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Building a career through science communication

Esther De Smet

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Discovering your personal drivers

Plugging the benefits of your PhD

Identifying the impact of your scicomm

Getting your story straight & meeting the right people

Choosing the tools for your public engagement

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What is your personal passion?

How did you end up in science/research?

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Solving puzzles

Curiosity

Enjoying experiments

Awe of /fascination for culture/nature

Creative streak / Love of freedom

Love of learning and teaching

Do good

DRIVERS

Have an impact / make a

contribution

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Your PhD may have given you an edge…

What do you think are some of the benefits?

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Teaching experience

Closer scrutiny of the literature

Credibility with academics

Access to jobs at trade publications

and agencies

Used to hard work and making things

work

Open to editingUsed to deadlines

Richer, true-to-life writing about

science

Abundance of ideas

Knowing where the stories are

Understanding of realities/nuances

of science

Networking

BENEFITS

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• Clear goals, clear target public(s)

• Realistic budget, ROI• Evaluation, reflection, knowledge sharing

Consistency

• Clear strategy, relevant expertise/skills

• Involving target public(s), their needs

• Position in existing offer

Effectiveness

• Diversity, dialogue• Products or process?• Skill development

Normative criteria

IMPACT

Science communication Assessment Instrument, Rathenau Institute (2017)

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IMPACTShow your

passion

Power of being

personal

Right & well-told

storyBe a

leader

Community of

support

Five key points of being a good communicator, Nancy Baron (2010)

Storytelling

Network

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WHAT WILL RESONATE WITH OTHER PEOPLE?> Central image + Point of connection> Balancing less vs more> What is your main message?> Narrative

STORYTELLING

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NETWORK

Within your own

organisationFor your research

Outside your

organisationFor your

communication

In the end, the challenge is to gain the trust and respect of those with whom you are trying to engage.(Fisk & Dupree)

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TOOLS1. Do not put

the tool before the message

2. Find the right match

TOOLS > WHAT DO YOU DO?A. I tweet and facebook my a**

offB. I spam newspapers and other

written media with my ideasC. I traumatise children and

youngsters during outreach sessions

D. If there’s a stage, I’m on itE. I’m a true hipster so

podcasting is my thingF. Writing is so old school. I vlog,

instagram, pin, draw, create installations…

G. My PE stuff is so cool, there’s no label for it

H. Leave me alone. Scicomm is for egomaniacs

13A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H.

0% 0% 0% 0%0%0%0%0%

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TOOLS > PLATFORMS

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Discovering your personal drivers

Plugging the benefits of your PhD

Identifying the impact of your scicomm

Getting your story straight & meeting the right people

Choosing the tools for your public engagement

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WRAPPING UPWHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR (FUTURE) CAREER?

DISCOVER - More than science communication: public engagement, outreach, knowledge mobilisation activities

SHARE – Collaborate, allow people in, join my crusade and convince others, be creative, open up science

LEARN - By training, by looking for mentor/rolemodel, by simply doing, by asking your public(s)

LEAD - Flanders is lagging behind – we need to set up platforms and initiatives, we need to create the careersSO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

ENRICH – Add an extra dimension to your current job, build up your network and skills, enjoy PE

THE SKILLS CROSS-OVER“You can think of research as one of your many useful skills, one that may come in handy in whatever job you have, but not necessarily your primary skill, and certainly not your primary identity. You are welcome to think instead of yourself as a teacher, or an analyst, or a problem solver, or a communicator, or as a community builder. These are all fine. You can think of yourself as a marketer or salesperson, or as a writer or editor, or as an artist or thinker. Don’t let the fact that you have a PhD limit the way you see yourself.”

Jennifer Polk

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@ResearchUGent

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

Esther De SmetResearch DepartmentMarch 2017