Be Heard Seminar Series

About Us

Researchers, doctors, health professionals, and community advocates may have a difficult time communicating their ideas with the public, sometimes even with their friends. However, the work that they are doing needs to be shared with a broader audience so that policy makers, government, industry, and individuals take protective action.

Get Heard: An Environmental Health and Climate Science Communication Series hosted by USC will demystify the process of writing, speaking about, and communicating scientific findings. The goal of the series is to empower individuals and communities to be louder, reach a larger audience, and communicate responsibly, inspiring better public policy, individual action, and promoting a greater understanding of science that can improve public health. The series is focused on children’s environmental health research.

The series features panels of specialists from the world of public health, journalism, public policy, science communication, advocacy, the law, and academia. Each panel includes a keynote speaker, USC moderator, and community or environmental justice perspective. The audience for the seminar series is students, graduate trainees, university faculty, and community members and advocates.

Upcoming Events

Creating an Op-Ed

Friday,Dec 8, 2023  10.00AM PST
Moderated by Gabriel Kahn

  • Guest Speakers: Manuel  Pastor, PhD and Bill Gallegos

Writing a Commentary

Friday, Sep 15, 2023  10.00AM PST
Moderated by Carly Hyland, PhD, MS

  • Guest Speakers: David Gonzalez, PhD, MS, MESC and Bhavna Shamasunder, MES, PhD

Our Speakers

Past Webinars

BE HEARD: Working With Policy Makers

Friday, Aug 4, 2023  10.00AM PST
Moderated by Colin Maclay

  • In this webinar, moderated by Colin Maclay, Ellu Nasser from the Climate and Health Environmental Defense Fund and Adrian Martinez from Earth Justice discuss the significance of ports as decarbonization hubs and air, noise, and light pollution sources.

  • Nasser and Martinez also talk about strategies that communities can advocate for where to allocate funds to serve the public and push for sustainability. The pair highlights the way communities and advocates have given ports the resources to drive sustainable changes and how they can continue to hold ports accountable for their impact on community health and wellbeing. 

BE HEARD: Working With Communities

Friday, Apr 28, 2023  10.00AM PST
Moderated by Sylvia Betancourt

  • In a conversation moderated by Sylvia Betancourt, Mark Lopez and Nse Witherspoon discuss how researchers and community groups have built strong, trusting partnerships over time.
  • Through examples of their work at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the Children’s Environmental Health Network, Lopez and Witherspoon share about the importance of representation in teams working with marginalized communities, making decisions based on the lived experience of those impacted, giving communities equitable leadership and credit in research, communicating with the media, and patience and trust when enacting change.

Resources