Dr. Silje Kristiansen is a communication scholar in the field of communication and public perception of issues related to climate change and the natural environment. With a PhD from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and an extensive background in research and teaching, Dr. Kristiansen now brings her knowledge and experience to her position as Associate Professor at the University of Bergen.

As an affiliate of CET, the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformations, and the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, Dr. Kristiansen conducts research on a wide range of topics related to public communication of environmental issues. Her research focuses on understanding the ways in which the media frames and communicates information about climate change and other environmental issues, as well as how the public perceives and responds to this information.

During her PhD in Zurich Dr. Kristiansen worked with Prof. Dr. Heinz Bonfadelli and Prof. Dr. Mike S. Schäfer at the Department of Communication and Media Research. Her PhD thesis A Phase Model Elucidating Media Attention To Nuclear Energy Risk is published as a monograph and is available as open access.

Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation's Early Postdoc.Mobility program, Dr. Kristiansen did her post doc at Northeastern University in Boston, USA. There she collaborated with Prof. Dr. Matthew Nisbet.

After her time in Boston she worked as Assistant Professor at the State University of New York, at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York, USA.

Currently, Dr. Kristiansen is working on a number of projects, including research on environmentally sustainable behaviors, with a focus on environmentally friendly ways of eating. She is also continuing her work on understanding how the media frames and communicates information about environmental issues, and how the public perceives those same issues.

In addition to her research, Dr. Kristiansen is also an experienced and dedicated teacher. She teaches courses related to communication, the environment and public perception.

 

Appointments:

• Associate Editor at the journal Environmental Communication
• Immediate Past Chair of the Environmental Communication Division of the International Communication Association, ICA

• MEVIX100: Introduksjon til media og kommunikasjon [Introduction to Media and Communication] (fall semester 2023) (bachelor level)
   
• MEVI310-8: Forskningserfaring og metode: Medias dekning av klimakrisa, årsakar og løysningar [Research experience and methods: Media coverage of the climate crisis, causes, and remedies] (spring semester 2023) (master level)
   
• MEVI222: Mediebruk: Identitet og samfunn [media use: identity and society] (fall semester 2022) (bachelor level)
   
• MEVI222B: Mediebruk: Identitet og samfunn - Bachelor thesis [media use: identity and society - bachelor thesis] (fall semester 2022) (bachelor level)

Academic literature review

• Kristiansen, Silje (2024). Can Information Change People’s Mind? An Autoethnographic Reflection on my Personal Journey to Veganism. (external link)

Academic article

• Das, Ashmita; Cordoba, Diana; Kristiansen, Silje et al. (2024). Sociotechnical imaginaries of gene editing in food and agriculture: A comparative content analysis of mass media in the United States, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, and Canada. (external link)
• Thomsen, Morten; van Dalen, Arjen; Kristiansen, Silje et al. (2023). Opportunity, motivation, and ability: how to increase people’s knowledge of pesticides and biocides. (external link)
• Ekoh, Susan S.; Teron, lemir; Ajibade, Idowy et al. (2022). Flood risk perceptions and future migration intentions of Lagos residents. (external link)

Editorial

• Ho, Shirley S.; Singer, Norie Ross; Yang, Janet Z. et al. (2023). Environmental Debates in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Media, Communication, and the Public. (external link)
• Singer, Norie Ross; Kristiansen, Silje Theresa Torstensson (2023). Communicating Transformation in Food and Agricultural Ecologies. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Ho, S. S., Singer, N. R., Yang, J. Z., Post, S., Shih, T.-J., Kristiansen, S., & Takahashi, B. (2023). Environmental Debates in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Media, Communication, and the Public. Environmental Communication.https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2193025

Sareen, S., Girard, B., Lindkvist, M., Sveinsdottir, A., Kristiansen, S., Laterza, V., Aguilar-Støen, M., & Langhelle, O. (2023). Enabling a Just Energy Transition Through Solidarity in Research. Energy Research & Social Science.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2023.103143

Ekoh, S., Teron, L., Ajibade, I., & Kristiansen, S. (2022). Flood Risk Perception and Future Migration Intensions of Lagos Residents. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103399

Van Kempen, A., Kristiansen, S., & Feldpausch-Parker, A. M. (2022). Communicating Science, Technology, and Environmental Issues: A Case Study of an Intercultural Learning Experience. Frontiers in Communication, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.805397

Bhatti, S. J., Billinson, P. P.,Cornell, L. A., Das, A., Gammon, C., Kelly, L. O., Yang, J,. & Kristiansen, S. (2022). Cross-Cultural Analysis of International Print Media’s Framing of the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Communication (IJoC) 16, 1282-13-8. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17990/3701

Bhatti, S., Jones, B., Uppalapati, S. S., & Kristiansen, S. (2021). Major Media Outlets and Climate Change Action: Comparing US Media Coverage of the Green New Deal. Environmental Communication. doi:10.1080/17524032.2021.1995457

Kristiansen, S., Painter, J., & Shea, M. (2020). Animal Agriculture and Climate Change in the US and UK Elite Media: Volume, Responsibilities, Causes and Solutions. Environmental Communication. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2020.1805344

Painter, J., Brennen, J. S. & Kristiansen, S. (2020). The coverage of cultured meat in the US and UK traditional media, 2013–2019: drivers, sources, and competing narratives. Climatic Change 162, 2379–2396. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02813-3

Ho, S. S., & Kristiansen, S. (2019). Environmental Debates over Nuclear Energy: Media, Communication, and the Public. Environmental Communication, 13(4), 431-439. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2019.1603018

