Presentation delivered by Professor Andrew Pullin, Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation, Bangor University, at Communicate 2012: Breaking Boundaries

1. The Nature of
Evidence
Prof. Andrew S. Pullin
Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation
Bangor University, UK

2. What is this talk about?
• Why create the Collaboration for
Environmental Evidence (CEE)?
• What does CEE do?
• What is the communication challenge?
www.environmentalevidence.org

3. Why create CEE?
• We need evidence to inform
decisions when managing our
environment.
• Data are ubiquitous and ever
increasing.
• Primary scientific articles are
published at faster rates than
ever before, but are read by
very few people.
• Wide range in quality of science
• No reliable source of syntheses
to inform decision-making

4. Science informing decisions
Confounding factors in synthesis
1. Validity of evidence
2. Susceptibility to bias
Systematic review is the standard
methodology in evidence
synthesis

7. Evidence challenges
• Collecting evidence
• Synthesising evidence
• Communicating evidence

8. Working with commissioners

9. Simple messages are not necessarily
appropriate
• Useful message may be complex
• Complex messages tend to be burdened
with uncertainty

10. Communicating evidence
• Using appropriate language
• Using appropriate media formats

12. Thanks to NERC
www.environmentalevidence.org