Communicating Science: Outreach and Advocacy

Technology is everywhere. It is embedded into our daily lives and impacts us more than we could imagine. For scientists to be able to communicate the importance of their research is becoming ever more necessary.

I believe that as a (budding) scientist, it is just as important to make science transparent and accessible as it is doing research. Helping people understand the key issues and form an educated view is one of my goals as a researcher. I think there is a culture change happening in the scientific community that emphasizes this aspect of research, but there is still work to be done.

If you are in the sciences, what can you do to help? 

Go out and talk to everyone about what you do! I think it is important we do not presume an incompetency of the audience. I often see this in opinions of how scientists and researchers think society perceives them. They often assume the public sees science as geeky or too complicated. But it's not! Everyone has same questions- how does it work, how is it made, how can we make it better? It is our job to help answer these questions and make sure people know about our research. It is important that you as the scientist think that your work is worth knowing.

If you are not a researcher, what can you do to help? 

Ask questions and be skeptical! Scientists are always trying understand and explain something, and shift this understanding if new evidence arises to the contrary. But! The scientific method is not a way of thinking unique to scientists, it is a way of thinking critically and creatively. It is how the curious and thoughtful think about the world.