{"id":3828,"date":"2021-12-15T12:20:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T12:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/my-experiences-with-communicating-my-research-to-a-broad-audience\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T14:41:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:11:17","slug":"my-experiences-with-communicating-my-research-to-a-broad-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/my-experiences-with-communicating-my-research-to-a-broad-audience","title":{"rendered":"My experiences with communicating my research to a broad audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a science communicator who went from being a microbiology graduate to pursuing a PhD in science communication and eventually helping institutions and scientists communicate their research through videos, infographics, and animation. Here\u2019s the story of how I got here and an account of some of my top learnings in research communication. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When I was in college, my baba (father) developed cracks in his skin and was diagnosed by his doctor as having psoriasis, a recurrent disease.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, it is an autoimmune disorder,\u201d I said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of disorder is that?\u201d Baba asked curiously.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That was the day I realized jargon should be restricted to clinical notes. Unfortunately, even as a microbiologist familiar with such jargon, I could not find a proper way to explain what an autoimmune disorder was. Research communication is harder than most of us think! However, I loved drawing and felt motivated to explore if I could better explain scientific concepts through art and, specifically, cartoons. I practised communicating what I learnt in college to my parents (neither has a background in science) and to my sister, who is still in school.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the last semester of my undergraduate course, I decided to pursue an M.Sc. or an integrated PhD course in biological science. I traveled across the country with baba to the institutes where I was selected for interviews. The numerous journeys and my baba\u2019s curiosity about my field of interest gave me an opportunity to explain to him the what, why, and how of concepts I was asked about during the interviews.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A few days later, one of my friends sent me an advertisement for an M.Sc. course in \u201cScience and Technology Communication\u201d at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research\u2013National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By then, my interest in research dissemination to broad audiences had been strongly kindled, and I applied for this course. I passed the initial screening as well as the interview, thus becoming one of the first students to enroll in a course of this kind offered by a government institution of national importance in India.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Through this course, I not only met wonderful professors, science communicators, and science educators, but was also introduced to a treasure trove of knowledge about science communication. Books like \u201cDon\u2019t Be Such a Scientist,\u201d \u201cNarrative is Everything,\u201d and \u201cConnection\u201d\u2014authored\/co-authored by Randy Olson, a marine biologist-turned-science filmmaker\u2014remained my constant companions throughout the course.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of the third semester, I learnt about different types of and approaches to science communication and the dos and don\u2019ts involved. I practised and improved my ability to communicate science through writing, games, and cartoons. I wanted to explore modern digital media to communicate science, and so, I took online courses on audio-video editing, animation, and graphic design. Our class created an online popular-science website, \u201cSciteum.\u201d To disseminate research, we started posting popular-science articles covering research literature, reports on talks and conferences, science cartoons, stories, quizzes, videos, and podcasts. We also began a special science series\u2014\u201cAn Element a Day<\/a>\u201d\u2014to celebrate the International Year of Periodic Table 2019, which was a big hit!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2020, in one of the science symposiums arranged by our institution at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh, India), I met Mahinn Ali Khan, the then-head of the Communications Office at the Bangalore Life Science Cluster (BLiSC) and an amazing mentor. BLiSC is a hub for biological science research in India, comprising the National Center for Biological Sciences, the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My subject doesn\u2019t involve working in a wet lab; so, for our course project in the last semester, a classmate and I decided to do the project in a different educational ecosystem where we could gain experience in communicating the research that happens in a wet lab to a broad audience. We approached Mahinn to ask if she would be our mentor. She asked us only about our plan for what we could do at BLiSC and how we could complete the project. Very soon, we became a part of the BLiSC Communications Office. We packed our bags, went to Bangalore, and joined BLiSC as interns. There, we thoroughly enjoyed working with the communications team, met helpful people, and learnt about the administrative aspects of science communication, which cannot be mastered by merely reading books or attending conferences. I realized that science communication is much more than science outreach, popular science writing, social media communication, and research communication. It plays a crucial role in the acquisition of research grants, policy-making, diplomacy, and research publication.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With evolving media and reducing attention span, it is challenging to create impactful science communication creatives for a broad audience, particularly when the audience is linguistically and culturally diverse. This challenge, in fact, had motivated me to pursue a PhD in Science Communication\u2014to observe diverse people and make science communication creatives more dynamic. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some lessons that I have learnt throughout my journey:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n