Research Comms

Dr. Jamie Gallagher is a science communication and evaluation expert. In early 2020 Jamie’s freelance schedule, which was dominated by live workshops, talks and events all over the world, emptied. In this interview I talk to Jamie about how he pivoted to take his science communication business online and how he’s been helping others navigate that transition to our new virtual world. We also discuss his pre-pandemic career in science communication and how he made that transition from scientist to public engagement professional. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications -------------------- LINKS Jamie's Website Jamie on Twitter Curiosity Box Animal Research Nexus - Psychic Fish

This week’s guest on the Research Comms podcast is Alex Buxton, Head of Strategic Communications at the University of Oxford. We discuss what it was like to be parachuted into his role just after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and to do so at a time when the University was involved in one of the biggest news stories of our times - the race to develop a vaccine to combat the disease. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications www.orinococomms.com

This week’s guest is Professor Andy Miah - Chair in Science Communication and Future Media at the University of Salford. In our conversation we discuss how best to engage people with unfamiliar technological advances, why it’s so important for all academics and researchers to have some kind of a public presence, as well as delving into what Prof. Miah means when he says that we’re undergoing a crisis of science communication. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communication www.orinococomms.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ LINKS Andy Miah’s website You can follow Prof. Miah on Linkedin, Twitter, TikTok

This week’s guest is Dr. Anna Blakney, a vaccine scientist and recent viral sensation on the social media platform, TikTok, where her videos about vaccines have racked up millions of views since she started creating them just a few months ago, gaining her hundreds of thousands of followers. She uses her platform to teach people about the Covid-19 vaccines as part of an initiative called Project Halo that was set up last year by the UN and the Vaccine Confidence Project, with the goal of giving the public a better understanding of how the Covid vaccines were developed. Produced by Orinoco Communications www.orinococomms.com For more info about our video abstracts service: Orinoco Video Abstracts ------ LINKS Anna’s TikTok BBC news report on scientists using TikTok for public engagement  

This week’s guest is Raven Baxter, aka Raven the Science Maven. Raven is a molecular biologist and science communicator who, as well as sharing her love of science with the world, is also a huge champion of greater diversity in the STEM sector. One of the most notable ways that she’s challenge stereotypical ideas of what a scientists should look and act like is a rap song that she recorded and produced a video for called Big Ole Geeks.  She also recently gave a TEDX talk about the narrow way in which scientists are represented in the media and the damaging effect that the lack of representation of Black and other minority groups in the STEM world is having on Black people who are trying to forge careers as scientists, and also on the STEM sector as a whole. Her latest venture is as lead organiser of #BlackInSciComm Week that starts on Sunday 4th October and runs until 10th October 2020. As we hear from Raven, it’s been created as an opportunity for Black science communicators to recentre themselves after the

This week’s guest is Dr Susanna L Harris, a former microbiologist turned science communicator. Susanna has been developing a large, engaged community of followers on social media ever since she started PhD Balance, an organisation that she set up in 2018 to address the needs of graduate students who are experiencing problems with their mental health. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications www.orinococomms.com To find out more about our new video abstract service go here: http://orinococomms.com/vid-abstracts OTHER LINKS Dr Susanna Harris website: https://susannalharris.com/ Twitter: @SusannaLHarris Instagram: @susannalharris PhD Balance: https://www.phdbalance.com/ ComSciCon-MI 2020 Keynote Address on YouTube: https://bit.ly/303yho9

COVID has meant that scientific conferences, as we’ve previously known them, have ceased to exist. Many events have responded by shifting their activities online, creating new virtual conferences, where attendees can join from the comfort of their own homes, wherever they might be. So what does this mean for the communication of research going forwards? Is it possible to replicate the special magic of an in-person event online? Can meaningful collaborations be forged in chat rooms? Will it ever be possible to return to the old days? Do we even want to? Or has that pre-pandemic conference model already had its time? That is the topic of this week’s episode and over the past couple of weeks I’ve interviewed a number of experts to try and answer some of those questions. - Susanne Buiter, former Chair of the Program Committee for the European Geosciences Union - Johnny Palmer, founder and CEO of Pytch, an events and experiences company - Lauren Parr, Vice President of Meetings at the American Geophysical Union -

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast, Suw Charman-Anderson tells the story of how Ada Lovelace Day started over ten years ago and how it has evolved over time. She also discusses how the COVID19 pandemic is prompting the event to return its online roots this year, and how we can all be part of the struggle to increase diversity in STEM. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS Details ALD Online: https://findingada.com/events/ada-lovelace-day-live/ Call for proposals for the Finding Ada Virtual STEM Conference: https://findingada.com/finding-ada-virtual-stem-conference-submit-a-talk/ Newsletter: https://findingada.com/get-involved/ald-newsletter/ Web: FindingAda.com Twitter: @findingada Facebook: AdaLovelaceDay  

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast, Wendy Jarrett, CEO of Understanding Animal Research, talks about changing attitudes towards animal research over the past thirty years, about some of the most common myths that opponents use in arguments against animal research, and how scientists should communicate with members of the public about the use of animals in their research. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications

Medical research charities have been hit hard by the disruptive effects of the pandemic, with many fundraising events cancelled for the foreseeable future and charity shops shuttered for months during lockdown.  Plummeting income has meant they've had to pause or stop research projects, withdraw future funding and lay off staff. In this episode Peter Barker interviews three experts about the crisis. - Leonora Neale, Communications Manager at the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) - Richard Berks, a freelance science writer and communications consultant who specialises in helping medical research charities to engage with their supporters. - Matthew Lam, science communication manager at Worldwide Cancer Research. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications ------------------------------------------------------- LINKS To find out more about the AMRC's campaign and for links to the resources mentioned here and in the podcast visit this blog.    

