Will Grant
Biographic Data
| ID | 4413072 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Will Grant |
| GIVEN NAMES | Will |
| FAMILY NAME | Grant |
| SIGNATURE | GRANT W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9674-6488 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 93 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Communicating science in an age of bewilderment; or, a brief technological tectonics of our communication landscape
We live in bewildering times. Unusual politicians and political movements are rising to the fore, geopolitical maps are being redrawn, old certainties are collapsing, and knowledge — both good and bad — is flowing differently from ever before. Based on the belief that effective communication of science requires understanding of our communication landscape, in this article I offer a brief `technological tectonics' of our current communication land…
Understanding Intention Triggers in Early Autism Screening Promotion: The Role of Narrative and Framing
The global prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (autism) is rising rapidly. Given the importance of early screening and intervention, we conducted a randomized experiment to examine the persuasive effects of message type (narrative vs. statistical) and framing (gain vs. loss) on intentions for early autism screening and information-seeking, using a 2 × 2 factorial design with a no-message control group. Results showed that statistical messages …
PhD employability beyond academia: An analysis of industry skills emphasis through a cultural capital lens
PhD graduate employability is crucial for candidates, employers, and governments. Having PhD graduates in appropriate post-study employment enhances career satisfaction, benefits organisations, and fosters national prosperity. Over the past decade, debate has arisen regarding the effectiveness of doctoral employability training and the broader economic value of doctoral education beyond academia. This concern stems from evidence indicating that m…
What are we talking about when we are talking about the audience? Exploring the concept of audience in science communication research and education
The concept of ‘audience’ is central to research and practice in science communication. When asked by a scientist for help communicating their work, who among us has not responded with the time honoured question ‘who is your audience?’ Yet what we mean when we talk about audience is not always clear: implied and ambiguous, rather than explicit and precise. This article explores this ambiguity, drawing on a systematic review of 1360 science commun…
How prominent science communicators on YouTube understand the impact of their work
YouTube is rapidly becoming one of the major places that people around the world engage with science, in turn making prominent science communicators on YouTube some of the most impactful and known faces in science communication. However, while much is known about the viewership habits of YouTube audiences, little is known about the motivations, thinking and ideas of impact of the science communicators working on YouTube. The current study qualita…
Analysing the types of evidence used by Australian federal parliamentary committees
Policy makers globally often claim to use evidence when making policy decisions, but few studies have documented and evaluated the sources of evidence they rely on. This poses challenges to researchers and decision makers alike, as they struggle to assess the impact of research on policy. This study analysed citations in Australian federal parliamentary committee reports to better understand the role that academic sources play in shaping policy. …
A Good Story Well Told: Storytelling Components That Impact Science Video Popularity on YouTube
Storytelling plays a crucial role in science communication, but little research has investigated how it impacts the popularity of science videos. This study examined storytelling components in 306 popular YouTube science videos and revealed significant relationships between video popularity and five storytelling components, namely dramatic question, insight, moments of change, emotional arousal and status of story. Emotional arousal, in particula…
I’ll See It When I Believe It: Motivated Numeracy in Perceptions of Climate Change Risk
People’s attitudes about Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC) risks are not only influenced by scientific data, such as the likelihood of harm, the consequences of failing to act and the cost and effectiveness of mitigation. Instead, when people receive information about controversial topics of decision-relevant science like ACC they often defer to their political attitudes. Recent research has shown that more numerate people can be more polarized …
Learning from the Climate Change Debate to Avoid Polarisation on Negative Emissions
This paper identifies critical lessons from the climate change experience to guide how communications and engagement on negative emissions can be conducted to encourage functional public and policy discourse. Negative emissions technologies present a significant opportunity for limiting climate change, and are likely to be necessary to keep warming below 2°C. While the concept of negative emissions is still in its infancy, there is evidence of na…
JunkScience: Investigating pseudoscience disinformation in the Russian Internet Research Agency tweets
Recent research has identified anti-vaccination propaganda in the so-called Russian Troll Tweets strongly associated with the 2016 US Presidential election. This study builds on this: hypothesising that if vaccination content was found in the sample, the Russia Tweets would be likely to contain other science content, and perhaps, similar pseudo or anti-science messages. As well as vaccination, climate change, genetically modified organisms, Ebola…
Framing climate change for effective communication: A systematic map
