Clarified - The SciComm Podcast

To achieve effective science communication, it is essential to tailor your message according to your target group. But how do we do that when communicating science to children? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Rachael Bonoan, a biologist and science communicator who is passionate about making science engaging and accessible to all ages.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.rachaelebonoan.com
• https://dresslikeascientistday.com

Is sharing personal details key to great science communication? Is it “the holy grail” or does it also have downsides? In this episode of #scicommresearch, we talk with Dr. Marlene Altenmüller about her research on how sharing personal details can affect laypeople's perceptions of scientists and their trust in science.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/30252/
• https://www.psy.lmu.de/soz/personen/wissenschaftliche-mitarbeiter/altenmueller/index.html

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms of our time. It's widely used by people to share their ideas and opinions, making it an appealing platform for science communication. In today's episode, we welcome Daniel Quintana, a scientist and book author with over 22,000 followers on Twitter. Daniel has a wealth of experience on how to use this platform to effectively communicate scientific ideas to the wider public. We'll be discussing the power of Twitter for science communication, how to create engaging tweets, and even touch upon the recent changes in leadership on the platform. Tune in to hear Daniel's insights and tips on how to get started with science communication on Twitter.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://t4scientists.com
• https://linktr.ee/dsquintana

In this episode, we are joined by Dominique Brossard, co-director of the "Science-Media and the Public" research group. We will be discussing the complex interplay between science, media, and the public, and how this shapes the way science is communicated. From dealing with misinformation to adapting to the influence of social media algorithms, Dominique will share her insights on the challenges and opportunities of science communication in the modern age.

How to tell a story can be as important as the content of the story itself. Which is why we already talked about this in previous episodes. In todays episode we focus on a medium which uniquely combines visualisation with storytelling - comics. I speak with Dr. Sophie Elschner who creates the wonderful PsychoSoph comic. She gives us insights into her workflow and great tipps for improving our own visualisation skills.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://psychosophcomic.com
• https://www.sophie-elschner.de

This is the second episode of our section #scicommresearch in which we talk about current developments in science communication research. This time I had the pleasure to speak to Frauke Domgörgen from the Rhine Ruhr Center for Science communication research about the fascinating projects she is working on.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://rhine-ruhr-research.de
• https://www.fiw.uni-bonn.de/de/abteilungen/wissenschaftsforschung/team/frauke-domgoergen

No one is born a master. This is, of course, also true for science communication. A great way to improve is via professional guides and seminars. Therefore, in this episode I am talking to Dr. Tobias Maier of the NaWik - the national institute of science communication in Germany. He is head of the seminar area and thus the perfect guest for our topic “training scientists for scicomm”.

YouTube is one of the most used platforms for media streaming in our time. Anyone who wants to can stream or upload videos. Therefore, I wanted to know more about how to use YouTube for science communication. In this episode I talk to Cedric Engels who created the popular German science communication channel Doktor Whatson.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.twentytwo.film
• https://www.youtube.com/@DoktorWhatson
• photo by Mick Mahler

Language is an essential part of culture and therefore shapes how people think and interact. But what if that language is lacking scientific terms? Not being able to talk about science in their mother tongue can leave people feel disconnected from it. My guest in this episode is Sibusiso Biyela. He is a science communicator who works on translating scientific articles into African languages to enable more people to talk about science in their mother tongue.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://skbiyela.contently.com
• https://www.wissenschaftskommunikation.de/lots-of-people-have-the-idea-that-science-is-not-for-them-54139/

The past two years have shown us how important clear communication about scientific findings and facts can become in times of crisis. In this episode I talked to Dr. Mirjam Jenny from the University of Erfurt who is a psychologist, decision researcher and science communicator. We talk about how she perceived the communication strategy during Covid19 and what she would have done differently. Furthermore, we talk about why policy and science communication should be separated more clearly.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.uni-erfurt.de/universitaet/aktuelles/news/news-detail/neu-im-team-dr-mirjam-jenny
• https://www.nawik.de/wisskon/die-konferenz/wisskon22/

In season one of Clarified we started the topic of visualisation as a powerful tool for science communication. In this episode Professor Becca Krukowski from the University of Virginia and I go more in depth on how to create insightful infographics as they are great for combining hard facts with easily understandable images.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://med.virginia.edu/phs/2021/12/21/krukowski-rebecca/
• https://www.sbm.org/scicomm/infographics/article-dos-and-donts-of-infographics
• https://anchor.fm/dashboard/episode/e1imqig (episode about visualisation from season one)

Speaking a language other than your mother tongue can be challenging at times. As English is the language of science this can further complicate science communication. Therefore I talk to Dr. Rachel Lippert about how she deals with communicating science in a different language. She shares her story and gives us some advice based on her experience.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.dife.de/person/rachel-lippert/
• https://www.dife.de/interview-mit-rachel-lippert/

In this episode we start #scicommresearch as a new category for this podcast. I invite guests who do research on science communication and we will talk about their work and publications. My first guest for this category is Katharina Weiß who graduated with a Masters degree in food and health sciences from the University of Bayreuth and just published the paper “does the medium matter” which we will discuss in this episode.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12404 (Does the medium matter?)
• https://www.kern.bayern.de
• https://www.phn.uni-bayreuth.de/en/index.html 

My guest in this episode is Mike Young. He founded the Mike Young Academy which offers scientists training on science communication for example on Twitter and also on LinkedIn. In this episode we talk about the latter. LinkedIn is mostly seen as a platform for business contacts but there is so much more to it so stay tuned.

