Eureka moment for leading climate change communicator

University of Queensland alumnus Mr John Cook, the creator of SkepticalScience.com and a new appointment to UQ’s Global Change Institute (GCI), has been named as a finalist in the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.

Mr Cook, a finalist for the NSW Government Eureka Prize for Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge is Research Fellow in Climate Change Communication at the GCI.

The prize is awarded to an Australian individual, group or organisation for work that motivates action to reduce the impacts of climate change. Winners in all categories will be announced on Tuesday, September 6.

In his new position Mr Cook will focus on the effective communication of the science around climate change and, working with the GCI team, enhance the delivery and use of evidence-based information by business, government and the wider community.

“It is exciting to have such a dynamic communicator as research fellow in the GCI. His SkepticalScience website and phone apps are considered worldwide as a valuable source of credible, peer-reviewed science about climate change,” GCI Director Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said.

“As a well-respected climate change communicator John was asked to assist US politicians respond to anti-climate change rhetoric during a recent US senate hearing and has co-authored Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand with environmental scientist Haydn Washington, published in 2011 by UK publisher EarthScan.

Skeptical Science is an independent website that explains climate science and rebuts misinformation in plain English, using web, social media and innovative phone apps, to reach hundreds of thousands of readers and provide material adopted by scientists, politicians, organisations and climate communicators

Media: John Cook (07 3346 7625, j.cook3@uq.edu.au) or Robert Mackay-Wood at the Global Change Institute (07 3346 9041, 0410 491 159, r.mackaywood@uq.edu.au)

About the Global Change Institute

The Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland, Australia, is a new source of game-changing research, ideas and advice for addressing the challenges of global change.
The Global Change Institute advances discovery, creates solutions and advocates changes to policies that respond to challenges presented by climate change, technological innovation and population change.

Australian Museum Eureka Prizes

Presented annually by the Australian Museum, the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership & commercialisation, school science and science journalism & communication.