Climate change emerged as an issue of science, but its broad ranging impacts and potential mitigation strategies mean it is of significance to all people across sectors, interests, and nations. As a result, the traditional fact-centred way of communicating information about climate change is not necessarily the best strategy for engaging the full breadth of publics. In communication practice and scholarship, framing is an approach that emphasises…
Exploring the YouTube science communication gender gap: A sentiment analysis
YouTube has become the second most popular web search engine (see Alexa.com ) and the primary website for individuals and organisations to freely distribute video content. Popularity statistics indicate that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related content is of significant interest to YouTube audiences, yet analysis of the 391 most popular science, engineering and mathematics–themed channels reveals a conspicuous absence of femal…
A Machine Learning Analysis of the Non-academic Employment Opportunities for Ph.D. Graduates in Australia
Science communication on YouTube: Factors that affect channel and video popularity
YouTube has become one of the largest websites on the Internet. Among its many genres, both professional and amateur science communicators compete for audience attention. This article provides the first overview of science communication on YouTube and examines content factors that affect the popularity of science communication videos on the site. A content analysis of 390 videos from 39 YouTube channels was conducted. Although professionally gene…
Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter
The recent emergence of online social media has had a significant effect on the contemporary political landscape, yet our understanding of this remains less than complete. This article adds to current understanding of the online engagement between politicians and the public by presenting the first quantitative analysis of the utilisation of the social network tool Twitter by Australian politicians. The analysis suggests that politicians are attem…
The Space of The Nation: An Examination of the Spatial Productions of Hindu Nationalism
Hindu nationalism has had a significant impact on Indian politics over the last few decades. A crucial aspect of this ideology has been its production of a means of understanding the physical world. Taken on as part of a Hindu national identity, this understanding has great political power. This article examines this spatial understanding, augmenting theories of nationalism with works from the "spatial turn" in cultural analysis to explore the "l…
Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter
The recent emergence of online social media has had a significant effect on the contemporary political landscape, yet our understanding of this remains less than complete. This article adds to current understanding of the online engagement between politicians and the public by presenting the first quantitative analysis of the utilisation of the social network tool Twitter by Australian politicians. The analysis suggests that politicians are attem…
A Machine Learning Analysis of the Non-academic Employment Opportunities for Ph.D. Graduates in Australia
The Space of The Nation: An Examination of the Spatial Productions of Hindu Nationalism
Hindu nationalism has had a significant impact on Indian politics over the last few decades. A crucial aspect of this ideology has been its production of a means of understanding the physical world. Taken on as part of a Hindu national identity, this understanding has great political power. This article examines this spatial understanding, augmenting theories of nationalism with works from the "spatial turn" in cultural analysis to explore the "l…
The Space of The Nation: An Examination of the Spatial Productions of Hindu Nationalism
Hindu nationalism has had a significant impact on Indian politics over the last few decades. A crucial aspect of this ideology has been its production of a means of understanding the physical world. Taken on as part of a Hindu national identity, this understanding has great political power. This article examines this spatial understanding, augmenting theories of nationalism with works from the "spatial turn" in cultural analysis to explore the "l…
Digital Dialogue? Australian Politicians' use of the Social Network Tool Twitter
The recent emergence of online social media has had a significant effect on the contemporary political landscape, yet our understanding of this remains less than complete. This article adds to current understanding of the online engagement between politicians and the public by presenting the first quantitative analysis of the utilisation of the social network tool Twitter by Australian politicians. The analysis suggests that politicians are attem…
Science communication on YouTube: Factors that affect channel and video popularity
YouTube has become one of the largest websites on the Internet. Among its many genres, both professional and amateur science communicators compete for audience attention. This article provides the first overview of science communication on YouTube and examines content factors that affect the popularity of science communication videos on the site. A content analysis of 390 videos from 39 YouTube channels was conducted. Although professionally gene…
A Machine Learning Analysis of the Non-academic Employment Opportunities for Ph.D. Graduates in Australia
Exploring the YouTube science communication gender gap: A sentiment analysis
YouTube has become the second most popular web search engine (see Alexa.com ) and the primary website for individuals and organisations to freely distribute video content. Popularity statistics indicate that Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related content is of significant interest to YouTube audiences, yet analysis of the 391 most popular science, engineering and mathematics–themed channels reveals a conspicuous absence of femal…
A Good Story Well Told: Storytelling Components That Impact Science Video Popularity on YouTube
