Science and environmental journalists and climate and marine scientists will continue meeting over the next two years as part of a national workshop project aimed at better understanding the working cultures and practices of scientists and journalists, with a goal of improving public understanding of science through the mass media.

The multi-year project is being managed by the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, publisher of Environment Writer, based at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography. The science journalism workshop project is funded by a newly announced two-year grant from the Paleoclimate Program, Division of Atmospheric Science, National Science Foundation, and by a second-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air Programs. In-kind travel support for invited workshop participants is being provided by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Ocean Service. The EPA workshops project grant is being provided through the nonprofit Environmental Law Institute.

In the first year of the planned three-year project, Metcalf hosted two-day workshops involving up to 12 invited science and environmental journalists and up to 12 climate/marine scientists.

Journalism participants at the initial two workshops included reporters and editors from news organizations such as the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Science and Nature magazines, BBC, CNN, and leading regional newspapers. Scientists involved in the initial two workshops have included leading atmospheric, climate, and marine scientists, including two winners of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The first two workshops were held at the University of Rhode Island's W. Alton Jones campus (November 2003) and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in La Jolla, California (March 2004). The third workshop is to be held November 8-10, 2004, in cooperation with the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

The workshop project focuses not on breaking news in the climate science field, but rather on communications challenges facing journalists and scientists in reporting on science-related news in today's mass media.

Beyond the planned University of Washington November meeting, additional workshops in the project – each involving a new and expanding set of invited journalism and science participants – are being planned in the Southeast and in the Midwest, with exact university-affiliated locations and dates still to be decided.

Additional information and details on the workshop project will be reported in Environment Writer and via the Metcalf Institute website in coming weeks and months.