Introduction

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is one of the world’s top oceanographic institutions, making sense of our changing seas and helping to better understand the links between our ocean and climate change. Having recently undergone a rebranding, the NOC has established its mission to ensure that “everyone feels empowered and inspired to help our ocean thrive by telling compelling ocean stories with clarity of purpose”.

Since 2021, the NOC have worked with Siren Calling and our sister organisation Incredible Oceans to provide an array of bespoke communication training packages to scientists, technicians, engineers and early-career researchers.

Recognising the communication needs of marine researchers, we were able to use their unique insight and experience within ocean sciences to provide communications training specifically catering for marine and environmental researchers. 

Working with Siren Calling, has enabled NOC to embed a culture of impactful and meaningful public engagement across the institution, helping personnel feel more confident and in control during presentations and interviews, while also making the most of any time in the spotlight, promoting the importance of ocean research to different segments of society.

How Best To Fly The Flag Of Ocean Science?

As the UK’s largest oceanographic institution, personnel at the NOC are increasingly called upon by the press and media to give statements, sound bites and interviews to support news stories with an ocean focus. Recognising the opportunity this coverage affords to highlight the work of the NOC and raise the profile of ocean science, the NOC approached Incredible Oceans  to develop a bespoke ‘Introduction to Science Communication’ course, giving scientist the confidence to communicate effectively to different audiences and helping them to take their first steps into public engagement.

As the links between climate change and ocean science have become better known in the public arena, the NOC began attending the COP climate conferences with an increasing presence year-upon-year. Building upon the introductory training, COP attendees wanted to take their communications training to the next level. 

In response, Incredible Oceans and Siren Calling developed bespoke training courses focusing on videography and how to conduct interviews with the press. With the next COP happening just a fortnight after the training, participants were able to put their new skills to the test at high-profile press conferences focusing on the ocean and climate. 

With over 100 NOC staff having attended communications training in one form or another, the effect has been to instill an active culture of public engagement across the institution.  

The Challenge

Having obtained a new charitable status, the NOC underwent a rebranding to help engage with different audiences, and cement the institution as a leader in ocean research within the wider oceanographic community. Part of this was to increase the visibility of the work being conducted at the NOC, and help different stakeholder better understand and engage with the research.

Why The NOC Chose Siren Calling

As an alumni of the NOC, Siren/Incredible Oceans trainer Dr Russell Arnott has one foot in academic research and the other in science communication, allowing him a unique insight into the world of ocean science and how to communicate broad environmental science effectively to different audiences. 

Drawing upon the journalism expertise and social science experience of Ian Rowlands, this unique combination of skill sets perfectly placed Ian and Russell and associate Emily May Armstrong, to deliver impactful communications training.

How The NOC Responded

Recognising the time and money constraints of the client yet wanting to provide a high-quality of service, we distilled our normally 3-day-long training course down to an intensive cost and time effective 1-day course, focussing on the essentials of environmental science communication.

Responding closely to informal participant feedback and formal course evaluations, the course has been honed with each progressive iteration ensuring it meets the needs of both the participants and the goals set out by the NOC.

Keen to put their new communication skills to the test and push themselves further, participants on the Introduction to Comms course naturally demanded ‘what’s next?’. 

In response to this, we partnered with environmental videography trainer Laurence Hall, to deliver a 1-day basic introduction to video-making, covering the basics of filming, scripting, storyboarding and editing allowing researchers to make quick, easy and impactful videos for social media. 

In addition, many researchers had been approached by various media outlets to provide interviews and input into breaking news stories around the ocean. Keen to help researchers capitalise on this time in the spotlight, We drew upon the media expertise of Ian Rowlands to put together a 1-day course covering the basics of interview techniques and how to effectively work with the media for maximum effect.  

How It Was A Success

Within any form of science communication, evaluation is crucial in informing the efficacy of the intervention but also guiding improvements and the audiences / clients needs. As leaders in marine science communication, Incredible Oceans undertakes evaluations after each training course. We’re proud that over 90% of NOC participants reported an increase in confidence when communicating to different audiences after only a 1-day course.  Instead of cherry-picking choice quotations that make us sound amazing, here we present the full written feedback (both positive and critical) from participants as a wordcloud of the top 40 words. It provides a snapshot of not only what the course entails but also how the training participants responded to the training.

Overall Results

To date, over a hundred NOC employees have taken part in Incredible Oceans training courses, helping to improve participants’ confidence and communication skills while also embedding a culture of public engagement across the institution. As the NOC continues to develop and increase stakeholder engagement and awareness, having a large staff pool of trained communicators at hand is helping to showcase the vital oceanographic research and its importance to wider society.