WORKSHOP 1: SCIeNCE BEYOND THE LAB
Hi, all SciCommers!
If you were unable to attend our face-to-face workshop at the Royal Society of Victoria, fear not—this is your go-to page for the summary of the workshop flow, presentations, and fun science communication activities that took place.
What is Let’s Torque?
Let’s Torque in Victoria’s state-wide STEM public speaking competition, open for all science undergraduate students across all Victorian universities; it is run by university students, for university students, focusing on STEM impact and employability.
The main purpose of Let’s Torque is recapitulated in our mission statement:
1. Show the real-world potential of STEM solutions
2. Build the communication skills and confidence of students
3. Connect students with STEM organisations and industry professionals
What Does Science Communication Mean to You?
“Science communication is an umbrella term that relates to the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder and importance about scientific discoveries, arguments, and issues.”
Why is Science Communication important?
While it may seem an obvious question, the importance of proper science communication is often either misunderstood or overlooked—even by scientists! We have seen great information (and misinformation) regarding some of the key issues facing the world; be it climate change or the current pandemic, public health and safety depends on accurate science and clear communication. Science communication is thus an act of storytelling. Too often, we in academic fields are used to writing highly technical papers—often stuck behind a journal’s paywall. This creates a sort of intellectual bubble, isolating our ideas from the general public. The scientific community (that’s us!) need to work on our communication skills to justify the public interest of our findings.
1. General Public
If decisions higher up are to be made, pressure needs to be made from the bottom-up. We have seen this phenomenon hold true in many important social, scientific, and political revolutions; pressure from the general public eventuates itself into the legislation.
2. Policy and Business Decision Makers
This is perhaps the most important stakeholder—aside from the general public. Ultimately, all our scientific findings will come to naught if the people in power either do not receive, understand, or care about the current science. While us scientists may (or may not) care too much about politics (remember the mention of intellectual bubbles) it is ultimately a disservice to our own fields if political decision makers are not properly informed and educated about critical scientific revelations.
3. Aspiring Scientists
This is you! Being a student of science, you will no doubt see the importance and impact of science in the real world. For this final stakeholder two key things need to happen: First, we need to inspire more people into wanting to become scientists; and second, for those who are already scientists (or training to become one) we need to get out of our jargon-filled bubbles and effectively share our ideas with the world!
A Case of Science Misrepresentation?
While the media can have brilliant science segments and guest speakers, sometimes, the findings of studies can be misinterpreted (or even misrepresented) when presented to the public. Be it for wanting to get more viewer ratings—or a genuine mistake of communication—misrepresenting science findings with “clickbaity” titles ultimately damages damage the trust people have in the scientific method and community.
An example of miscommunication during the COVID pandemic:
Actual Title: ‘Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial’
Media Headline: ‘French Peer-Review Study: Our Treatment Cured 100% of Corona-virus patients’ (Daily Wire)
Lesson: Media can misrepresent scientific studies. 56% of Australians believe media does a ‘good job’ at science reporting (Pew, 2019)
In this case, the original study by Gautret et al. (2020) had only six participants—all of whom showed significant reduction of viral load, reinforced with azithromycin. While such a study is a good preliminary trial, claiming a 100% cure rate is too grandiose a statement from a small scale, non-randomised trial, especially in the early days of a pandemic where changes in the scientific narrative as new evidence arises throws away the trust of our community.
Activities You Can Try at Home!
ABstract prompt:
Chose one of your favourite papers with a complex abstract and scientific title and turn it into a media headline! Try sending your headline to your family and friends and see if they would click on that article!
NOTE: Remember to keep the science as true as possible!
If you can’t find an abstract, try one of ours here!
AUDIENCE CHAIN:
After you have your catchy headline, now it is time to get to know your audience!
Understand your audience and what their interests and motivations are
Cater your pitch to that audience; user imply language; avoid jargon; use simple language without being condescending
Inform, motivate, engage, and entertain!
Ask a friend or family member to give you a difficult audience, or maybe try to pitch your chosen scientific study to them! Are they interested? How can you translate the scientific jargon in the abstract to something a non-expert can understand?
REFERENCES
GAUTRET, P., LAGIER, J.-C., PAROLA, P., MEDDEB, L., MAILHE, M., DOUDIER, B., COURJON, J., GIORDANENGO, V., VIEIRA, V. E. & DUPONT, H. T. 2020. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial. International journal of antimicrobial agents, 56, 105949.
ILLINGWORTH, S. & ALLEN, G. 2020. Effective science communication, Institute Of Physics Publ.
Photography by Cesar Aiuto