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Center for Public Interest Communications
Support
  • About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
    • Job: Center Research Assistant
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
    • Programs
    • Now Recruiting
      • Beyond raising awareness: How to create lasting change
      • Strategic Communications Academy for UF Leaders & Scholars
      • UF Science Communication Short Course
  • Case Studies

What is Public Interest Communications?

Public Interest Communications is a field long practiced, but recently defined. Those who practice or study it are continuously applying new insights and techniques to make their work more effective. The field borrows elements from its sister fields of public relations, advertising, journalism and marketing, but it is informed by sociology, psychology, political science, neuroscience and systems-thinking.

It is the development and implementation of science-based, strategic communication campaigns with the goal of achieving significant change and sustained positive behavioral change on a public interest issue that transcends the particular interests of any single organization.

The essential elements of public interest communications
FACTS: Our work is rooted in observable fact, documented history and replicable scientific insight that is free of bias and inclusive of diverse lived experience.
RESONANCE: We communicate in ways that resonate with people who are in a position to make choices or adjust their behavior in a way that leads to lasting change. Our approaches are deeply rooted in social science and make use of the principles of human centered design and the science of habit to connect to the values, identities and worldview of those we are trying to reach—and motivate them to act.
SOLUTIONS: We work toward evidence-based solutions rooted in systems thinking that lead to visible, measurable lasting change.
GREATER GOOD: Our work is focused on ensuring that the human rights that are available to some are available to all, that solutions benefit all who endure a condition and that those who cause harm are held accountable for being part of solutions.
STRATEGY: A relentless pragmatism underpins everything we do.

Lasting change – that’s our end goal. We don’t believe in “raising awareness” because if people have to come up with their own actions to create change, the cause will probably fail. Change is when people start doing something they aren’t doing, or stop doing something they are already doing.

See Ann Christiano, Director of the Center for Public Interest Communications, discuss how words change lives.

Examples of successful campaigns include the Montgomery Bus Boycott, advances in marriage equality, increases in seatbelt use and reductions in smoking. Each of these campaigns is distinguished by a singular focus on a goal and lasting policy and behavior change.

Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida

There is a rich and robust history of public interest communications at the University of Florida. Established in 2009, with an endowment by Frank and Betsy Karel to establish a chair in the then-emerging focus called “public interest communications,” efforts to build a community of practice, a research field and curriculum to offer to universities have grown to global reach from its root in Gainesville, Florida.

Learn more about public interest communications at UF

More of our work
  • Persuasion in a “Post-Truth” World
  • How We Are Making Sure The Science We Share Is Good
  • How to Build Better Calls to Action
  • Why each side of the partisan divide thinks the other is living in an alternate reality
Latest from the Center
  • Teresa Gonzales and Nicole Bronzan
    Paper exploring local discursive frames of poverty and race wins 2023 research prize
  • Center welcomes two collaborators in research and strategy
  • 2023 Research Prize Finalists
    Center announces three finalists for the $10,000 public interest communications research prize
  • Rakeem Robinson
    Center honors the memory of colleague Rakeem Robinson
How We Help – Case Studies
  • BROKE project screenshot
    Re-examining narratives on poverty and wealth — the BROKE project
  • gloved hand holding vial
    Science-based communication strategy on COVID for the UN Verified Initiative
  • hands with medicine
    Invest in Trust – a vaccine communications guide for CNAs

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Center for Public Interest Communications
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400

An auxiliary unit of the College of Journalism and Communications

Copyright © 2022

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The Center for Public Interest Communications, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to study, test and apply the science of strategic communication for social change. We are based at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

  • Social Change Communication
  • Science Communication
  • Strategic Communication
  • Broader Impacts
  • Public Interest Communication
  • Narrative Change
  • Leadership Development
  • Strategy Development
  • Effective Presentations
  • Research Translation & Insights

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