Science Media CentreEmerging Researchers WorkshopsJune - July, 2010

Great ways to communicate your research

Dacia Herbulock

We have designed our civilization based on science and technology and at the same time arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster.

- Carl Sagan

How to help fill the gap...

Ways you can communicate your science

• Invite people to your lab

• Convene a science café

• Friends and family day

• Partner with museums, science centres

• Start a blog (check out Sciblogs.co.nz)

• Online social networking, podcasts etc

Awards and competitions...

$150,000... Every yearEntries close August 27

Keep it simple (but not simplistic)

Soundbites that work

• Paint a picture with your message

• Speak in the vernacular

• Remember your audience

• People remember astute quips

Collecting space dust from comet’s tail…

“Its something like driving your car through a severe hailstorm but a hundred times worse” - Thanasis Economou, University of Chicago

Volts may fend off invading carp…

“You get blood everywhere, slime everywhere and green poop, and that’s if the fish doesn’t fly to pieces”

- Duane Chapman, US Geological Survey

Britain allows cloning of human cells…

“We are seeing the first few raindrops of a coming storm”

- Leonard Zon, Society for Stem Cell Research

Do you hear what you’re saying?

Stephen Hawking...

“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

Or, another way...

“Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?”

From Dunedin...

“I don’t want to kill humans, I don’t want to kill animals either. Hence I am killing yeast to save humans.”

From Christchurch...

“The heart of a tumour is like the heart of Auckland City, impossible to get in and out of. Angiogenesis is the process by which the tumour relieves the pressure on its core, so if we can stop the traffic, we can kill the tumour.”

YOUR research in two sentences... Go!

Good science communicators

Good locals

What journalists want is often fairly simple

• timely response

• easy access

• straightforward language

• attitude

Tips for scientists

• Stick to 3 – 4 main points - work this out before • Remember you will be edited• Break down information, use analogy• Put findings in perspective• Draw connection to day-to-day life• humorous, or sobering is…irresistible to reporters

(UK)

SMCs launching in 2010...

• Consider again that pale blue dot...

SMC hotline – 04 499 5476www.sciencemediacentre.co.nzsmc@sciencemediacentre.co.nz

Check out Sciblogs: http://sciblogs.co.nz

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