Schäfer, M. S., Füchslin, T., Metag, J., Kristiansen, S., & Rauchfleisch, A. (2018). The Different Audiences of Science Communication. A Segmentation Analysis of the Swiss Population’s Perceptions of Science and their Information and Media Use Patterns. Public Understanding of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662517752886

Painter, J., Kristiansen, S., & Schäfer, M. S. (2018). ‘Digital-born’ media and the coverage of the Paris climate summit. Global Environmental Change. Online November 17, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.11.003

Nisbet, Matthew C., Wihbey, John, Kristiansen, Silje, Bajak, Aleszu (2018). Funding the News: Foundations and Nonprofit Media. Published by the Shornstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, in collaboration with Northeastern University’s School of Journalism. https://shorensteincenter.org/funding-the-news-foundations-and-nonprofit-media/

Kristiansen, S. (2017). Media and Risk. A Phase Model Elucidating Media Attention to Nuclear Energy Risk. Universitätsverlag Ilmenau, Ilmenau. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:ilm1-2017100025

Kovic, M., & Kristiansen, S. (2017). The gambler’s fallacy fallacy (fallacy). Journal of Risk Research. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2017.1378248

Kristiansen, S. (2017). Characteristics of the Mass Media's Coverage of Nuclear Energy and its Risk: A Literature Review. Sociology Compass, 11:e12490. doi: 10.1111/soc4.12490

Painter, James, Erviti, María Carmen, Fletcher, Richard, Howarth, Candice, Kristiansen, Silje, León, Bienvenido, Ouakrat, Alan, Russell, Adrienne, & Schäfer, Mike S. (Eds.) (2016). Something old, something new: Digital media and the coverage of climate change. Oxford.

Schäfer, Mike S., Kristiansen, Silje, Oukrat, Alan (2016). New players and old: Volume of coverage and themes. In: Painter, James, Erviti, María Carmen, Fletcher, Richard, Howarth, Candice, Kristiansen, Silje, León, Bienvenido, Ouakrat, Alan, Russell, Adrienne, Schäfer, Mike S. (Eds.) (2016): Something old, something new: Digital media and the coverage of climate change. Oxford, pp. 47-62.

Kristiansen, S., Schäfer, M. S., & Lorencez, S. (2016). Science journalists in Switzerland: Results from a survey on professional goals, working conditions, and current changes. Studies in Communication Sciences. Online November 23, 2016. doi.org/10.1016/j.scoms.2016.10.004

Kristiansen, S., Bonfadelli, H., & Kovic, M. (2016). Risk Perception of Nuclear Energy after Fukushima. Stability and Change in Public Opinion in Switzerland. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Online August 25, 2016. doi: 10.1093/ijpor/edw021

Schäfer, Mike S., Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (Eds.) (2015). Wissenschaftskommunikation im Wandel. [Changes in Science Communication.] Köln.

Schäfer, Mike S., Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (2015). Wissenschaftskommunikation im Wandel: Relevanz, Entwicklung und Herausforderungen des Forschungsfeldes [Science Communication in Transformation: Relevance, Development and Challenges in the Research Field] In: Schäfer, Mike S., Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (Eds). Wissenschaftskommunikation im Wandel. [Changes in Science Communication.] Köln, pp. 10-42.

Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (2014). Risikoberichterstattung und Risikoperzeption. Reaktionen von Medien und Bevölkerung in der Schweiz auf den AKW-Unfall in Fukushima. [Media Risk Coverage and Risk Perception. Reactions of the Media and the Population in Switzerland on the Nuclear Accident in Fukushima.] In: Wolling, Jens, Arlt, Dorothee (Eds.): Fukushima und die Folgen – Medienberichterstattung, Öffentliche Meinung, Politische Konsequenzen. [Fukushima and its Consequences – Media Coverage, Public Opinion, Political Consequences.] Ilmenau, pp. 297−321.

Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (2013). Radioaktive Strahlung ist unsichtbar, löst aber einen Klimawandel in der Bevölkerungsmeinung aus − Meinungsklima, Risikoeinschätzung und Informationsverhalten im Nachgang zu Fukushima. [Ionizing Radiation is Invisible, but Starts an Opinion Change in the Population – Opinion Climate, Risk Perception and Information Behaviour after Fukushima.] In: atw International Journal for Nuclear Power 58, no. 4, pp. 242–247.

Kristiansen, Silje, Bonfadelli, Heinz (2013). E-Health: Gesundheit im Internet. [E-Health: Health on the Internet.] In: Rossmann, Constanze, Hastall, Matthias R. (Eds.): Medien und Gesundheitskommunikation. Befunde, Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen. [The Media and Health Communication. Results, Developments, Challenges.] Baden-Baden, pp. 237−255.

Bonfadelli, Heinz, Kristiansen, Silje (2013). Meinungen zu Atomenergie und den darin involvierten Akteuren. Ergebnisse einer Studie im Auftrag des Eidgenössischen Nuklearsicherheitsinspektorats. [Opinion on Nuclear Energy and on the Stakeholders Involved. Results of a Study on Behalf of The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate.] In: Bulletin. Fachzeitschrift von Electrosuisse und VSE 104, no. 4, pp. 12–15.

Kristiansen, Silje (2013). Nucleare, su cosa puntano i media. [Nuclear energy and the focus of the media.] In: EJO − European Journalism Observatory. 11.11.2013

Kristiansen, Silje (2013). Steht Risiko drauf, wo Risiko drin ist? [Is Risk Labelled as Such?] In: EJO − European Journalism Observatory. 28.10.2013

• Collaborator on the international study "Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism" together with Prof. Dr. Håvard Haarstad.