Mitchell Center to host talk about storytelling as a tool for collaboration Nov. 22

 The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine will host a talk about how storytelling can inform collaboration and vice versa from 3–4 p.m. on Nov. 22.  

Storytelling has been around for as long as human history. While scientists traditionally use storytelling to communicate their findings, it is also an emerging method for collaborative research. In this talk, Michelle de Leon, Hannah Robbins and Amalia Harrington will illustrate how collaboration deepens storytelling and how storytelling deepens collaboration. They will provide examples from their work to show how storytelling can be a powerful tool for working together across disciplines and cultures. 

A master’s student in ecology and environmental sciences at UMaine and a participant in the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship on Enhancing Conservation Science, de Leon is interested in social-ecological systems, community resilience and collaborative approaches to science. Robbins is the communications manager with Maine Sea Grant. As a science writer and communicator, she seeks to translate research findings and demystify scientific practices to make marine science more accessible. Harrington is a marine extension associate with Maine Sea Grant and coordinates the Northeast Regional Lobster Extension Project. Her current work focuses on increasing the American lobster industry’s resilience to the biological, economic and social impacts of ecosystem change across the Northeast. 

All talks in the Mitchell Center’s Sustainability Talks series are free and will be offered both remotely via Zoom and in person at 107 Norman Smith Hall on campus. Registration is required to attend remotely via Zoom; to register and receive connection information, see the event webpage. 

Updates for this event will be posted to the event webpage. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196; hallsworth@maine.edu.