Welcome to the 26th Metcalf Institute Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists! We are looking forward to an intense, productive, and fun few weeks with you.

We know how difficult it can be for journalists to cover the complexities of climate and environmental science and water topics as well as find off-deadline time to broaden content knowledge. This is why we design Metcalf programs to offer experiences, resources and contacts that journalists might not otherwise have time to discover. Read about our program objectives below.

With the Annual Science Immersion Workshop, we strive to provide the Metcalf Fellows with a strong foundation in science: a deeper understanding of scientific methods, the process of research as a “relay, with one scientist building on the published work of another,” and greater confidence in translating fundamental concepts such as scientific uncertainty and hypothesis testing. 

Metcalf Institute’s mission sits at the intersection of science, journalism/science communication, the environment, and justice—an increasingly important and challenging combination. The 2024 Workshop is an opportunity for you to explore different approaches toward your reporting, from the ways you frame stories about climate change and water systems to the words you use when communicating risk.

Importantly, the Annual Workshop takes place in a societal context that we need to acknowledge: the stark, harmful legacy of white supremacy and systemic violence against Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latina/e/o/x, queer, trans, and disabled people in the United States remains central to our national conversation. In the interest of sustaining this critical conversation in the public discourse, especially in regard to environmental issues, we also want to help our Fellows be more thoughtful about the social contexts of their reporting. This not only includes the intentional representation of diverse scientific sources, but also how marginalized communities are presented in your reporting, and how you report on the inequities that are a fundamental aspect of the climate crisis and impacts on water systems. We will address this in many ways throughout the Workshop as part of our commitment to inclusive science communication.

As part of this discussion, we note that the University of Rhode Island occupies the traditional lands of the Narragansett Nation and the Niantic People. Their lands originally encompassed what is now the state of Rhode Island, into eastern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. We aim to honor and respect the enduring and continuing relationship between the Indigenous people and this land by teaching and learning more about their history and present-day communities, and by becoming stewards of the land we, too, inhabit. We pay our respects to their elders past and present. 

To the point of learning, we also note that the University of Rhode Island is a Land Grant institution, a national system that was created through the systematic appropriation of Indigenous lands, as chronicled in High Country News in 2020. 

We hope to inspire both Fellows and speakers during the Annual Workshop, but our ultimate goal is to provide the Fellows with knowledge, skills, and confidence that they can apply for the rest of their careers. Metcalf alumni often tell us they refer back to their Workshop materials repeatedly, years after attending the program. All those materials will be on this website, which will remain live as a continuing resource for you after the Workshop.

We urge you, Metcalf Fellows, to challenge yourself throughout the Workshop to identify the ways you will apply this experience in your work.

Alumni often get in touch with us to ask for advice on sources or research leads, and speakers get in touch to ask about journalist contacts, to seek our help in sharing results with our journalist network, or to collaborate on other projects. We are happy to help with these requests whenever possible; this is the long-term relationship we’re aiming for. We look forward to hearing from all of you after the Workshop, helping you in the future, and promoting the important work you contribute to the world. 

 Sincerely,

The Metcalf Institute Team

Metcalf Institute 2024 programming depends on the trained and able assistance of the following URI graduate and undergraduate students:
Katelyn Barrett, URI Environmental Science and Management
Megan Hughes, URI Marine Biology and Psychology
Ashley Katusa, URI Environmental Science and Management
Rosemary Leger, URI Business Administration
Taylor Roberts, URI Biological and Environmental Sciences
Cierra Westbrook, URI Marine Biology and Chemistry

As a result of participating in the Annual Science Immersion Workshop, Fellows will:

1. Understand how academic scientists and engineers plan, fund, conduct, and publish their research

2. Better understand and feel better prepared to communicate scientific uncertainties

3. Be better prepared to translate scientific findings for news audiences

4. Recognize and understand climate change impacts on water systems, and interactions with adaptation strategies, the environment, and society 

5. Gain new insights, sources, and techniques to report water and climate change stories in inclusive ways that explore environmental justice and identify and amplify community assets and solutions

The 26th Annual Workshop is also designed to help Fellows to:

1. Identify new stories about water systems

2. Connect with new potential sources

3. Access new resources

4. Critically consider the presentation of sources in one's reporting

5. Expand peer networks

6. Produce accurate and contextualized environmental reporting

First of all, thank you for sharing your time with us! 

