A leading scholar on climate communication, Julie’s book, Mediating Climate Change, was the first scholarly monograph to examine climate change from a visual culture and communication perspective. She argued that we need to break down human-nature distinctions, and make climate change culturally meaningful through media, popular culture and the arts. She has carved a distinctive interdisciplinary research profile in the field of climate communication and her research on visual climate communication is cited as foundational to the field. Julie has also provided consultancy for environmental NGOs, government, and the sustainability communications sector on best practice for climate and environmental communication.
Julie is particularly interested in how creative methods can be used to facilitate young people’s engagement with climate change, and to create opportunities for youth voices to be heard.
She is currently collaborating with cultural and arts educators to explore teenagers’ and young adults’ experiences of climate change, and utilising participatory methods to facilitate co-created and youth-generated climate communications.