International mobility in science communication is emerging as a valuable avenue for strengthening individual and institutional capacity, as recently argued in University World News. Traveling across borders, learning new tools and good practices, immersing ourselves in the host’s cultural and linguistic environment, networking, and, in turn, inspiring others is already a lot, but it still represents one side of the coin.

Several years of shadowing communication departments at research institutions across Europe, including the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga, the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Nanoscience (IMDEA Nanociencia) in Madrid, and, most recently, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, have led me to believe something is missing in the way one prepares, lives and follows through these international visits: a rosetta stone for these exchanges. One that will provide an interpretive toolkit, an adaptive approach, a navigational mindset, and a harmonizing protocol of guidelines to flow through these experiences.

When we look for answers, we find one particular profession that has had this knowledge for centuries. Due to the nature of their work, its practitioners have routinely dealt with familiar challenges, such as representing a home institution on foreign ground, understanding local dynamics from an outsider’s perspective, and building mutual trust within a constrained timeline.

Before transitioning to science communication, I spent a decade in the Foreign Service, representing Poland abroad, working across political, economic, educational and consular affairs. Despite the different settings, visiting research institutions for communication exchanges engaged a kind of professional muscle memory, recalling situations that demanded the same tactical instincts and poise I had practiced in my previous duty. This came so naturally that, for years, I worked with no awareness of bringing the craft of diplomacy into science communication. It was while reflecting on the necessity of widening access to international mobility opportunities in our field, and noticing the growing importance of science diplomacy, that I connected the dots.

In its European Framework for Science Diplomacy, the European Commission defines science diplomacy as “the direct or indirect use of science, scientific evidence and scientific cooperation to support diplomatic objectives at different levels, as well as the deployment of diplomacy to support scientific progress.” The framework was followed by the Council Recommendation of 29 May 2026 on a European Union framework for science diplomacy marking a significant step towards embedding science diplomacy more firmly in European research, innovation and foreign policy.

This development points to a broader shift. Diplomacy is increasingly entering the scientific sphere not merely as an external instrument, but as a reservoir of competencies, practices and ways of navigating international cooperation. The moment therefore seems particularly apt to ask: if science has already embraced diplomacy as a strategic partner, why has science communication not looked to diplomatic expertise as a resource, for instance, in its own international mobility?

A diplomatic approach to international mobility in science communication

On a practical level, international mobility, such as job shadowing, is an exchange of knowledge, good practices, and experiences. Diplomacy invites us to look beyond the functional aspects of such visits. Through its logic, for an external mission to be multifaceted, effective, and beneficial, institutions, cultures, and people must first become intelligible to one another. For centuries, diplomacy has refined the art of entering unfamiliar environments, interpreting them before acting within them, drawing hypotheses on the spot to be verified later, representing one’s own interests while addressing those of the other party, nurturing connections after the visit ends, and working toward building relationships that extend beyond a single encounter. These are the waters that international science communication is increasingly beginning to navigate as we include mobility in the profession’s repertoire.

Diplomacy offers more than inspiration; it provides a body of accumulated wisdom and savoir-faire that can strengthen the way we approach international mobility.

Preparing for your visit

The first lesson is to understand the situation. Often, international exchanges focus on visible outputs: a successful outreach campaign, an attractive social media project, or an innovative public engagement program. A diplomatic perspective looks beneath the surface. What institutional conditions made these initiatives possible? Which leadership priorities, governance structures, funding models or organizational cultures enabled them to flourish? Through a shadowing visit, making sense of these invisible reasons and forces often becomes more valuable than attempting to replicate the visible results back home.

This requires preparation before arrival. More than three centuries ago, François de Callières advised that „[a]n envoy should make it his first business to discover the real state of the court which he visits“¹. The same principle applies to science communication. Meaningful mobility begins long before boarding the plane. Studying the host’s website, social media, and published materials, as well as reading the institution’s goals, mission and vision, ensures a solid operational foundation. It is equally important to understand its communication philosophy and priorities, get to know the leadership and team (bios are easily googleable), and identify shared interests. This preparation, combined with arriving with thoughtful questions, serves as a crucial asset for the dialogues ahead. It also signals how purposefully the communicator has approached the entire exchange. Two communicators may spend the same week at the same institution; what they gain is a 50/50 split between the quality of the program and how well they prepared before stepping into it.

