Matthew C. Nisbet

Matthew C. Nisbet

Associate Professor of Communication, Northeastern University

Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs  at Northeastern University. Nisbet studies the role of communication and advocacy in policymaking and public affairs, focusing on debates over over climate change, energy, and sustainability. Among awards and recognition, Nisbet has been a Visiting Shorenstein Fellow on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, a Health Policy Investigator at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a Google Science Communication Fellow. In 2011, the editors at the journal Nature recommended Nisbet's research as “essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in the climate change debate,” and the New Republic highlighted his work as a “fascinating dissection of the shortcomings of climate activism."

As I have detailed in past studies and as we write in the cover article at The Scientist, the dominant frame that appears when science turns political is the “strategy” […]
Gallup has released its latest tracking data on American views of NASA. As Gallup describes, according to the Sept. 14-16 poll, 56% of Americans rate the job NASA is doing […]
It’s going to be a busy 24 hours. On Wednesday evening I will be at the Center for Inquiry-NYC for the latest in our Speaking Science 2.0 tour. Then I […]
The latest issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education (sub, text below) runs an “at a glance” spotlight on our cover article at The Scientist. A Glance at the October […]
David Goldston and I had a great discussion at WAMU-NPR’s Kojo Namdi Show today. We were also joined later in the program by Francesca Grifo, Director of the Scientific Integrity […]
Tomorrow (Monday) at 1pm EST I will be joined by Nature columnist and former House Science committee Chief of Staff David Goldston as a guest on WAMU’s Kojo Nmandi Show. […]
Science magazine runs the following news report on Gore’s Nobel prize and his impact on the policy debate and public opinion. The article quotes Steve Schneider, Michael Oppenheimer, Robert Watson, […]
In a new regular column over at DesmogBlog, Chris Mooney elaborates on the arguments first offered here. We should applaud Gore, writes Chris, but we also need to draw on […]
It’s another busy week on the road giving presentations, trading ideas, and meeting a lot of really smart and dedicated people. Yesterday, via video conference, I spoke as part of […]
In the United States, when it comes to public perceptions of Gore’s climate message and Nobel award, partisanship is serving as the strongest of perceptual screens, triggered in part by […]
height=”350″>A break from serious matters for a focus on music…Last night I strolled down to the 930 Club, one of the top indie rock venues in the country to catch […]
One of the reasons why Al Gore’s communication campaign has had limited success in activating the American public on climate change is that only half of adults have a favorable […]
A busy day but a quick analysis of breaking news:Gore’s Inconvenient Truth has been a stunning success in generating news coverage to his preferred “pandora’s box” framing of the “climate […]
The identity politics wrapped up in author Sam Harris’ statements at a recent atheist conference here in Washington, DC has sparked a ton of discussion and debate. Paul Kurtz, chair […]
On Friday, I was in Seattle for our latest stop in the Speaking Science 2.0 tour. We were hosted by the University of Washington’s Forum on Science Ethics and Policy […]
That’s the headline at the Drudge Report today with a link to this AP story on Hillary Clinton’s Sputnik anniversary speech. As a way to attract attention and rally the […]
Pew has released an analysis of trends in partisanship among cohorts of Evangelicals over the past six years. The significant finding is that Evangelicals ages 18-30 increasingly identify as Independents […]
Tomorrow at the University of Washington I will be speaking to the Department of Communication in the morning and then joined in the evening by Chris Mooney to deliver our […]
The editors at The Scientist have made our October cover story on framing freely available for the month of October. Make sure you check out our 4,000 word feature, the […]
Back in the spring, the Nisbet/Mooney tour visited the New York Academy of Sciences (Audio and Slides). In terms of turn out and post-discussion, it was one of the best […]