Ella Capewell won for her “FED UP: Not-So-Common Sense” proposal, which targets climate misinformation in online environments.
(Melbourne, 11th June 2025) – Senate SHJ and the Future Communicators Foundation (FCF) are pleased to announce Ella Capewell as the inaugural winner of the SenateSHJ Future Communicators Foundation Scholarship in 2025. SenateSHJ sponsors a yearly AU$2,500 FCF Scholarship for senior undergraduates enrolled in the Bachelor of Media Communication (Public Relations), at Monash University, Melbourne. Along with the award, the Scholarship winners receive mentoring with a senior executive at SenateSHJ and future opportunities with FCF international programs.
The SenateSHJ FCF Scholarship is focused around a yearly theme addressing social responsibility to sustainability and climate, with the 2025 theme tackling “How to Counter Climate Misinformation.” Students were tasked with designing an inventive campaign that raises raises awareness of climate misinformation, creating outreach strategies that use low-cost and limited means to provide accurate and truthful information around climate.
Ella Capewell won for her “FED UP: Not-So-Common Sense” proposal, which targets climate misinformation in online environments. The project aims to “train a group of social media users to combat the spread of climate misinformation,” by equipping them “to find and distribute scientifically-backed climate data from reliable and evidence based sources.” Her campaign specifically critiques climate disinformation from the “Trumpet of Patriots” Australian political party, pointing out how the party created advertisements that “manipulated footage from a 2004 documentary to suggest climate change is a natural occurrence and not man-made.”
A slam poetry performer since she was 15, Capewell describes how her pitch “has been born from the lived experience of growing up amongst the climate crisis,” leading to “an anger that only comes from realising a responsibility for our planet at such a young age, fuelled by an irrepressible fear for the future we are marching towards.” Capewell astutely observes how “anger is often considered unacceptable within our social norms, particularly when expressed by a girl.” Capewell “felt the most impact would come from embracing these emotions, rather than a glossy campaign focussed around ‘hope’ that is not true to Generation Z.” This led to her strategy of “turning climate fatigue into online action by connecting with the current mood of exhaustion and frustration,” resulting in the FED UP platform of Finding and Ending misinformation while Distributing accurate climate science (Find – End – Distribute).
“We are delighted to award this year’s scholarship to Ella,” says Angela Scaffidi, Founding Partner and Chair of SenateSHJ. “Her ‘FED UP’ campaign demonstrated sound knowledge of strategic communication principles, including how to combat misinformation. We share her passion for social responsibility, including responding to climate change. Congratulations Ella.”
“Congratulations Ella from the whole Bachelor of Media Communication team on winning the SenateSHJ Future Communicators Foundation Scholarship at Monash University!,” says Dr. Claire Perkins, Head of Communications, in the School of Media, Film & Journalism at Monash University. “Your pitch showed a creative, timely and actionable grasp of how to use your strategic communications skills to counter climate misinformation. We look forward to seeing your future work!”
“I am so grateful that opportunities such as this exist to empower the next generation of communication professionals,” says Ella Capewell. “It is incredibly encouraging to have received this scholarship, and has given me reassurance that I am on the right path. Receiving feedback from industry professionals has been so valuable, especially at such an early stage in my career. Completing the project was so enjoyable and also a fantastic learning experience building an entire campaign from scratch around such a relevant issue.”
“Sustainability is one of the most pressing topics in today’s society,” added Allard W. van Veen, Founder ofthe Future Communicators Foundation. “I firmly believe that PR professionals can play a more prominent role in promoting sustainability. We hope that the scholarship will help to develop students’ social conscience and encourage them to make an impact, in terms of promoting a fair and sustainable world.”
About SenateSHJ
SenateSHJ was founded in 2002, and since that time has grown to become one of Australasia’s most successful independent consultancies. We have won multiple awards, including being recognised in the 2021 Holmes Report, which ranked us in the top 250 for public relations agencies in the world. Our diverse backgrounds include government, healthcare, journalism, media, marketing and business consulting, digital and social strategy management, as well as communication consulting. We pride ourselves on our work, our people and our industry.
