I focus on facilitating science communication and democratic deliberation — connecting diverse viewpoints on complex and controversial issues to build better societal structures and solutions.
My work uses a “civic science” approach, looking at how we can create stronger connections between diverse viewpoints and values in science and civic life to have better research and more representative decision-making.
I'm a researcher focused on connecting research and practice to figure out how we can better communicate, collaborate, and make decisions on science- and risk-related issues in society and our everyday lives.
The goal is to improve our understanding of the complex issues we face — whether that's COVID-19 or future pandemics, emerging technologies in artificial intelligence or biotech, our energy systems, or other shared challenges — and to build solutions that include and benefit all of us. This includes research and research-practice partnerships on how we can overcome polarization and improve the representation of different, and often disagreeing, viewpoints in decision-making.
I'm from and based in Missoula, Montana, and currently split my time between Missoula and Hamburg, Germany.
Integrating communication research into film production to experiment with ways of communicating complex science and social issues with diverse audiences. This includes a Moore Foundation-funded documentary collaboration and the research arm of an NSF-funded project on short films for public and student audiences.
Building a replicable, sustainable learning program in civic science across journalism, policy, research, community engagement, advocacy, and philanthropy — funded with the Rita Allen Foundation and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation.
Second Place, ComSHER Division (2021), for “(Mis)informed about what? What it means to be a science-literate citizen in a digital world,” published in PNAS, 118(15).
My research examines how people form opinions about science and technology — and what it takes to make science engagement genuinely inclusive and deliberative rather than top-down.
Defining and building the “pillars” of civic science — understanding science in context, designing for equity and inclusion, scaffolding for impact, communicating for the future, and leading systems change — across philanthropy, academia, journalism, and policymaking.
Public and expert views of emerging technologies — human gene editing and CRISPR, synthetic biology, fracking, and mRNA vaccines — including how purpose, heritability, ideology, trust, and knowledge shape what people accept.
How incidental exposure to science news on social media builds knowledge, how partisanship shapes perceptions of “algorithmic news bias,” and what it means to be science-literate in a digital world.
Research-practice partnerships with documentary producers, using surveys and experiments to connect storytelling features to how audiences process technical information, values, uncertainty, and the “human dimensions” of science.
How deference to scientific authority can extend beyond confidence in science into authoritarianism, and how non-scientists navigate uncertainty around reproducibility, replicability, and contested public health messaging.
Communicating chemistry through cooking and personal health, community science, and informal learning settings that increase perceived relevance, interest, and self-efficacy.
A selection of peer-reviewed articles. Full list available in my CV, with DOIs and links to each paper.
Vaccine, 41(4), 922–929
New Media & Society
Journal of Science Communication, 20(4), 1–22
Journal of Chemical Education
Harvard Data Science Review, 2(4)
Journal of Risk Research
The CRISPR Journal, 3(3), 148–155
Energy Research & Social Science, 55, 168–178
PLoS ONE, 14(5), e0216274
Also published: book chapters in Synthetic Biology 2020 (Springer), Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training (Routledge), and the SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development; white papers for the National Academies and the AAAS Center for Public Engagement; and perspectives in Stanford Social Innovation Review and The Conversation. See the full CV for the complete list.
I'm happy to connect about research collaborations, science communication projects, speaking engagements, and civic science work.
The best way to reach me is by email at eleahyhowell@gmail.com. Whether you're working on a documentary, building a research-practice partnership, or designing a science engagement or civic science program, I'd love to hear from you.
You can also find me on the channels below, or download my CV for the full record of publications, invited talks, funded projects, and teaching.
