Thread #3- science communication and engagement

G'morning, everyone. Today, I will be talking about my journey in science communication! It will be the last topic from me.

p/s: I am working on this scicomm initiative - @JomScienceMY ! We are on Facebook, Insta and LinkedIn. :)

I have never heard of the term science communication (scicomm) until I went abroad to Melbourne. I was amazed at how the complexity of science can be demystified using everyday analogies. I attempted this when I was an In2Science mentor, mentoring a group of high school students.

They were year 9 and 10 students (ages 14-16), and I talked about genes and chromosome. Genes, made up of DNA, have their own function. They are contained in chromosomes. So, I used this analogy:

1. Chromosome - bag

2. Genes - items in the bag (books, wallet, keys, etc)

During my PhD,I joined the 3-minute-thesis competition where I had to simplify my PhD research. This was challenging to me because I had to ensure that I focus on the big picture, and to make a strong first impression. After all, human attention span is ~10 seconds,if not lesser.

At Melbourne, I noticed that Instagram and Twitter was a huge playground for science communicators. Scientists were creative with their entries and I wanted to bring this concept to Malaysia. This was when I decided to contact @maha_mabic - the key scicomm person in Malaysia.

@JomScienceMY started in 2018, with Instagram being the main platform. 1 picture and a writeup is all that's needed. The aim was to:

1. Bring science to the general public
2. Promote science (in Malaysia) to the world
3. Make science interesting!

Here's one from @ChiaWeiPhan

I also looked for other ways to engage the public - one of them was through writing. I got in touch with other science communicators via Facebook/LinkedIn and I started to contribute to their platforms - example:

1. https://scihealthnews.tech.blog/2018/05/10/dna-the-code-of-life/

2. https://scienterrificgroup.com/2018/09/15/visualizing-the-mitochondria/

The concept of art in scicomm was new to me and I wanted to explore that. So, I got in touch with @RadhikaPatnala , founder of @sci_illustrate .During my time there, I learnt that eye-appealing images and design is important to send an impactful message, even in science!

Scicomm is a global effort with targeted objectives. Having spoken to different science communicators across the globe, I'm encouraged to keep pushing on with @JomScienceMY:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/jomscienceMY/ 
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jomsciencemalaysia/
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jom-science-malaysia/

Founding members:

Being in scicomm involves a lot of effort to engage people. And I believe that this has helped me develop my interpersonal skills - something that many employers in the industry look for other than technical skills.

(cont'd)

New skills can be taught by someone experienced. On the other hand, interpersonal skills are developed from the activities that you participate in. Be proactive. Organise events. Volunteer to design that poster. Help out in Open Day events (great opportunity to talk to people!)

Not everyone has the same depth of knowledge for a particular topic. By meeting more people, you'll better understand how to communicate with people from different backgrounds. So, find opportunities to attend networking events. Learn about what they do and adjust accordingly.

Attend seminars to learn from the speakers and other participants. Importantly, find opportunities to ask questions after the speaker's presentation.

This pic: Team building @ ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference 2018

Stay in touch with the happenings in your own field so that you can communicate latest discoveries to the general public. Join associations. I have recently joined Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia ( @YSN_ASM), hoping to contribute to the scientific ecosystem.

I will end this thread for the day. I hope you have learned a little more about my #scicomm journey! I will be on this account until Tuesday (~3 pm Malaysia time). So, I am happy to take any question related to industry job search, science communication, anything! See ya. :)