

Climate change intensified hazards, such as floods and landslides, require exploring renewed ways of protecting at-risk communities. Scientists are being encouraged to explore new pathways to work closely with affected communities in search of experiential knowledge that is able to complement and extend scientific knowledge. Effective two-way commu...

Climate change intensified hazards, such as floods and landslides, require exploring renewed ways of protecting at-risk communities (World Economic Forum 2016). Scientists are being encouraged to explore new pathways to work closely with affected communities in search of experiential knowledge that is able to complement and extend scientific knowle...

Science communication is becoming ever more prevalent, with more and more scientists expected to not only communicate their research to a wider public, but to do so in an innovative and engaging manner. Given the other commitments that researchers and academics are required to fulfil as part of their workload models, it is unfair to be expect them...

A stratified air mass enriched in methane (CH$_{4}$) was sampled at ~600 m to ~2000 m altitude, between the north coast of Norway and Svalbard as part of the Methane in the Arctic: Measurements and Modelling campaign on board the UK's BAe-146-301 Atmospheric Research Aircraft. The approach used here, which combines interpretation of multiple tracer...

Communicating science to wider lay audiences is an increasingly important part of a scientist's remit, and is something that many scientists are keen to embrace. However, based on surveys carried out amongst the UK public, as well as our own experiences in developing and delivering such activities, we believe that they are not always as effective a...

A stratified air mass enriched in methane (CH4) was sampled at ~600 m to ~2000 m altitude, between the north coast of Norway and Svalbard as part of the MAMM (Methane in the Arctic: Measurements and Modelling) campaign on board the UK's BAe-146-301 Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA). The approach used here, which combines interpretation of multipl...

This book was conceived as a result of discussions between the two authors and young scientists we met at conferences about what it meant to be an effective communicator, and how daunting it can be to establish oneself in the challenging world of academia. Good communication is a core skill of any academic, especially for the fast-paced, modern-day...

The central purpose of science is to explain (Purtill, 1970). However, who is that explanation for, and how is this explanation communicated once it has been deduced? Scientific research is typically communicated via papers in journals, with an abstract presented as a summary of that explanation. However, in many instances they may be written in a...

These are the responses to the survey that was used in this study to assess the effectiveness of poetry as a form of scientific abstract.

Communicating science to wider lay audiences is of increasing importance and is becoming an ever larger part of a scientist's remit which also offers important opportunities. We discuss here the current state of science communication in the field of the natural sciences in the UK, and the enormous improvements that could be achieved through putting...

The Royal Society of Chemistry held, to our knowledge, the world’s first Twitter conference at 9am on February 5 th, 2015. The conference was a Twitter-only conference, allowing researchers to upload academic posters as tweets, replacing a physical meeting. This paper reports the details of the event and discusses the outcomes, such as the potentia...

This book analyzes how climate change adaptation can be implemented at the community, regional and national level. Featuring a variety of case studies, it illustrates strategies, initiatives and projects currently being implemented across the world. In addition to the challenges faced by communities, cities and regions seeking to cope with climate...

The overall aim of public academic science communication is to engage a non-scientist with a particular field of science and/or research topic, often driven by the expertise of the academic. An e-survey was designed to provide insight into respondent's current and future engagement with science communication activities. Respondents provided a wide...

The central purpose of science is to explain. However, who is that explanation for, and how is this explanation communicated once it has been deduced? Scientific research is typically communicated via papers in journals, with an abstract presented as a summary of that explanation. However, in many instances they may be written in a manner which is...

The central purpose of science is to explain. However, who is that explanation for, and how is this explanation communicated once it has been deduced? Scientific research is typically communicated via papers in journals, with an abstract presented as a summary of that explanation. However, in many instances they may be written in a manner which is...

The Royal Society of Chemistry held, to our knowledge, the world's first Twitter conference at 9am on February 5 th, 2015. The conference was a Twitter-only conference, allowing researchers to upload academic posters as tweets, replacing a physical meeting. This paper reports the details of the event and discusses the outcomes, such as the potentia...