The Center for Risk Communication Research was developed by the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland in fall, 2003. We conduct state-of-the-art research on risk prevention, risk perception, risk and the media, and emotion, cognition and risk decision making. We provide scholarly resources and expertise in several content areas including: food safety, environmental harm, security, and health risks.

(CR)2 Theoretical Areas of Expertise with example research questions

The mission of the CRCR is to advance dialogue and understanding about how communication helps control and prevent risk; about how publics perceive risk communication; and about the political, economic and social contexts for risk communication through research, education, and outreach. Risk communication is viewed as the strategic use of discourse in relation to threat and risk to health, food safety, security, and the environment.

Goals of the Center

The Center has three main goals that guide most of its work:

1. to establish public and scholarly agendas for risk communication research;
2. to help create and facilitate links between industry, academia, and government for and about risk communication; and
3. to encourage scholarly and professional collaborations between institutions and individuals that focus on risk communication.

(CR)2  contexts with examples

Funding Sources & Partners

The Center For Risk Communication Research would like to thank the following organizations for their funding, support, and continued generosity.

The Department of Communication is dedicated to the study of the strategic use of discourse in the public sphere. Graduate students in the department focus on one of four areas: intercultural communication, persuasion and social influence, public relations, and rhetoric and political culture. Risk communication is studied across these four scholarly areas by faculty and students.

The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) was established between the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the University of Maryland (UM) in April 1996. The Institute is a jointly administered, multidisciplinary research and education program and includes research components from the FDA Centers for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and Veterinary Medicine (CVM), and UM. FDA's broad goals within the collaboration are to expand food safety, human nutrition and animal health sciences research and education programs. Risk analysis (risk assessment, risk management, and communication) provides focus for JIFSAN programs, promoting the development of risk-based, scientifically supportable safety standards.