Writing & Ideas
The best workshops don't begin the day people walk into the room.
They begin long before that—with questions.
Questions about power, learning, leadership, belonging, democracy, and what becomes possible when people create space to think together.
This page is a collection of those questions.
Here you'll find essays, research, comics, talks, and practical resources that have shaped my work as a facilitator, researcher, and organizer. Some are grounded in scholarship. Others grew out of workshops, organizing campaigns, or conversations that stayed with me long after they ended.
I hope they spark new questions for you, too.
Start here #
If you're new to my work, these three pieces offer the best introduction to how I think.
Science Communication Won't Save Us. Collective Action Will #
Science communication can help people understand the world—but understanding alone rarely changes it. In this essay, I explore what community organizing can teach us about moving from information to relationships, leadership, and collective action.
Read the essay →
Science Communication Spaces as "Pockets of Belonging" #
What if science communication wasn't simply about transmitting knowledge? Drawing on my research, this article explores how science communication spaces can become places where more people feel they belong—and why that matters for the future of science.
Read the paper →
Science is best communicated through identity and culture – how researchers are ensuring STEM serves their communities #
A comic adaptation of my research exploring how scientists from marginalized communities are reshaping science communication through identity, culture, and belonging.
Read the comic →
Science, Power & Belonging #
My scholarship explores how power, ideology, identity, and belonging shape science communication—and what science might become if it were more accountable to the communities it serves.
Featured writing
- Science Communication Spaces as "Pockets of Belonging"
- [Examining Access To The Rich Resources Of Science Communication Fellowship Programs]
- Race-evasive ideology in U.S.-based science communication fellowship director discourse
- ReclaimingSTEM: A healing-centered counterspace model for inclusive science communication and policy training
Learning, Facilitation & Creative Practice #
People don't become more collaborative by being told how.
They become more collaborative by practicing it together.
These writings explore participatory learning, improvisation, Theatre of the Oppressed, and designing meaningful workshop experiences.
Featured work
- Using Theater to Uncover Youth Climate Change Narratives
- The Landscape of Art-Science Collaboration Programs
- [Confronting Crises: Art-Science as Mirror, Connector, and Portal]https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003385837-26/confronting-crises-nic-bennett-anthony-dudo)
- Findings from the Art-Science Landscape Study (comic)
- Whimsy. Is there a role for laughter, subversive curve balls, ironic romance and “oh wow that’s cool” moments in the mainstreaming of knowledge and action in sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity?
Explore facilitation ideas →([[Case Studies]]]
Organizing & Democratic Leadership #
Much of what I know about facilitation comes from organizing.
These essays explore what community organizing has taught me about leadership, power, strategy, relationships, and building collective capacity.
Featured essays
- Moving at the Speed of Trust
- Making Sense of Authoritarian Moves
- Imagining Otherwise for My Scientific Community
- Science Communication Won't Save Us. Collective Action Will
Talks & Conversations #
Some ideas are easier to explore out loud.
Browse recorded talks, interviews, podcasts, and conference presentations on civic science, facilitation, organizing, and participatory learning.
Featured conversations
- SciComm Conversations Podcast: “Identities in science communication”
- PCST Teaching Forum webinar - Participatory Approaches to Teaching Science Communication
- [Instituto Nacional de Comunicação Pública da Ciência e Tecnologia Divulgação Científica - Identidades científicas em cientistas em formação](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_yHp6-JCA)
- CIMMYT Catalysts of Change: Leaders in Science
What Shapes My Practice #
None of these ideas emerged in isolation.
My work has been profoundly shaped by scholars, organizers, artists, educators, and communities who have spent decades exploring how people learn, build power, and imagine more just futures.
If you're interested in the traditions behind my work, here are a few places to begin.
Community Organizing #
People, Power, Change
No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age
Let This Radicalize You
Movement Memos
How to Survive the End of the World
Applied Theatre & Embodiment #
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC's Wildcard Workbook
Games for Actors and Non-Actors
Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed
Theatre for Community, Conflict & Dialogue
The Embodiment Institute
Learning & Facilitation #
Teaching to Transgress
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
AORTA (Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance
Training for Change
Nerdy Movement Study Group
Civic Science & Science Communication #
Reclaiming STEM Institute
Civic Science Media Lab
Unbreaking
The Scicommer
Meeting the Moment
Continue the Conversation #
I write regularly about facilitation, science communication, organizing, and the questions I'm wrestling with in my own practice.
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