Preparation also creates the conditions for perhaps the most valuable diplomatic skill: listening. Much of what truly matters in an organization is not written down. It emerges during laboratory tours, corridor conversations or informal discussions over coffee, where colleagues explain why certain decisions were made, which initiatives succeeded unexpectedly or what challenges remain unresolved. These conversations reveal the tacit knowledge that no annual report or openly available document can fully capture. Drawing on decades of diplomatic service under Louis XIV, François de Callières remarked: „One of the most necessary qualities in a good negotiator is to be an apt listener“ (op. cit.). For a visiting science communicator, listening is not passive courtesy; it is a vital method of institutional learning.

Understanding culture and norms of the host institution

An equally important principle is to understand culture before interpreting practice. Edward T. Hall observed that „Culture hides much more than it reveals“². Every research institution operates according to unwritten norms that shape how communication functions: how decisions are made, how hierarchy influences discussion, how researchers collaborate, how trust and prestige are built internally and externally, and many more. Without recognizing these invisible dynamics, international visitors risk copying practices while misunderstanding the conditions that sustain them. Mobility therefore becomes less an exercise in transferring best practices than in learning how to interpret another institutional culture, distil its underlying principles, and adapt them to our own institutional and cultural context.

Situational awareness, preparation, listening and cultural interpretation are important folds of the broader diplomatic fan. Equally indispensable is tact. Sir Ernest Satow famously defined diplomacy as „the application of intelligence and tact to the conduct of official relations“³. Intelligence provides knowledge; tact determines how and when that knowledge is shared. During international exchanges, this often means resisting the temptation to compare institutions or propose improvements. A subtler path is to approach the host institution in good faith, with genuine curiosity and the confidence that its members are seeking the best possible outcomes within their particular context.

After the visit

Finally, diplomacy reminds us that international relationships are built not only during the visit itself, but afterwards. In practice, trust is earned through actions that demonstrate reliability, reciprocity and a genuine commitment to the relationship. Following through on a promised introduction, sending photographs taken together after returning home, acknowledging hosts in social media posts and institutional news stories, sharing relevant materials, developing a conversation into a joint initiative, and making other thoughtful gestures will often determine whether a mobility exchange becomes a lasting partnership or simply another completed visit.

In Europe, science communicators are living in exciting times as the atlas of our profession is expanding, with new opportunities and higher stakes. The emergence of the European Competence Centre for Science Communication (COALESCE) brings an opportune moment to consider how science communication further evolves as a profession. As Europe builds the Competence Centre, and while science diplomacy continues to gain geopolitical importance across the European Research Area and beyond, the conditions are emerging for a more international and cross-disciplinary dimension of our discipline. Just as we expand science communication’s horizons through more cross-border mobility and cooperation, weaving diplomatic craft into our field may elevate its strategic skillset and could enrich the educational framework of emerging initiatives such as the European Science Communication Academy⁴.

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL Nano) – visited within the framework of the Erasmus+ program – the Instituto IMDEA Nanociencia, and the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) for generously hosting her shadowing visits, and their respective science communication teams for their openness and inspiring collaboration. Acknowledgements are also extended to her sending home institutions, the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences and ICTER, for enabling these international mobility opportunities.

AI Disclosure: English is not my native language. While the conceptual framework, ideas and experiences presented in this text are entirely my own, I used a large language model solely as a linguistic tool to refine the English phrasing and improve the grammar.

1. The Practice of Diplomacy, 1716 ↩︎
2. The Silent Language, 1959 ↩︎
3. A Guide to Diplomatic Practice, 1917 ↩︎
4. COALESCE will establish a Science Communication Academy as part of the Competence Centre, to provide science-communication training to interested groups such as science communicators and journalists. More information can be found on the website of COALESCE. ↩︎