Storytelling plays a crucial role in science communication, but little research has investigated how it impacts the popularity of science videos. This study examined storytelling components in 306 popular YouTube science videos and revealed significant relationships between video popularity and five storytelling components, namely dramatic question, insight, moments of change, emotional arousal and status of story. Emotional arousal, in particula…
I’ll See It When I Believe It: Motivated Numeracy in Perceptions of Climate Change Risk
People’s attitudes about Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC) risks are not only influenced by scientific data, such as the likelihood of harm, the consequences of failing to act and the cost and effectiveness of mitigation. Instead, when people receive information about controversial topics of decision-relevant science like ACC they often defer to their political attitudes. Recent research has shown that more numerate people can be more polarized …
Learning from the Climate Change Debate to Avoid Polarisation on Negative Emissions
This paper identifies critical lessons from the climate change experience to guide how communications and engagement on negative emissions can be conducted to encourage functional public and policy discourse. Negative emissions technologies present a significant opportunity for limiting climate change, and are likely to be necessary to keep warming below 2°C. While the concept of negative emissions is still in its infancy, there is evidence of na…
JunkScience: Investigating pseudoscience disinformation in the Russian Internet Research Agency tweets
Recent research has identified anti-vaccination propaganda in the so-called Russian Troll Tweets strongly associated with the 2016 US Presidential election. This study builds on this: hypothesising that if vaccination content was found in the sample, the Russia Tweets would be likely to contain other science content, and perhaps, similar pseudo or anti-science messages. As well as vaccination, climate change, genetically modified organisms, Ebola…
Framing climate change for effective communication: A systematic map
Climate change emerged as an issue of science, but its broad ranging impacts and potential mitigation strategies mean it is of significance to all people across sectors, interests, and nations. As a result, the traditional fact-centred way of communicating information about climate change is not necessarily the best strategy for engaging the full breadth of publics. In communication practice and scholarship, framing is an approach that emphasises…
Analysing the types of evidence used by Australian federal parliamentary committees
Policy makers globally often claim to use evidence when making policy decisions, but few studies have documented and evaluated the sources of evidence they rely on. This poses challenges to researchers and decision makers alike, as they struggle to assess the impact of research on policy. This study analysed citations in Australian federal parliamentary committee reports to better understand the role that academic sources play in shaping policy. …
How prominent science communicators on YouTube understand the impact of their work
YouTube is rapidly becoming one of the major places that people around the world engage with science, in turn making prominent science communicators on YouTube some of the most impactful and known faces in science communication. However, while much is known about the viewership habits of YouTube audiences, little is known about the motivations, thinking and ideas of impact of the science communicators working on YouTube. The current study qualita…
What are we talking about when we are talking about the audience? Exploring the concept of audience in science communication research and education
The concept of ‘audience’ is central to research and practice in science communication. When asked by a scientist for help communicating their work, who among us has not responded with the time honoured question ‘who is your audience?’ Yet what we mean when we talk about audience is not always clear: implied and ambiguous, rather than explicit and precise. This article explores this ambiguity, drawing on a systematic review of 1360 science commun…
Communicating science in an age of bewilderment; or, a brief technological tectonics of our communication landscape
We live in bewildering times. Unusual politicians and political movements are rising to the fore, geopolitical maps are being redrawn, old certainties are collapsing, and knowledge — both good and bad — is flowing differently from ever before. Based on the belief that effective communication of science requires understanding of our communication landscape, in this article I offer a brief `technological tectonics' of our current communication land…
Understanding Intention Triggers in Early Autism Screening Promotion: The Role of Narrative and Framing
The global prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (autism) is rising rapidly. Given the importance of early screening and intervention, we conducted a randomized experiment to examine the persuasive effects of message type (narrative vs. statistical) and framing (gain vs. loss) on intentions for early autism screening and information-seeking, using a 2 × 2 factorial design with a no-message control group. Results showed that statistical messages …
PhD employability beyond academia: An analysis of industry skills emphasis through a cultural capital lens
PhD graduate employability is crucial for candidates, employers, and governments. Having PhD graduates in appropriate post-study employment enhances career satisfaction, benefits organisations, and fosters national prosperity. Over the past decade, debate has arisen regarding the effectiveness of doctoral employability training and the broader economic value of doctoral education beyond academia. This concern stems from evidence indicating that m…
Political science (11 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (9 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Politics (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Science communication (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works)