Introducing ‘Stories From the Field’: A New Approach to Science Communication

The best environmental research happening today will never be seen by the public.

That sounds dramatic, but it's true. Every year, government agencies, research institutions, and environmental consultancies conduct thousands of studies that generate genuinely important data about our world. Baseline assessments of fish populations. Monitoring programs tracking wildlife in response to industrial activity. Hydrological surveys revealing how water moves through fragile ecosystems. The science is rigorous. The findings matter. And almost none of it reaches anyone beyond the clients who commissioned it and the regulators who review it.

We think that's a missed opportunity, not just for public awareness, but for the organizations doing the work.

Today, we're announcing Stories From the Field, a new initiative that brings professional visual storytelling and expert science communication to the world of environmental research. We're launching it in partnership with filmmaker Jared Davis and volcanologist Dr. Steve Quane, a team that combines technical filmmaking expertise with deep scientific credentials and decades of experience translating complex research for public audiences.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Science communication isn't a nice-to-have. It's increasingly a requirement.

The U.S. National Science Foundation evaluates every grant proposal on two criteria: Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts. That second criterion, how your research benefits society, carries equal weight in funding decisions. Reviewers want to see evidence that researchers can communicate their work beyond academic journals. Strong broader impacts sections are no longer optional; they're often the difference between funded and declined.

The same dynamic is playing out across funding bodies worldwide. The European Commission's Horizon programs require responsible research and innovation frameworks. Canadian funding agencies increasingly expect knowledge mobilization plans. Even private funders and industry clients want to see that their investment in environmental research has a public face.

Research also shows that scientists who engage publicly may see increased scientific impact. When your work is visible and accessible, it gets cited more, shared more, and incorporated into policy discussions more readily. Public engagement isn't a distraction from research; it amplifies it.

And then there's the trust factor. Recent surveys consistently show that the public has high trust in scientists and researchers, far higher than their trust in government, media, or corporate sources. That trust is an asset, but only if scientists actually communicate. Organizations that can demonstrate their environmental work through compelling visual content aren't just meeting a marketing need; they're building the stakeholder relationships that make future research possible.

The Communication Gap

We've worked in environmental monitoring for years. We've collected data alongside marine biologists tracking seal populations. We've flown surveys for volcanologists studying hazards that could affect entire communities. We've mapped remote lakes and coastlines and tracked wildlife in some of Canada's most challenging environments.

What strikes us, over and over, is how fascinating this work is, and how rarely anyone outside the project team ever sees it.

The reasons are understandable. Environmental consulting firms are focused on delivering data to clients, not producing documentaries. Government agencies have tight budgets and tighter timelines. Research teams are measured by publications and permits, not by how many people watched their fieldwork on social media. Everyone agrees that communicating science to the public is valuable, but no one has the time or expertise to do it well.

The result is that extraordinary stories, researchers tracking narwhals through Arctic sea ice, teams deploying autonomous vessels in remote river systems, and scientists documenting volcanic activity in glacier caves remain locked inside technical reports and internal databases. Every Environmental Impact Assessment contains information that matters. So does every monitoring program, every baseline study, every multi-year research initiative. But technical competence in conducting research doesn't automatically translate to competence in communicating it.

Building the Right Team

Effective science communication requires two things that rarely exist in the same person: a deep understanding of the science and mastery of visual storytelling. Stories From the Field brings together specialists in both.

Dr. Steve Quane brings the science communication expertise. Steve is a volcanologist

with a Master’s degree from the University of Hawaii and a PhD from the University of

British Columbia. But what sets him apart isnt just his research credentials; it's his

career-long commitment to translating complex science for public audiences.

As a National Geographic Explorer, Steve understands the value of presenting scientific

research to varied audiences. Early in his career, he served as an American Geologist

Institute AAAS Congressional Science Fellow, working as a science advisor in the U.S.

House of Representatives. That experience, communicating geological and energy

science to policymakers and decision-makers, helped shape his approach to science

communication.

Over the past twenty years, he has taught field-focused courses at Colorado College, Quest University Canada and currently the University of British Columbia. He continues to do scientific research, partnering with the Centre for Natural Hazards Research at Simon Fraser University. In addition, Steve spent three years as Director of the Mineral Museum at Montana Tech and Outreach Director for the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. Currently, he serves as Head Geologist for the Fire and Ice GeoRegion. In these roles, his work focuses specifically on earth science outreach and public engagement.

