Research

As a researcher of environmental communication, I focus on how messaging influences environmental attitudes and behaviors, risk perceptions, and policy preferences, particularly on marine and coastal issues. My research unites the disciplines of communication studies, political science, psychology, sociology, and environmental studies, leveraging interdisciplinary insights to theorize and test how we can more effectively communicate about important environmental issues. Over time, my research has become increasingly applied, working with community groups, policymakers, and stakeholders to provide insights to navigate the environmental threats facing their communities.

Core Research Areas

Communication & Messaging Offshore Wind

Investigating how offshore wind is communicated in the northeast, with a growing focus on misinformation in the offshore wind space.

Climate Change Media & Communication

Understanding the nuances of how climate change is communicated in the media, and how communicators can more effectively convey the urgency of climate action in a polarized media landscape.

Cultural Identity & Risk Communication

Through a NIEHS Superfund Research Project grant, this work partners with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Cape Cod to understand and communicate how to minimize the Tribal community's exposure to PFAS from local fish and shellfish

Coastal Resilience & Sense of Place

Spanning several grant projects, this line of work investigates how residents of coastal areas think about their communities and the risks they face due to climate impacts, and how to communiate about coastal resilience in a way that reflects and embraces coastal sense of place

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Howley, Shannon*, Tiffany Smythe, Emily Diamond, David Bidwell. (2025). Perceived misinformation in offshore

wind: Insights from participants in Northeastern US offshore wind planning and permitting processes. Energy

Research & Social Science, 130(104403).

Smythe, Tiffany, Shannon Howley*, Emily Diamond, David Bidwell. (2025). Communication Silos: A governance

network approach to the offshore wind planning and permitting process. Energy Research and Social Science

129(104328).

Diamond, Emily P., Erica Meier,* Kaitlin Urbanski*, Jamie-Lynn Ward*, Jason Steiding, Laurel Schaider. (2025). Communicating Pollutants That Threaten Tribal Identities: PFAS Contamination in Local Fish and Shellfish. Science Communication, 10755470251388445.

Treviño, Melva, Kaitlin Urbanski*, Emily P. Diamond. 2025. Beyond formal ocean education: cultivating marine stewardship and care for the ocean through coastal access and shoreline experiences. Environmental Education Research, 1-27.

Wetts, Rachel, Hanna E. Morris, Maxwell Boykoff, Brenda McNally, James Painter, Mary Sanford, Emily P. Diamond, Marc Esteve-del-Valle, Loredana Loy, Kelly E. Perry, Urooj S. Raja & Robin Tschötschel. 2025. Climate media amidst technopolitical change: challenges, transformations, and new directions for research. Climatic Change, 178(115).

Tschötschel, Robin S., Emily P. Diamond, Shannon E. Howley*, Brenda McNally, Hanna E. Morris, Kelly E. Perry, Marthe Elden Wilhelmsen. 2025. Public Communication of Climate and Justice: A Scoping Review. WIREs Climate Change, 16(1).

Diamond, Emily P., Nikol Damato*, David Bidwell, Tiffany Smythe. 2024. Framing the wind: Media coverage of offshore wind in the Northeastern United States. Environmental Communication, 19(2): 161-178.

Diamond, Emily P., Nikol Damato,* Tiffany Smythe, David Bidwell. 2024. Legitimacy through representation? Media sources and discourses of offshore wind development. Frontiers in Communication, 9:1401172.

Diamond, Emily P., Kaitlin Urbanski,* Melva Treviño. 2024. ‘The ocean is a part of me’: Identifying, defining, and describing coastal place attachment. Coastal Management, 52 (4-5), 215-233.

Urbanski, Kaitlyn,* Emily P. Diamond, and Melva Treviño. 2024. Taking stock: Assessing Rhode Island recreational angler conservation ethic and coastal identity. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 1-19.

