June 21 - 22, 2021
Virtual Workshop

web of people wearing masks connected with risk button

Workshop Purpose

This workshop, sponsored by the NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP), brought together SRP grantees, partners, and colleagues to discuss strategies to communicate potential health risks with the goals of preventing and reducing exposures, and improving health.

As a function of the Community Engagement Core and Research Translation component of an SRP Center, grantees are developing strategies for effective risk communication to reduce exposures and mitigate risks to public health and the environment. As part of this workshop, SRP grantees delve into this topic and built on lessons learned, needs, and next steps. Participants also heard from experts in risk communication and related social science fields, who discussed research on risk perception, social context, trust, and engagement, and experiences designing risk communication messages, evaluating impact, and adapting communication strategies for different populations.

The workshop was tailored for SRP grantees and partners as well as free and open to anyone interested in attending.

This two-day workshop covered the following risk communication topics:

  1. Engaging communities to strengthen environmental health.
  2. Advancing equity in risk communication.
  3. Designing a message and evaluating impact.
  4. Exploring the social context of risk perception.
  5. Translating research into communication tools.
  6. Reaching specific populations.

Archives are available from a follow-up SRP webinar series, held in the fall of 2021, that built on topics and discussions from the workshop.

Workshop Goals

  1. Bring together SRP grantees, partners, and related experts to discuss risk communication work in progress and opportunities for collaboration.
  2. Discuss effective risk communication strategies that may be tailored to a community's needs and successful risk communication campaigns.
  3. Explore opportunities to integrate communication, social science, and community engagement to improve SRP risk communication.
  4. Discuss opportunities to move this field forward in the SRP and broader environmental health communities.