Before I'll go and catch up with my #FENS2020poster rounds, I have some more thoughts about #animalresearch, #scicomm and yesterday's @The_EARA panel.
It was very good, you should watch it and then apply all the skills you learned from the SciSomm SOS workshop.

My thoughts are mostly about small scale #scicomm and talking about animal research.
Because let's face it: as a small tweeter and scientist in a junior position I don't reach a large audience. And I definitely don't get to talk to the media often.
But I love talking science.

The panel experts mentioned this too: you're not going to change the minds of animal rights extremists.

But you can change the minds of people around you: friends and family who may be on the fence about animal research and animal testing.
Bonus: they already know you're a mostly reasonable person who is not a sadistic monster.

I know that facts don't change minds, but that doesn't really stop me

Many of my friends' concerns are about unnecessary animal testing and lack of regulation. They aren't fundamentally opposed to animal research.

They also typically don't view animal testing (safety of chemicals etc) as different or separate of animal research (for scientific Qs)

So for my own research, I explain what and why, but also make it clear that I can't do whatever I want. That research is very strictly regulated.

That I don't just care about the wellbeing of my rats because I like rats, it's the right thing to do, and it makes my science better.
But also because I'm required by law. And so are all the other researchers.

These laws are not secret and are in fact pretty straightforward and easy to read.
It's a pet peeve of mine when people (esp lawmakers) who ask for stricter laws don't know the laws that are already in place.
Anyway, the law belongs to us, the people!

Ahem, so anyway, I explain how my work is regulated and checked.
I don't expect friends to completely agree with me on every point, or to want to do animal research themselves, but I hope to give them context for a more accurate view. Because there are a lot of misconceptions.

And these misconceptions don't just live outside of academia. Communication within your university is just as important.
Neighboring departments may have a very warped view of work that goes on in animal labs too.

Workers in the animal facilities may be uncomfortable talking about their work to their friends and family.
Giving them a more accurate overview of the work going on in research labs can help them too.
@MThallmair and her team are doing really cool work at UZH on this front.

So I guess my main point here is:
I think that small-scale #scicomm like this is extremely important.
Just because you don't have a big public platform, doesn't mean that you can't have an important impact.
I think change really does ripple out from where you are. #FENS2020