Title: The communicating scientist: How to effectively and responsibly communicate scientific research

Main/Overall Objective: To provide an overview of different platforms used for scientific communication and how to communicate responsibly and appropriately for different audiences.

Section Content:

Understand the role of scicomm as part of being a scientist
1. Appreciate the role of the scientist as “chief” communicator and how this fits alongside other professions such as journalists
2. Understand the requirement of communicating scientific findings as part of being a scientist and from funding bodies
3. Appreciate the role of scientific communication at different stages in the publishing process from preprint to published article
Develop awareness of the different scientific communication platforms and how to utilise these
1. Understand the pros and cons of each of the major platforms
2. Learn the key skills required to perform effective communication across different platforms
3. Practice scientific communication for platforms such as Twitter and Youtube
Understand how to adapt content and communication style to different audiences
1. Appreciate that non-specialist audiences require different language and presentation than specialist audiences
2. Understand how different platforms lend themselves to particular audiences better than others
Understand how to appropriately share science from other groups and combat misinformation and poor science
1. Consider best practices for sharing the science of other groups, such as including appropriate caveats and warnings where necessary
2. Appreciate the importance of reading and “vetting” articles prior to sharing on social media
3. Develop skills in combating misinformation and the incorrect use of particular articles

Materials:

Powerpoint Slides
- Link to Slides (Also available in Google Drive)
Infographic - why scicomm?
- Link (Also available in Google Drive)
Example twitter threads (real or mock) * For when you release a new preprint/paper (twitter thread example)
“How I work” type blog posts

Lesson plan

Lessons should take approximately 2 hours for material delivery and completion of discussion topics.

Time estimate (minutes)	Content (objective(s))	Suggested materials	Other resources
20	(A, B), Define what scientific communication is and provide an overview of the different platforms (twitter, blogs, news orgs, in-person)	Infographic “Scicomm platforms”, “Why scicomm”, teacher-provided example materials	ASAPBio website, Example websites
30	(A, B, C) Explore the role of scicomm as part of being a scientist and why you should communicate your own science. Explore how to utilise different platforms and adapt content for specific audiences and how and when use each platform	Infographic ”why scicomm?”, Discussion topic “whose responsibility is scientific communication?”,
20	(A, B, C) Practical element - write a twitter thread for a recent preprint or paper (if participants don't have this then provide an example). Provide feedback as a group or more broadly	“Should preprints be shared as press releases or twitter threads” discussion topic.	Guiding principles link Preprints and the media link
40	(A, B, C, D) Discuss and evaluate how to responsibly share work from other scientists, particularly in relation to flawed science and responsible sharing. Sharing work responsibly How to share other people's work Why share work of others What is responsible sharing and how to do it Calling out bad science / misinformation Sharing preprints and other non-peer reviewed material	“Sharing responsibly” infographic, “Types of scientific publication and how to read them” infographic. “Example” twitter threads. Practical exercises or discussions around examples.	Page 29 in “On being a scientist A guide to responsible conduct in research” COVID vaccine communication handbook
10	Summarise the key points and review the role of scicomm in being a scientist. Summarise the different platforms available and when each should be used
Extension	Scientific communication as a career - opportunities and experience	Interviews	websites?

Reflection:

Which platform is preferred, why?
Thoughts on whose role sci-comm is?

Discussion topics (incl questions to drive discussion):

Press releases and preprints - is this appropriate or should we wait until work has been peer-reviewed?
Scientific communication as part of being a scientist - whose job is it and why?