There is an increasing expectation for more scientists to engage with industry, government, and communities to solve climate change. A group for whom these calls are now prevalent are marine (natural and social) scientists working on environmental change, including climate change. Yet, there is limited empirical evidence of what drives them to embrace or avoid engaging distinct publics, including policymakers. Here, we examined via twenty-eight in-depth qualitative interviews factors affecting how Australian scientists engage the public about climate change. We found that nineteen contextual variables constrain and enable public engagement by scientists. These variables co-occur and interact at the individual, organizational, and systemic levels to affect how they prioritize, mobilize resources, and decide to engage the public. We found that while the scientists saw it rewarding to share their findings with others, they found it hard to deal with conflict, face skeptics, and navigate organizational politics and structures to engage others in a public-facing role. Also, a lack of institutional support and engagement culture, role ambiguity, unequal power relations, and a legacy of past encounters led many scientists to engage in tokenism. These findings and insights have implications for individual scientists, institutional policy, and the practice of engaging others about global environmental change. They reveal why scientists might not engage others in a public-facing role and what might be needed to transform engagement.

中文翻译：

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是什么推动了科学家的公众参与？澳大利亚视角


人们越来越期望更多的科学家与工业界、政府和社区合作解决气候变化问题。现在，这些呼吁普遍存在的群体是致力于环境变化（包括气候变化）的海洋（自然和社会）科学家。然而，关于是什么驱使他们拥抱或避免接触包括政策制定者在内的不同公众，经验证据有限。在这里，我们通过二十八次深入定性访谈研究了影响澳大利亚科学家如何让公众了解气候变化的因素。我们发现十九个背景变量限制并促进科学家的公众参与。这些变量在个人、组织和系统层面同时发生和相互作用，影响他们如何确定优先顺序、调动资源和决定与公众互动。我们发现，虽然科学家们认为与他人分享他们的发现很有价值，但他们发现很难处理冲突、面对怀疑、驾驭组织政治和结构以让其他人扮演面向公众的角色。此外，缺乏机构支持和参与文化、角色模糊、不平等的权力关系以及过去遭遇的遗留问题导致许多科学家陷入象征主义。这些发现和见解对科学家个人、机构政策以及让其他人参与全球环境变化的实践具有影响。它们揭示了为什么科学家可能不让其他人扮演面向公众的角色，以及改变参与可能需要什么。