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast Heidi Larson, Professor of Anthropology Risk and Decision science at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, discusses the causes of loss of confidence in vaccines all over the globe, in the hope that we might develop a more constructive way to engage with people who have doubts over vaccinations. She also discusses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on attitudes to vaccine safety, and the impact that those changing attitudes might have on our ability to fight the disease. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications LINKS Watch Professor Heidi Larson’s TEDMED talk here Pre-order Professor Larson’s book Stuck. How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don’t Go Away Read about the Vaccine Confidence Project here

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast Cambridge University psychologist, Dr Sander van der Linden, discusses the latest surveys that he and his colleagues at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication have conducted exploring this question. We also talk about his recent study into how people respond to uncertainty in communications, and his Fake News Game that inoculates players against misinformation. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications -------------------------- LINKS Read more about the Fake News Vaccine here. And play the Fake News Game here Read the latest reports from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Read here about the study: Uncertainty about facts can be reported without damaging public trust in news

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast psychologist, Dr Asheley Landrum, from Texas Tech University unpicks some of the conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and puts them in the context of her wider research into why certain people believe in conspiracy theories and how they’re spread. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications ---------------------------------------- LINKS Read more about Asheley's research on her website Research paper: The role of conspiracy mentality in denial of science and susceptibility to viral deception about science by Asheley R. Landrum and Alex Olshansky

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast broadcaster and historian, Dan Snow, talks about what it was like working at the end of TV’s ‘golden age’ , his ongoing love of Twitter, his hugely popular History Hit podcast, which gets over a million listens a month, and about the role that the humanities, and history in particular, can play in helping us navigate our way through the Covid-19 pandemic. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications LINKS History Hit podcast History Hit video streaming platform @thehistoryguy Dan Snow Twitter thehistoryguy Dan Snow Instagram

In this episode of the Research Comms podcast climatologist and climate science communicator, Prof. Katharine Hayhoe, talks about the best way to engage with sceptics, how her Christian faith is the driving force behind her care for the planet, and some of the most common mistakes we make when trying to communicate the dangers of climate change. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications *Click here if you want to know more about the video abstract service mentioned in this episode* ---------------------------------- LINKS Global Weirding YouTube Channel presented by Prof. Hayhoe TED Talk - 'The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Fight Climate Change: Talk About It'

Selfies often get a bad rap as being somehow symbolic of our age of self-obsession. But can they also serve a more positive role for people looking to forge connections with new communities online? That’s the question underpinning the work of Dr Paige Jarreau, social media and science communication expert, who last year had a paper published called ‘Scientists Who Selfie’ which investigates the question of whether the social media platform, Instagram, can help scientists’ public image. In this episode of the Research Comms podcast we discussed the project’s findings and chatted broadly about the opportunities and the pitfalls of scientists using social media platforms to engage the public with what they do. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications To find out more about the video abstract service mentioned in the podcast: http://orinococomms.com/video-abstracts ----------------------- LINKS Paige on Twitter: @FromTheLabBench 'Scientists Who Selfie' research paper Lifeology Platform Paige's

Fiona Fox is CEO of the Science Media Centre in the UK. In this episode she talks about what it's like to be working right at the centre of the biggest news story of our times, and about how she and her team are working hard to make sure that story is being driven by accurate and good quality science. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications For more information on the video abstract service mentioned in the podcast please visit: https://orinococomms.com/video-abstracts

Professor Uta Frith is a developmental psychologist with a special interest in autism and dyslexia. In this episode I chat to Uta about her career as a scientist who embraced public engagement at a time when most of her colleagues still saw it as something that serious scientists shouldn't be wasting their time with. Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications For more information about the video abstracts service mentioned in the podcast please visit:  https://orinococomms.com/video-abstracts

Dr Peter Hotez has devoted most of his professional life to developing vaccines to combat neglected tropical diseases that affect millions of the most impoverished people in the world. More recently he has also become an outspoken and prominent advocate for vaccines in the face of the growing anti-vaccine movement. In this episode Dr Hotez opens up about why he is so angry with those spearheading the anti-vaccine movement and his new book 'Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism' which debunks some of the most prevalent anti-vaccine myths, as well as telling the story of his life as the father of a daughter with autism. This podcast is presented by Peter Barker and produced by Orinoco Communications. Twitter: @orinococomms www.orinococomms.com -------------- LINKS to PETER HOTEZ Books Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism Forgotten People Forgotten Diseases Blue Marble Health Twitter: @PeterHotez Website: https://peterhotez.org/    

Will Storr is an award winning author, journalist and storytelling speaker, whose most recent book ‘The Science of Storytelling’ unpicks why storytelling is such an essential part of being human, and how we can use science and our understanding of the human brain to become better, more powerful storytellers and, by extension, better communicators.  Presented by Peter Barker Produced by Orinoco Communications www.orinococomms.com   BOOKS Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr ARTICLES Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Ketchup Conundrum’ TALKS Will Storr’s ‘Science of Storytelling’ Ted X Talk