The project exemplifies the goals of the UT Austin | Portugal call in a
number of important ways.
First, it is an exploratory study with an emphasis on the scientific areas outlined by the Atlantic International Research Center, specifically deep ocean science, as well as CoLab Emerging Technologies Research, specifically digital media.
Second, it brings together an exceptionally strong collaborative team of researchers and practitioners from Portugal and UT Austin.
These individuals represent a diversity of theoretical, methodological and practical backgrounds, which translate into a strong foundation and allow scaffolding for future collaborations.
Third, not only does this project offer important insights for academic research and theory development, but it also offers vital practical implications, including the development of white papers on emerging technologies in new scientific areas as well as the potential for commercialization of the project’s technological and communication deliverables.
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Major outcomes of the collaborative work include the following:
- Creating a collection of digital content and messaging about deep sea
ecosystems for science communication
- Developing immersive VRE as prototypes for other complex science
phenomena
- Establishing a new, replicable non-obtrusive method for the evaluation
of science communication in real world scenarios like science centers and
museums.
- Reporting on best practices and recommendations for real-world
applications
- Publishing in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings
- Creating the foundations of a research line to foster new collaborative
research projects in UT Austin | Portugal focused on the Oceans agenda.
Working collaboratively, our aim is to establish an interdisciplinary, long-term cross-cultural research group to tackle pressing issues related to science and sustainability.
Our initial research endeavour aims to do this by examining lay audience understandings of deep sea science and how these complex scenarios are communicated to and understood by members of the public.
It is our hope that this first study demonstrates the utility of this kind of interdisciplinary, international research group so that we might extend the protocol to other issues of scientific importance, such as climate change, nanotechnology and clean energy.
