Reading a research paper and doing cool experiments is all fine, but what do you do when you're suddenly tasked with explaining your work to someone who has no background in your field? This is something you’ll have to do often not only in iGEM, but at every step of your research journey - but sounds like an impossible task, right?
Parth Kumar, Human Practices Coordinator of the IISc iGEM Team, conducted a session on 'Effective Science Communication' on 29 August 2024. The goal of the session was to explain what science communication and science journalism really are, and to emphasise the importance of bridging the knowledge gap between the researcher and the general public. Parth spoke about accessibility, esoterism, overhyping, misinformation and bias as some of the major issues plaguing academia, and how to counteract them.
With personal anecdotes, drawing from iGEM's Mastering Science Communication Project, and his learnings from his internship at the Office of Communications, IISc, Parth demonstrated what really goes into science communication and writing research highlights and press releases. He used exercises and hands-on examples to bring out the importance of 'cutting the clutter' and 'de-jargonising' science.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed the talk, and Parth encouraged them to become active SciCommers and spread the word about how cool science can be!