Steve understands what researchers are trying to accomplish, the process of engaging

research questions, and what matters most about their findings. When he consults on a

science communication project, he's not just helping craft a narrative; he's ensuring the science is represented accurately, and the story serves the research goals. That

expertise is invaluable for clients who need to communicate technical work to

stakeholders, funders, or the public without oversimplifying or distorting their findings.

Jared Davis is a Vancouver-based filmmaker and motion designer who handles the full creative process: concept development, storyboarding, shooting, editing, motion graphics, and sound design. His portfolio spans brand campaigns to documentary work, but what makes this partnership work is his specific interest in science communication. As Jared puts it, he's drawn to projects "around science and political science, topics where good visual storytelling can make abstract or urgent ideas land in a way that sticks with people."

Jared's background is distinctive. Before filmmaking, he spent eighteen years training in parkour and collaborating with Vancouver's street dance scene. That physical understanding shows up in his work: an intuitive sense of movement and rhythm, and an ability to find the visual logic in dynamic action. When you're filming fieldwork, researchers deploying equipment in difficult terrain, vessels navigating challenging waters, and drones revealing landscapes from perspectives no one has seen, that kinetic sensibility matters.

We've worked with Jared before. A few years back, he produced a video for a narwhal monitoring project we conducted with Baffinland in the Arctic. The footage, narwhals moving through ice-choked waters, researchers tracking them from shore and air, could have been stunning but forgettable. Jared turned it into something that actually communicated what the research meant and why it mattered.

What We're Offering

Stories From the Field can function as a bolt-on to existing Aeria projects or as a standalone service.

For clients who are already working with us on data collection, monitoring programs, surveys, and field campaigns, adding a visual storytelling component is straightforward. We're already there, we already understand the project, and we can capture the footage and context needed for compelling content without adding significant complexity to field operations.

For organizations that want science communication support independent of our other services, we offer project-based work. That might mean developing a content strategy, producing specific deliverables, micro-documentaries, social media campaigns, investor communications, educational materials, or consulting on how to approach visual storytelling for technical work.

We also offer workshops and training for organizations that want to build internal capacity. Not everyone needs a full production team for every project. Sometimes what's most valuable is helping your staff understand the principles of effective science communication so they can apply them to their day-to-day documentation and reporting.

We're particularly interested in working with environmental consultancies, government agencies, research institutions, non-profits, and industrial clients with environmental monitoring obligations. These organizations have stories worth telling and often lack the internal capacity to tell them effectively.

The Business Case for Science Communication

Let's be direct about why this matters for organizations beyond altruism.

Funding. Grant applications increasingly require broader impact plans. Having professional-quality science communication materials, videos, case studies, and documented public engagement strengthens those applications. More importantly, demonstrating that your organization can communicate its work effectively signals to funders that their investment will have visible returns.

Stakeholder relationships. Whether you're working with Indigenous communities, regulatory agencies, industry partners, or the general public, trust is the foundation of effective collaboration. Visual content that accurately represents your work builds that trust in ways that technical reports cannot. People believe what they can see.

Regulatory and reporting efficiency. When your monitoring data comes with clear visual documentation, review processes move faster. Regulators can see what you did, how you did it, and what you found. Questions that might otherwise require lengthy written explanations can be answered with footage.

Competitive differentiation. In a market where many firms can collect similar data, the ability to communicate that data compellingly becomes a differentiator. Clients increasingly want partners who can help them tell the story of their environmental commitments, not just deliver raw numbers.

Institutional knowledge. Video documentation of field methods, site conditions, and project evolution creates a permanent record that outlasts staff turnover. Five years from now, when someone asks what the baseline looked like or how a particular challenge was addressed, you'll have more than someone's fading memory to rely on.

Beyond the Report

The scientists who conduct environmental research already know how to communicate their findings to regulators and peer reviewers. Stories From the Field is about helping them reach everyone else.

We're not proposing to replace technical reports with social media clips. We're proposing that both can exist, and that the organizations doing serious environmental work have something to gain by showing the public what that work actually looks like.

If you're doing research worth knowing about, let's talk about how to tell that story.

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Stories From the Field is a science communication initiative from Aeria Solutions, developed in partnership with filmmaker Jared Davis and volcanologist Dr. Steve Quane. We work with environmental researchers, government agencies, and industry clients to create visual content that translates technical work into public engagement. For more information, contact us through our website or reach out directly.