From that exact moment that I fell in love with science communication, I have also been looking for ways to improve. I have learnt a lot by trial and error. I have been lucky enough to learn on the job from different people, and over the past few years, the global pandemic has allowed me to invest in myself and my skills even more. One of the silver linings of the past year and half, if there can be any…. Like science and scientific research, getting started in science communication can feel like a never-ending learning curve. Even after you have been doing it for a number of years like I have ..read more

I vividly remember when I received the invitation to interview for my first science communication job! The excitement was making me shape with excitement. This could be my chance to take my first step into a science communication career. My first shock was that the interview time slots were either the morning that I had my PhD viva scheduled, or at 4.30pm the day before. Not ideal, but I told myself I could have plenty time to prepare on my train journey home. Then came the words… “After your interview, you will also be asked to complete a timed interview task” That was it. That was all the in ..read more

What is it like to do science communication as a full time job? Can Tik Tok really be used for science communication? Where can I find science communication internships? Erin Winick, Science Communications Specialist for the International Space Station is here to share all her tips and so much more in this episode of the SciComm Toolkit. There are so many incredible insights and sound bites in this interview. But if there is one thing I would love you to take away is that science communication takes so many forms and you should just have fun and experiment with what you enjoy. This blog post i ..read more

It can be really tricky to get started in science communication. To find the right tools and resources to help your scicomm confidence grow. To work out whether this type of science communication is right for you. Or indeed, whether science communication is for you at all. I know because I’ve been there. Back when I discovered science communication was a career possibility, I wanted to learn more. I was eager to find useful tools, resources or training sessions that were in my PhD student budget – so basically they needed to be free – and could help me grow in confidence hopefully. 5 years on ..read more

So you have been introduced to the magical world of science communication. But there is so much more to it than a talk at a school or writing about the latest scientific discovery. It’s almost overwhelming how many options there are. There will be so many more than I manage to fit into this post, and there will be ways that no one has even thought about yet. But in this post, I wanted to give you an outline of the many flavours of science communication that there are and give you an idea of what the science communication landscape looks like. I want to give you a whistle stop tour of what oppo ..read more

Picture this. You’re a scientist whose job it is to do research in a lab. You spent probably far too many hours in the lab each week than you should, plus when you get home there is more data analysis and writing to do. There simply just does not seem like there is enough time in the day to get everything done. And now to make matters worse, you have been asked to talk on camera for a video your lab are doing, or you need to prepare for a media interview about your research and career, or you’ve been asked to give a talk at the school open day that’s coming up. Whatever the request, it means t ..read more

Podcasts are growing in popularity every single year. This means there are thousands of hours of audio storytelling out there ready and waiting for you to plug in and listen to, and don’t even get me started on the amount of options to choose from. No matter what your interested in, there is most likely a podcast out there for you. But how do we know which one to start with? Well, I am here to help with that! I’m assuming you are here and reading this because you are looking for a science podcast – right? There are more and more incredible science podcasts out there! Some that look at the stor ..read more

I have been sharing my STEM journey and all things science on Instagram for around 4 years or so now. I’ve made videos, I talk on stories and I’ve shared hundreds of posts, but I have never done an Instagram Live! That was until a week ago! I was invited to be interviewed live on the STEMettes channel and I finally pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and just did it. It was my first one so it was far from perfect. So I thought it would be best to watch it back a few times and work out how to improve for next time and share a few of my tips that helped give me and can help give you a con ..read more

It is time for another edition of my science travel series because the wanderlust is not going away and my frequent search for flights is not keeping me satisfied right now, even though the countdown to the honeymoon trip is now well and truly on! And as I am heading East for our honeymoon, I thought I would do some research on the best places to be inspired by STEM in the hope that we might be able to visit some. So, why not take a virtual trip with me in this post and hopefully you will be inspired to take a trip to one or many of these 37 stunning locations on this incredible continent that ..read more

There are many hurdles and challenges that we all face throughout life. Many of them different and unique to our own paths. But there are many checkpoints we all need to go through before we… The post New ’embryo-like’ stem cells allow the study of early development without the need for embryos appeared first on Soph talks science ..read more