All kinds of understanding: Successful science communication

Sharing ideas, perspectives and tips to become a more effective communicator.

[urbanagscientist]

A 3-part graphical abstract?

A 3-part graphical abstract? Why? How? and Oooo pretty! Ever thought of creating a multi-part graphical abstract yourself?

For those of you still coming to terms with this whole ‘graphical abstract’ thing, this may sound odd – but I went and created a 3-part graphical abstract for my latest paper. In a previous post I wrote about how to create a simple graphical abstract but here I took things one (or two) steps further. I first put the idea of a 3-part graphical abstract to the Twitter #scicomm community to see what…

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[urbanagscientist]

A more locally connected, resilient and tasty Australia future? How to support all these newly enthused food gardeners

A more locally connected, resilient and tasty Australia future? How to support all these newly enthused food gardeners

So, you are stuck at home. You may be isolating, quarantined, or suddenly found yourself under- or completely unemployed with too much time on your hands. You sit with your family, your children, your housemates or by yourself. You watch the news and hear from others about the panic-buying. You’re concerned over food supplies and the fresh food you can find at the shop seems expensive. What are…

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[urbanagscientist]

Let's talk "Graphical Abstracts"

Let’s talk “Graphical Abstracts”

If you’re a scientist, and have had something published recently, chances are you’ve come across this option when uploading your final reviewed, edited and approved copy of your manuscript:

For many of us, reaching this point in the submission of your paper and thenrealising that you don’t have a graphical abstract ready is just a pain you don’t need. By the end we often don’t have the time or…

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[urbanagscientist]

Open-access Research 2018 - Diversity & Sustainability

Open-access Research 2018 – Diversity & Sustainability

I may have mentioned previously that my PhD approach is to complete a “Thesis containing published material” (AKA Thesis by Publication). I am now 7 weeks awayfrom running out of time and money to submit my thesis. On the plus side, many of my chapters have already been written – as papers. On the downside it’s now crunch time and I am one paper short of my 5 planned papers: 2 are published, 1 is…

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[urbanagscientist]

CitSciOz18 in Adelaide: Excitement, highlights & presentations

CitSciOz18 in Adelaide: Excitement, highlights & presentations

I have never seen such a colourful bunch of scientists as those who attended this years Citizen Science Conference in Adelaide. It was fantastic!

I sat an listened to stories of all different kinds of citizen science projects – from global projects on migratory species to tiny local projects based in small rural regions. The CitSciOz18 conferencewent for three days from February 7th to 9th. There…

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[urbanagscientist]

Talking about the elephant in the room: Mental health and learning how to share your story

Talking about the elephant in the room: Mental health and learning how to share your story

There were nine of us sitting there around a big table, nervously shuffling papers and preparing to share our own stories of mental ill-health. Where were we? What were we doing? Why were we drawing on all our courage to tell others vulnerable details of our own experiences and journeys? Well, we were at a BATYR ‘Being Herd’ workshop. And we were prepared. We were there because each one of us…

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[urbanagscientist]

Open-Access Research from 2017: Aquaponics in Urban Planning?

Open-Access Research from 2017: Aquaponics in Urban Planning?

The first open-access article I, along with Dr James Ward and Dr Barbara Koth published in 2017 was called, “Aquaponics in Urban Agriculture: Social Acceptance and Urban Food Planning”. It’s about the perception and social acceptance of aquaponics by urban food growers and Local Government Area in Adelaide, South Australia. A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the technology…

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[urbanagscientist]

Open-access Research from 2017: Citizen Science

It just so happens that 2017 was a good year for writing; I (along with my co-authors), had my first two scientific articles published. Both are open-access and are therefore available for anyone, anywhere in the world to read – no subscription necessary. Publishing articles as open-access may cost more and require a little more ‘hoop-jumping’, yet it is a valuable method of science communication…

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[urbanagscientist]

5 Ways to Wellbeing in Nature

A little while ago I was asked if I wouldn’t mind talking about what “Keep Learning” means to me. It was for the new South Australian ‘Healthy Parks, Healthy People’ initiative about 5 Ways to Wellbeing in Nature. This clip is the result. I really like the gentleness of the clip and the stories. Instead of being told that the only valuable way to live is to rush and get lots of things done all…

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[urbanagscientist]

Improv. and Science. The odd couple... or a match made in heaven?

Improv. and Science. The odd couple… or a match made in heaven?

In a royally decorated room of the Science Exchange in Adelaide (complete with red carpet, wood panelling and throne-like chairs in the corner), there we awkwardly stood,  30 people in a circle, nervous and fidgeting. We were ready to brave Improv! This winter, the Royal Institute of Australia (RiAUS) hosted an Improv night specifically geared towards helping scientists, scientists-in-the-making,…

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[urbanagscientist]

My first guest blog, "Being BOLD and Taking Responsibility" at the LFIA's Adelaide forum

My first guest blog, “Being BOLD and Taking Responsibility” at the LFIA’s Adelaide forum

I recently attended an Adelaide based forum on “Building Nutrition”, held by the Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA). It was fascinating to say the least. Afterwards I was contacted and asked if I was interested in writing a guest blog on the forum experience – and of course said “Yes!” Here’s how it starts… “There are times when you hear about real people taking small steady steps toward…

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[urbanagscientist]

Keeping Data Personal: Big scopes, little people

Keeping Data Personal: Big scopes, little people

Every now and again I wonder about whether big data can still be personal. This generally occurs after I get a pop-up on my computer or an up-date on my phone which asks if they can track and use my background data. But it does get me thinking – I hear a lot about us being in the era of “big data”, with mass data collection all around. Some of this is used to categorise us according to our likes…

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[urbanagscientist]

Book breakdown - "Don't be such a Scientist" Part 4

Book breakdown – “Don’t be such a Scientist” Part 4

The fourth instalment of Dr Randy Olson‘s book explores the trait of “likability” and its place in scientific communication. Part 4: Don’t be so unlikeable. Even just the title of this chapter made me think – “What does he mean ‘unlikeable’? Is he talking about always agreeing with people? Or trying to look pretty and make friends?” It turns out there’s a bit more to it than that… To begin with,…

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[urbanagscientist]

Project Launch!

After almost two years of planning, I am utterly excited to introduce you all to the Edible Gardens project! Many people across Australia grow some of their own food. In fact in South Australia, 59% of households do so (Wise, 2014). As most of us now live in urban areas, this food production is taking place in cities, towns and suburbs. Urban agriculture is any form of urban food production from…

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[urbanagscientist]

Crusaders of Science

A recent article by Richard P Grant on why scientists are loosing the communication fight, really struck a chord with me. Richard comes across as actually saddened by the way in which many scientists attempt to communicate with the public. He points out that most of the people who actively argue and disagree with science are just people. They’re people who want their concerns, fears and needs…

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[urbanagscientist]

Award Nomination?!

It turns out that not only does WordPress make blogging pretty simple, but also that the WordPress blogging community are pretty damn supportive. Amazingly enough people are reading, liking and even following a science communication blog – THIS science communication blog to be exact. Thanks Jonny from sci.casual  and The Biology Yak for nominating me! The rules attached to this award are that you…

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[urbanagscientist]

Part 1: four reasons to improve your #scicomm skills

Part 1: four reasons to improve your #scicomm skills

I love finding others being adamant about the importance of science communication! There even appears to be mentions of citizen science and social justice. Read on for some great advice

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