December 10, 2025
Conferences & Lectures
Graduate student Emma Cox presented her research titled “Expanding the Risk Convergence Model: Distinguishing Character-Driven and Plot-Driven Forms of Engagement as Explanations for Risk Perceptions” at the National Communication Association conference. This research examines distinct causal paths imitated by different forms of narrative engagement (i.e., identification and transportation). Experimental results suggest that while identification with at-risk characters promotes individual risk perceptions and behavioral intentions, transportation into narrative settings may carry implications for societal-level risk perceptions and support for policies addressing risk on a societal level.
On December 3, Professor Bruce Lewenstein served as a panelist for the Italian National Conference on Science Communication in Trieste, Italy. The panel explored various approaches to training science communicators, with the other presenters joining in person from institutions across Italy. Bruce was invited to contribute his perspective on the different levels and models of science communication training.
Graduate student Lucas Wright presented on his recent publication, “The Salesforce of Safety: Software Vendors as Infrastructural/Professional Nodes in Online Trust and Safety,” at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in Germany. His presentation, part of the Platform Politics and Policy Seminar Series, focused on trust and safety software vendors.
Grants
Graduate student Maggie Foster received a $2000 Small Research Grant for fall 2025. The grant, from the Cornell Center for Social Sciences’ Qualitative and Interpretive Research Institute, will support Maggie’s dissertation research, which examines how literary spaces like independent bookstores and social media platforms produce, promote, and protect queer counterpublics.
Publications
M. Fundira, F. Halais, R. Nazzal Hamadeh, graduate student Jackline Kemigisa, et al., November 2025, “Ethical Storytelling Resource,” Cooperation Canada.
Cooperation Canada transformed a panel session on rethinking media narratives in the humanitarian sector into a resource tool for its 100+ members. The panel session, Ethical Storytelling, was held at the 2024 International Cooperation Futures Forum, focusing on the role of anti-blackness and anti-Arab narratives in shaping international development media and fundraising materials, i.e., advertisements, pamphlets, etc.
Professor Bruce Lewenstein, November 2025, “Separa il ver dal falso [Separate the True from the False],” La Repubblica.
Based on research conducted together with Ayelet Baram-Tsabari of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Bruce argues that one way to address misinformation is to have better-trained science communicators. He describes the difference between “occasional,” “active,” and “professional” science communicators and the different levels of training needed. The piece was requested by La Repubblica because of a panel he presented at the Italian National Conference on Science Communication in early December.
Assistant Professor Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed & F. Sena Dogbatse, November 2025, “Communication for Social Change: The Importance of NGO–Community Collaboration in Supporting Social Transformation,” Canadian Journal of African Studies.
Using African technocultural feminist theory, the authors analyze NGOs’ digital communications, paying attention to how they use these platforms to define their organizational identities while challenging gender stereotypes. They argue that although NGOs use digital platforms to communicate, their praxis may not necessarily be accessible to the communities with which they work; these platforms enable them to share their women’s empowerment programmes with other stakeholders while bringing awareness to issues affecting marginalized people in these communities.
Lecturer Jamal Uddin, November 2025, “Conversational AI in Healthcare Communication: Opportunities, Risks, and Implications for Health Equity,” Journal of Communication in Healthcare.
Jamal’s commentary shows how LLM chatbots are used across healthcare, and where they fall short. He argues that without equity-centered design, guardrails, and prompt literacy, these tools may widen health disparities.
Z. Rahman Arman, M. Mahbbat Ali, Lecturer Jamal Uddin, et al., September 2025, “Manufacturing Legitimacy: Media Ownership and the Framing of the July 2024 Uprising in Bangladesh,” MDPI Journalism and Media.
The authors used a quantitative content analysis of five mainstream Bangladeshi newspapers to examine how the July 2024 mass uprising was framed and how ownership shaped that coverage.
