Coffee Chats: Making environmental research accessible

Environmental communication as a research field aligns closely with One Health, highlighting how societal processes, values and communication shape our ability to address complex sustainability challenges.

At the Department of Environmental Communication at SLU, this perspective is explored through the talk show Coffee Chats. Through short, informal conversations over coffee in SLU’s studio, the aim is to make complex societal and environmental issues more accessible to a wider audience.

Exploring new ways to communicate research

We spoke to Karen Schellhase, a research assistant, and Clara Jonsson, a communications officer, at the Department of Environmental Communication – the team behind the initiative about the idea, what they have learned so far, and how they see the connection to One Health.

How did the idea for “Coffee Chat” come about – and what were your initial thoughts behind the format?

Karen: I saw how many creative possibilities the studio offers, thanks to the work of our amazing studio manager Markus Miljand, and felt inspired to experiment myself. As we are always looking for new ways to communicate research at the division, an interview format felt like a good starting point. However, it was important to me to create a feeling that is more conversational and fun, rather than serious and stiff. So that’s how the idea for the fika setting came about – we hope that the viewers feel like they are listening in on a chat that we could be having over a coffee. Like they are sitting in our living room with us. I feel very excited about it, as I have zero previous experience of being a talk show host!

What role do social sciences play in addressing environmental challenges?

Karen: Uff, how much time do you have? I would say that addressing environmental challenges requires transformative change – and to understand what may hinder or enable such change, we need to look at the social dynamics shaping these processes. Social sciences offer many exciting ways to do that. 

What have you learned so far about communicating complex topics in a simple and engaging way using this talk show format?

Karen: We are still at the very beginning of developing the format, so there is definitely still a lot to learn! Speaking for myself though, I think I have learned that asking questions out of genuine curiosity and interest, rather than trying to find the most sophisticated or academic way to ask them, is what will make a conversation come to life. I think that this energy transpires to the conversation partner and to the viewers. It does not matter as much if these questions might seem easy or silly, often they are precisely what the viewers who are new to the topic wonder about too.

Who do you hope will watch these episodes?

Karen: Anyone who is curious about getting insights into the diverse world of sustainability research, really! There is so much more going on within it than we hear about in our everyday lives. This format is still in its baby shoes, and we are not yet sure how well its reach beyond academia is, to be honest. However, the hope is that it opens up the door for conversations that viewers find interesting, no matter if they are part of the academic bubble or not.

Looking ahead, how do you see this initiative evolving – and could it become a forum for broader One Health perspectives across SLU?

Karen: We would be super happy to keep recording new episodes, as there are so many interesting guests to invite! Currently, we only have capacity to prepare, record and edit around 2-3 episodes per semester. The whole production process takes a lot of time, so getting more resources and support would be great. It is currently mainly Clara Jonsson, Markus Miljand and I, Karen Schellhase, who work with this. For me, the focus is on having meaningful conversations, more than having a large audience, but of course I also hope that many people will see and be interested in the videos. The research at SLU is so diverse and covers many topics on the One Health spectrum, so I am sure that anyone will eventually find an episode that is interesting to them. Eventually, engaging more with the viewers and taking up questions that they might have for SLU researchers would be fun.

Other than that, I would like to experiment with different decorations for the setting, bake my own fika at some point and try out some new fun coffee mugs! For the two episodes that we have already recorded, I brought my private living room decorations and coffee mugs to style the set. 

And a very friendly comment from Clara: The buildup in this Coffee Chat project is a great example of a seamless collaboration, which Karen initiated by sharing her idea and reaching out for support. As a communications officer at the department, it is the ultimate dream to act as a sounding board for driven colleagues who reach out and take initiative!

Watch Coffee Chat, episode #1

In the first episode, you meet PhD student Teresa Sarasa Nagore, who explores how crop biotechnology shapes farming practices, identities and gender relations in South African smallholder agriculture. Her research draws on feminist, multispecies political ecology, and decolonial theory and practice.

👉 Watch the episode with Teresa Sarasa Nagore here:

Next episode is launched any day now, and it will be about:

XXX

About the research group

The Environmental Communication group at SLU brings together researchers from fields such as political science, sociology, social psychology, geography, and science and technology studies.

Their research focuses on the communicative challenges of environmental and sustainability issues, exploring themes such as participation, legitimacy, power, conflict and learning in decision-making and change processes.

Rather than viewing communication as simple information transfer, the group studies how knowledge, values and experiences are negotiated between different actors in society.