Conley, Elizabeth D.* and Emily P. Diamond. 2024. Angler’s Sense of Place as an Indicator of Perceived Vulnerability to Shifting Stock Distributions. Marine Policy, 161.

Diamond, Emily P. 2024. Conservative conservationists: reconciling conflicting identities to inform climate change policy preferences. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 12:2, 320-337.

Diamond, Emily P. 2023. Understanding Rural Identities and Environmental Policy Attitudes in America. Perspectives on Politics, 21(2), 502-518.

Diamond, Emily P. & Kaitlin Urbanski. 2022. The Impact of Message Valence on Climate Change Attitudes: A Longitudinal Experiment. Environmental Communication, 16(8), 1046-1058. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2022.2151486

Diamond, Emily P. & Jack Zhou. 2021. Whose Policy Is It Anyway? Public Support for Clean Energy Policy Depends on the Message and the Messenger. Environmental Politics. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2021.1969844

Diamond, Emily P. 2020. The Influence of Identity Salience on Framing Effectiveness: An Experiment. Political Psychology, 41(6): 1133-1150. doi: 10.1111/pops.12669

Diamond, Emily P., Thomas Bernauer & Frederick W. Mayer. 2020. Does providing scientific information affect climate change and GMO policy preferences of the mass public? Insights from survey experiments in Germany and the United States. Environmental Politics, 29(7): 1199-1218. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2020.1740547

Pechar, Emily, Thomas Bernauer & Frederick W. Mayer. 2018. Beyond political ideology: The impact of attitudes towards government and corporations on trust in science. Science Communication, 40(3): 291-313. doi: 10.1177/1075547018763970

*Graduate student advisee

Reports & White Papers

Bonnie, Robert, Drew Bennett, Emily P. Diamond, Elizabeth Rowe. 2020. Attitudes of Rural Westerners on the Environment and Conservation. Durham, NC: Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University.

Diamond, E., R. Bonnie, E. Rowe. 2020. Rural Attitudes on Climate Change: Lessons from National and Midwest Polling and Focus Groups. NI Report 20-06. Durham, NC: Duke University

Bonnie, R., E. Diamond, E. Rowe. 2020. Understanding Rural Attitudes Toward the Environment and Conservation in America. NI R 20-03. Durham, NC: Duke University.

Pechar, Emily, Brian Murray, William A. Pizer. 2018. The relationship between policy design choices, carbon prices and ambition: Evidence from the field.

Pechar, Emily, Rachel Kranton. 2017. Moderators of intergroup discrimination in the Minimal Group Paradigm: A meta-analysis.

Pechar, Emily K. (Contributing Author), Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: The assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. 2019. Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Pechar, Emily K., Mercedes Marcano, Acacia Paton-Young, Brian Murray, & Geoff McCarney. 2016. North American Climate Policy Forum: Post-Conference Discussion and Summary Report. Ottawa, ON: Sustainable Prosperity.

Pechar, Emily K. & Mercedes Marcano. 2016. Overview of the North American Climate Policy Landscape at the National and Sub-National Levels. Ottawa, ON: Sustainable Prosperity.

Book Chapters

Diamond, Emily P. (2026) Is there a “rural environmental identity”? Characterizing differences between rural and urban perspectives on environmental protection. In Rethinking Rural Politics: Place-Based Identity, Political Ideology, and Policy in Rural America, ed. Nicholas F. Jacobs. De Gruyter Brill.

Balleisen, Edward, Lori Bennear, David Cheang, Megan Hayes, Emily K. Pechar, A. Catherine Preston (2017. “Institutional Mechanisms for Investigating the Regulatory Impact of a Major Crisis: The Commission of Inquiry and the Safety Board.” In Policy Shock: Recalibrating Risk and Regulation after Oil Spills, Nuclear Accidents, and Financial Crashes, ed Edward J. Balleisen, Lori S. Bennear, Kimberly D. Krawiec, and Jonathan B. Wiener. Cambridge University Press.

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