Austin Hubner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor - Department of Public Relations
Office: 3212 Weimer
Email: ay.hubner@ufl.edu
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Austin Hubner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor - Department of Public Relations
Austin Y. Hubner is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Relations and a faculty member in the STEM Translational Communication Center at the University of Florida. She earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 2022. Before joining UF, she served as an assistant professor of communication at the University of Louisville from 2022 to 2025.
Her research examines how individuals evaluate scientific and expert authority in contemporary information environments, with particular attention to the communication cues that shape perceptions of expertise, credibility, and trust. Her work focuses on three interconnected areas: public perceptions of scientists and scientific institutions, the communication of expertise in digital and social media environments, and the factors that contribute to distrust of scientific and medical authorities.
Across this research, Hubner examines how characteristics of communicators—including identity, language, presentation, and institutional affiliation—shape judgments of credibility and influence how people respond to scientific and health information. Her research also explores broader challenges to scientific authority, including science-related populism, political polarization, and the growing prominence of non-expert sources of health and scientific information.
Hubner has authored 20 peer-reviewed articles, with her research appearing in leading communication journals including Science Communication, Public Understanding of Science, Human Communication Research, and Communication Research.
Education
Master’s and Ph.D. in Communication from The Ohio State University
Bachelor of Science Communication from Washington State University
News
- Support for scientific funding doesn’t have to be partisan — but scientists must make the case, says new study (January 5, 2026)
- Austin Hubner authors articles on how scientists shape public trust and how the public evaluates scientific information sources (December 8, 2025)
- UFCJC faculty, graduate students and alumni represented at 2025 National Communication Association Convention (November 21, 2025)
- Calling Wonder Woman for Science: How Female Experts Engender Likability and Trust (February 3, 2025)
- Study: A Scientist’s Gender May Influence Perceptions of Likability, Competence and Trust (November 14, 2024)
- All News About Austin Hubner →
Publications
Recent Refereed Journal Articles
Hubner, A. (2026). When Scientists Speak Up: Trustworthiness in Advocacy Contexts. Environmental Communication/ A Journal of Nature and Culture, 20(5), 860–876. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2025.2597443
Hubner, A. (2026). How the public evaluates various sources of scientific information: A descriptive examination. Public Understanding of Science. DOI: 10.1177/09636625261437376
Hubner, A., & Coker, C. (2026). Breaking—or Embracing—the Mold: Examining the Influence of Stereotypical News Frames on the Perceptions of a Female Presidential Candidate. Communication Studies, 77(1), 51–68. DOI: 10.1080/10510974.2025.2485348
Hubner, A., Della, L.J., & Hart, J.L. (2025). To Fund or Not to Fund? Examining Relationships Between Support for Scientific Research Across Political Ideologies and Science-Related Populist Beliefs. Science Communication. DOI: 10.1177/10755470251400317
Lerner, B., Hubner, A., & Shulman, H. (2025). Science populism impacts perceptions of credibility across scientific professions. Scientific Reports, 15(1). DOI: 10.1038/S41598-025-14115-8
Hubner, A., & Bullock, O.M. (2025). Why Science Should Have a Female Face: Female Experts Increase Liking, Competence, and Trust in Science. Science Communication, 47(4), 527–552. DOI: 10.1177/10755470241295676
Hubner, A., Coronel, J., Ott, J., Sweitzer, M.D., & Lerner, S. (2025). Do People Value Expertise? Revisiting Assumptions About Attention to Expertise via Eye-Tracking and the Loss of Expertise Cues During Person-to-Person Transmission of Science Information. Communication Research. DOI: 10.1177/00936502251339693
Watts, J.M., Hubner, A., Pei, J., & Barros Coelho, M. (2025). Is it safe? The effect of narrative vs. non-narrative messages on story-related knowledge of medicated abortion. Frontiers in Communication, 10. DOI: 10.3389/FCOMM.2025.1473154
Hubner, A., Watts, J.M., & Watts, J.M. (2024). Agents of Change or Counterarguing? Investigating the Source Credibility of Celebrity Versus Traditional Experts on Health and Political Behaviors. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. DOI: 10.1177/10776990241297653
Dobmeier, C., Ophir, Y., Walter, D., & Hubner, A. (2024). Mapping the Media Genome: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of News Framing of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Kits. Mass Communication and Society, 27(6), 1414–1438. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2023.2240314