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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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:  ...

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...

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...

In this first episode of the new series Peter talks with Dr Shaun O'Boyle: science communicator, founder of House of STEM (a network of LGBTQ+ scientists in Ireland) and co-organiser of grass-roots initiative, LGBT STEM Day, which is gearing up to happen for a second time this July 5th 2019. Peter and Shaun talk about some of the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ scientists, why so many feel that they have to hide their sexuality in the workplace and about why science communicators are perfectly...

How do you tell the story of an 800+ year old academic institution - one of the most famous universities in the world - using the most modern of communications methods? Barney Brown has been doing that for the past decade as Head of Digital Communications at Cambridge University where he has headed up an award-winning team that not only generates excellent digital content of its own but also embraces other creators who form part of the university community, such as student vloggers.  In this...

In this episode The Science Media Centre's Fiona Fox talks about the turbulent time in the late 1990s/early 2000s when science was rocked by a number of adverse news stories that led to the formation of her organisation. She reflects on how things have changed in the seventeen years since the SMC started, the impact of digital technology on science journalism, and the danger posed if scientists decided to retreat to their ivory towers. ---------------------- LINKS ...

This week's guest is science communication extraordinaire, Dr Kat Arney. Kat cut her scicomm teeth at Cancer Research UK where she spent 12 years before a hugely successful run with phenomenally successful podcast series The Naked Scientists. Now she is a freelancer producer and has her own science communication consulting company. Her latest work is the brilliant podcast, Genetics Unzipped. Through her years in the science communication sector Kat has developed an acute understanding of...

That we’re living in highly polarised times won’t come as news to most people. Our natural propensity to tribalism has been let loose and public discourse has given way to people ranting and raving at anybody who doesn’t share their worldview. And all of this comes at a time when we need strong and healthy debates more than ever to to tackle the major challenges we face. So what can we do to encourage better communication across political and cultural divides? How can we have productive...

The British Academy is the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences. For almost 120 years the Academy has been championing these disciplines and boasts some of their most distinguished scholars as fellows, past and present, including John Maynard Keynes, C.S. Lewis, Mary Beard and Rowan Williams. Recently the BA announced a new strategic plan that places reinvigorated communications at its core, so for this episode of Research Comms I caught up the Communications Director,...

Hana Ayoob is a science communicator with a plethora of skills. She is a festival organiser who has helped run some of the UK’s biggest science events, she is a comedian, a consultant, an illustrator and one quarter of the excellent science podcast ‘Why Aren’t You A Doctor Yet?’ In this week’s episode of Research Comms Hana talks about her multi-pronged approach to scicomm, what it’s like being a new-found freelancer and why she is so committed to supporting minorities in STEM. This episode...

In this week's episode I welcome back friend of the podcast and science communicator, Sam Illingworth, to talk with me about the recent report 'Climate Communication in Practice - How Are We Engaging the UK Public with Climate Change?' produced by Sam and members of the Climate Communications Project.  We discuss the importance of identifying specific audiences, the need to understand their beliefs and values, and how it's ok for scientists to have opinions.  Here are links to some of the...

Science and storytelling are not often seen as natural bedfellows. Stories are more commonly associated with the make-believe, told for purposes of entertainment or escapism. Cast as being a million miles away from the strict, truth-seeking nature of science. But in reality science and storytelling have a great deal to offer each other, at least when it comes to the communication of science. In this week’s episode of the Research Comms Podcast we’ll be exploring how storytelling can help...