TRIGGER’s Educational Materials: Co-creating Knowledge for Impact
The communication, dissemination and exploitation of TRIGGER’s results are designed to adapt to the needs of each user. This flexibility is both a strength and a challenge in the current climate scenario.
As part of the European Climate-Health Cluster, TRIGGER addresses audiences that include policymakers, healthcare providers, researchers and citizens. For us, there is no such thing as “one message fits all”. At the same time, we are committed to ensuring that the materials we provide are visually attractive, engaging and genuinely useful.
Bringing these ambitions together raises a key question:
How can we communicate resilience more effectively in a context where climate change may generate eco-anxiety, media saturation and even hopelessness?
To respond, TRIGGER has developed a set of educational materials focused on four major climate hazards: heatwaves, floods, air pollution and wildfires. These resources have been co-created by TRIGGER researchers alongside the Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation Work Package. The process has also involved illustrators, camera operators, audiovisual editors, actors and scriptwriters, ensuring both scientific rigour and high production quality.
The materials are now available on our YouTube channel and will continue to be shared through our social media platforms.
Audiovisual Content as Educational Material
In projects such as TRIGGER, where the focus lies on resilience and on actions that support the adaptation of human health and environments to climate change, knowledge must secure both visibility and reach across existing media channels. The form and means by which knowledge is transmitted have evolved (1).
For our users, digital media play a central role when searching for information — and the format in which content is presented is equally important. Given the diversity of our audiences, audiovisual materials represent a strategic choice for TRIGGER. They are particularly valuable for non-academic or non-specialist audiences, as online videos have become one of the preferred media formats in the 21st century (2), with 94.6% of internet users worldwide watching online videos on a monthly basis.
Several authors have described the benefits of audiovisual material as a communicative product that facilitates non-specialist users’ understanding of scientific knowledge (1). Popular science web videos, in particular, can function as multimodal resources that combine visual, textual and narrative elements to enhance comprehension and engagement.
Not Only What, but How
Communicating the impacts of climate change requires careful consideration not only of what we say, but how we say it. Evidence suggests that relying on fear-based messaging may not necessarily promote sustained behavioural change (3 & 4). Rather than generating anxiety or paralysis, climate communication should aim to empower audiences.
A positive framing — centred on practical, local and everyday actions — can help individuals see themselves as active participants within their communities. By emphasising resilience, preparedness and collective capacity, communication can shift from alarm to agency.
In addition, certain production features can significantly enhance audience engagement. A blend of professional production techniques — including complex montage, varied cinematography and high-quality sound design — combined with compelling narrative strategies such as first-person narration, layered storytelling and the effective use of dramatic elements, can make popular science web videos more attractive and impactful (5).
Working Together for Climate–Health Resilience
By aligning audience needs, digital consumption patterns and research-based insights on science communication, TRIGGER’s audiovisual materials aim to contribute meaningfully to climate–health preparedness and adaptation.
We invite our community to watch, share and engage with these videos — and to work together towards resilience and action in response to the health challenges facing people and environments as a result of climate change.
References
- Carolina Girón-García, Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez, Science dissemination videos as multimodal supporting resources for ESP teaching in higher education, English for Specific Purposes, Volume 70, 2023, Pages 164-176, ISSN 0889-4906, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2022.12.005.
- Statista. (2025, November 27). Share of global online video viewers 2022-2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1489445/online-video-viewers-worldwide-quarterly/?srsltid=AfmBOor0mEizzv3l_q0pDBxUaH11Cw1gRqBY-hGuJKwLD6JAzM0AZzCC
- Tang, H., Chen, L., Liu, S., Tan, X., & Li, Y. (2024). Reconsidering the effectiveness of fear appeals: An experimental study of interactive fear messaging to promote positive actions on climate change. Journal of Health Communication, 29(sup1), 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2024.2360025
- Reser, J. P., & Bradley, G. L. (2017). Fear appeals in climate change communication. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.386
- Muñoz Morcillo, J., Czurda, K. and Robertson-von Trotha, C. Y. (2016). ‘Typologies of the popular science web video’. JCOM 15 (04), A02.
