Challenging Climate Myths: Science, Media, and Public Trust
October 06th 2025 | 11:30 AM - 12:20 PM | Register to attend on Zoom
The IIEA’s REthink Energy series, organised in partnership with ESB, continues with a timely and important discussion on climate change myths and media misinformation. The webinar will feature a keynote address from Professor Emily Shuckburgh, Director of Cambridge Zero, followed by a chat with Dr Eileen Culloty, Deputy Director of the DCU Institute for Media, Democracy, and Society (FuJo).
Together, they will explore:
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Why climate change myths persist
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The media’s role in shaping public understanding
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How fact-checking, clear communication, and public engagement can help counter false narratives
The discussion will highlight how misinformation undermines climate action, and how researchers, communicators, and the public can work together to build a more informed and constructive debate.
About the speakers
Professor Emily Shuckburgh CBE is a world-leading climate scientist and science communicator, who is the director of Cambridge Zero, the University of Cambridge’s ambitious climate change initiative. Prof Shuckburgh is a mathematician and Professor of Environmental Data Science at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology. She leads the UK national research funding body’s (UKRI) Centre for Doctoral Training on the Application of AI to the study of Environmental Risks and is a director of the Centre for Landscape Regeneration. Prof Shuckburgh worked for more than a decade at the British Antarctic Survey where her work included leading a UK national research programme on the Southern Ocean and its role in climate. Prior to that, she undertook research at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prof Shuckburgh is an honorary Fellow of the Energy Institute, a Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey, the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS), and Darwin College, Cambridge. She has also acted as an advisor on climate to the UK Government in various capacities, including as a Friend of COP26. Prof Shuckburgh is co-author with HM King Charles III and Tony Juniper of the Ladybird Book: Climate Change and was awarded an OBE in 2016 and a CBE in 2025, for services to science and the public communication of science.
Dr Eileen Culloty is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications, DCU and Deputy Director of the DCU Institute for Future Media, Democracy, and Society (FuJo). Her work focuses on disinformation, media literacy education, and the future of public media. Dr Culloty leads the Ireland Hub of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) and serves as Co-Chair of Media Literacy Ireland, the national network for media literacy coordinated by Coimisiún na Meán. In 2024, she was appointed to Ofcom’s Making Sense of Media Research, Evidence and Evaluation Working Group. Her recent research on countering disinformation and promoting media literacy has been published in Political Psychology, Political Communication, and the Journal for Cultural Research. She co-authored Disinformation and Manipulation in Digital Media with Prof Jane Suiter. Dr Culloty has contributed to several expert groups, including the national working group that developed Ireland’s National Counter Disinformation Strategy, the EDMO working group on media literacy standards and best practices, Meta’s working group on EU Digital Citizenship, and the steering group of iHealthFacts, a fact-checking initiative for health information. In 2025, she received the DCU President’s Staff Award for Engagement in recognition of her impact beyond academia.