The Metcalf Institute Annual Workshop for Journalists is a successful and impactful fellowship because of the effort and time you are providing to help the Metcalf Fellows improve their reporting. On the flip side, the Fellows, too, have insights and knowledge to share with you. We encourage you to view this as a multi-directional learning exchange.

In the interest of making this experience as fruitful as possible for the Fellows, we offer you some background and guidance.

Format and Theme
As noted in our original invitations, the 2024 Annual Science Immersion Workshop is an in-person experience that focuses on the theme "Water Systems Under Pressure" and will examine how water systems are being changed and challenged by global climate change and other human activities.

We use our Rhode Island setting as a case study for these issues, bringing the Fellows into the field and lab to provide context and strengthen appreciation for environmental and social science and engineering research questions and methods. 

Audience and Geography
Metcalf Institute Fellows are all professional journalists who work full-time as newsroom staff or freelance reporters. They represent a range of career stages, backgrounds, and news audiences. The 2024 in-person Workshop is focused on water-related case studies in Rhode Island. The 2024 Metcalf Fellows work at a wide variety of news outlets serving a geographic range of audiences, from local to international. Please keep these diverse experiences, geographies, and news audiences in mind as you prepare your remarks. 

On Background or On the Record
Please let Fara Warner or Katharine McDuffie know if you need your presentation or remarks to be on background or if you are able to be on the record. We will then prepare the journalists accordingly.

Workshop Objectives & Evaluation
Review the learning objectives for the Annual Workshop. Our pre- and post-Workshop surveys and short daily surveys enable us to better understand fellowship experience and assess the degree to which we're achieving our objectives. 

Crafting Your Presentation
We cover a lot of ground in the Workshop, which means that we ask presenters to provide clear and concise presentations. Feel free to use a slide deck, but please make them readable and not overly numerous. We also ask you to use jargon with thought; avoid it when you can, and explain the terms if you can’t. Our jargon glossary is available to Fellows; some of your terms may end up here. Metcalf Institute also does communication training for researchers, and we would be delighted to provide feedback on your slides ahead of time to ensure that they are clear and effective.

Fostering Conversation and Building Community
The Fellows will have lots of questions and observations. Do your best to keep your answers concise but substantive to allow for a rich discussion that includes everyone. Metcalf staff will moderate these discussions to help keep them moving.

Some of the most important outcomes of the Annual Workshop are the new connections made and the expansion of this global community of practice. We encourage you to think of your participation as a way to interact with and learn from our Fellows, and to build your network of journalism contacts.

Metcalf Institute is dedicated to providing a safe, welcoming, and productive environment for everyone present in our programs, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, ability, physical appearance, gender, or sexual orientation. A program where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Accordingly, Metcalf Institute prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during its gatherings. This policy applies to organizers, speakers, volunteers, and Fellows.

Harassment of any participating person in any form will not be tolerated. Harassment includes:

• Offensive verbal or written comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, neurodivergence, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, employment, politics, marital status, etc.

• Posting or sharing sexual images

• Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following

• Harassing photography or recording

• Sustained disruption of talks or other events

• Unwelcome sexual attention

• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior

We expect everyone to follow these rules in all Metcalf sessions and events. 

Metcalf Institute staff will take appropriate action to address any actions or behavior that disrupts the Workshop or makes the environment hostile for any participants. If any participant engages in harassing behavior, Metcalf Institute staff will take any action we deem appropriate, ranging from a verbal warning to expulsion from the Workshop. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. 

If you are being harassed, or notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the Metcalf Institute staff immediately: fara.warner@uri.edu or mcduffie@uri.edu or other staff contact information.

We value your participation, and we want to make the Workshop experience as educational, productive and fun as possible. Thank you for complying.

Sources: SciCommCamp/Geek Feminism Wiki/ComSciCon