Mentioned in this episode:

• http://mikeyoungacademy.dk
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkeyoung/ 

In this episode I talk to PhD candidate (University of Oxford) Joshua Ettinger who is passionate about storytelling and uses his knowledge to build support for climate action. He aims to find new communication strategies to turn extreme weather events into ‘teachable moments’. Josh was kind enough to share his tipps and tricks about storytelling with us so we can use it to improve our science communication skills.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.josh-ettinger.com
• https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/researchers/josh-ettinger
• https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/article/2021-06-01-turning-extreme-weather-events-into-teachable-moments-for-climate-action
• https://talkclimatechange.org

In this episode we talk about strategic planning for science communication. My guest for this topic is Maximilian Beyer. He works as the project manager of the "Ideenlauf" at Wissenschaft : im dialog. We discuss why strategic planning is necessary for science communication, what benefits come with it and how to stay creative in the long run. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.wissenschaft-im-dialog.de/ueber-uns/team/inhaltsfilter/projektumsetzung/
• https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2022/ideenlauf

In this episode I discuss how to create pictures with language and use it as a tool to convey your message. My guest for this topic is Kevin Mercurio who is a microbiologist in his PhD. He has his own podcast “Metaphorigins” in which he talks about - as the name suggests - the origin of metaphors and how to use them for science communication.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.kjbmercurio.com (Kevin's website)
• https://www.kjbmercurio.com/podcastfeed (Metaphorigins podcast)

In this episode I talk to Dr. Natalie Grams-Nobmann about challenges in science communication. She tells us about her journey from believing in and practicing homeopathy to writing a book about reconsidering it. We talk about why changing once believes about a topic is not always that easy and about hate in the internet and how laughter can be the best medicine against it.

Photo by: Dorothée Piroelle

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://netzwerk-homoeopathie.info/dr-med-natalie-grams/
• https://detektor.fm/serien/grams-sprechstunde

My guest in this episode is Dr. Mariya Vizireanu. She has experience in a lot of different fields like nutrition and health, public opinion and even the gaming industry. Therefore we will talk about different ways to approach science communication. We discuss why empathy is key to effective science communication, how science communication can profit from gaming and how talking to people can give one a great career boost.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9n0jCIvAgQ (Mariya's YouTube channel)
• https://mvizireanu.com/consultations/ (Mariya's webpage)

In this episode I am talking to Dr. Sophie Milbourne about blogging. We discuss the benefits of blogging, if blogging is beneficial for every science communicator and how to start and grow a blog. Sophie is a very experianced science communicator. She is a science blogger, podcaster and content creator and shares a lot of helpful tips with us.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://sophtalksscience.com (Sophie's blog)
• The SciComm Toolkit Podcast (Sophie's podcast)

In this episode I talk to Philipp Schrögel about target groups in science communication. We talk about which questions you should ask yourself to learn more about your target group, the importance of your own role in this, what excludes people from science communication and about some very cool projects. 

Photo by: Tobias Schwerdt

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://impactunit.de/
• https://undwasmachstduso.info/ (pre-project to the upcoming project mentioned)
• https://zenodo.org/record/3937517#.YpdXZBNByAo (hidden object picture)
• https://www.makeyourschool.de/

In this episode I talk with David Spencer - a biologist, PhD student, science-slammer, podcaster and author - about the communication of risks and uncertainties. David gives us tips on how we can avoid sounding patronising when communicating risks. We also talk about that uncertainties are just a part of life and why plants are the best biologists.

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://krautnah.de (David's Podcast)

My guest in this episode is Hannah Oldenburg. She is the social media manager of the "Öko-Institut" a German independent research and advisory institution which aims to create a more sustainable future. We talk about how to build a successful Instagram-account. How to plan posts, what tools are useful in the beginning and how to create a consistent feed. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.oeko.de (Öko-Institut)
• https://later.com/instagram-scheduling/ (Later)
• https://asana.com/de (Asana)
• https://www.canva.com (Canva)

This episode is about the power of visualisation. My guest for this topic is Liesbeth Smit. She is an expert in creating absolutely wonderful graphics and visuals out of scientific papers and scientific findings. We talk about how to start visualising sciences, if pen and paper are enough for the beginning and why burgers are always promoted with lettuce and tomatoes. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.liesbethsmit.com
• https://www.theonlinescientist.com

In this episode I talk to Dr. Jan Crusius who is an experimental social psychologist and the editor-in-chief of the German "In-Mind" version. Our topic is writing in science communication and how it is different from scientific writing. Where should we start to write our first blog article, how can we overcome common writing mistakes and should we compare our writing to other people's writing? 

Mentioned in this episode:

https://de.in-mind.org

This episode is all about goals of science communication. Why should we know our goals to communicate science effectively? I discuss this topic with Christiane Attig. She is in her PhD in psychology, gives seminars at the National Institute of Science Communication (NaWik) and is a podcaster herself. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://christianeattig.de (Check out Christianes Podcasts!)
• https://www.nawik.de

My guest in this episode is Prof. Dr. Laura König. We talk about why science communication is so important. Why should young scientist learn about it, why should we communicate science at all? Give it a listen! 

Mentioned in this episode:

• https://www.wissenschaftskommunikation.de

This is a short intro in which I explain you what Clarified is about.