What is this “science communication” You Speak of?
What is this ‘science communication’ you speak of?
Scientists are often bombarded with terms such as ‘outreach’ and ‘public engagement’, or ‘communicating science’ and making science ‘accessible’ to the public. The Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC) promotes outreach in several forms — whether it’s women in science research chairs or awards for science promotion. While we don’t have specific public engagement requirements as outlined in the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Broader Impacts criterion, it’s likely only a matter of time before these criteria are included in Canadian grant applications.
It’s not just about getting funding, however. Increasing public engagement in science is critical given that a range of major policy decisions revolve around scientific topics, and that a healthy democracy relies on an informed electorate. The more you can share your research with people, the better they’ll be able to make their own informed decisions on key science policy questions such as vaccination, genetically modified foods, and other issues.
So what is science communication, and how can scientists be successful at it?
Professional science communicators (e.g., journalists) can take detailed, complex science from a range of fields, distill it to its key points, and translate those points into publicly accessible language. Scientists, however, often have an innate distrust of the journalist species. They fear that distillation is more appropriately termed dilution, and that translation is a code word for dumbing down.
At its most basic, science communication is defined as sharing science-related topics with non-experts. For scientists this can take a number of forms: from teaching classes to a radio interview or newspaper article about your research, to a presentation to local high school students, or a popular blog post. The key to successful science communication is that you’re keen on your topic, use accessible language, and make it relevant to your audience.
Exactly how do you do that? For many academic scientists, the requirement to do outreach is just one more task on an already full plate. Add to that the strong academic tendency toward introversion, differences in how words such as ‘theory’ are defined in scientific versus public terminology, and the disconnect between a public that often learns best through story and scientists who deal best in facts, and things can get complicated in a hurry.
For starters, find out if your university has a communications group you can work with. While most universities have a campus-wide communications office, some also have department-specific communications people. There may also be outreach or recruitment groups looking for professors to attend schools or community events to share their research. Alternatively, you can go the private route and hire communication-focused companies such as Endeavour Scientific to help you get the word out on your research.
If you’re really keen, you can write a blog — either you own, or as a guest post on someone else’s. Many scientists use blogs to talk about how their research applies to the everyday, or to translate complex research papers into plain language research summaries (see these examples from glaciology and entomology).
Alternatively, you can sign up for a program designed specifically to improve the communication skills of academic scientists. Canadian researchers Elena Bennett (McGill) and Martin Sharp (UAlberta) have participated in the American Leopold Leadership Program, and brought their expertise back home to develop homegrown communication workshops (McGill and UAlberta).
At its easiest level, science communication is about being a scientist in public: connecting non-scientists with your research and its role in everyday life. Even if you just comment on someone’s Facebook post explaining how a plant in their latest picture can be used to fix nitrogen in the garden, or send a Tweet outlining your latest research paper in 140 characters — you’re communicating science. And that’s a good start.
Read more:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology
Report by Chris Mooney on whether scientists understand the public, based on a series of workshops organized by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Report from UK’s Wellcome Trust on the Role of Scientists in Public Debate
This was originally posted on the Canadian Science Publishing blog on Feb 4, 2014, but was lost during a blog revamp.
