Advocacy and outreach are crucial, if somewhat undervalued, aspects of being a researcher. However, with scientific funding becoming scarcer, it is more important than ever to advocate for the future of basic research.
Both advocacy and outreach can be considered forms of science communication and can take many forms. These can range from petitioning your local political representative and organising local discussions and events to promote the importance of basic research to the public, to inspiring the next generation of researchers by demonstrating the wonder of science to young students and children.
Below is a collection of resources intended to provide advice and guidance for scientists wishing to become involved in science advocacy, outreach or both. This page is part of the redeveloped resources section on the Node; you can find out more about the update here.
Why do advocacy and outreach?
This section contains links including editorials on the benefits of becoming involved in advocacy and outreach.
Advice on engaging with the public
This section contains a range of advice on engaging with the public from improving your science writing to becoming involved with government advocacy.
Ideas for inspiration
There are many ways to become involved in science outreach. This section contains ideas for both experimental and non-experimental projects to encourage young scientists, teach people about the joy of science and encourage discussions about the importance of research.
Get involved in existing projects
In this section is a list of links for existing outreach programs that researchers can become involved in. This includes science festivals where you can exhibit your work and opportunities to become a STEM ambassador for schools.
Online #scicomm
There are many tools already available online to help researchers to engage in outreach. Below are some example links of existing projects. Social media platforms are also powerful tools for connecting researchers interested in science communication and is worth investigating.
Why do public engagement?
- Editorial by Sam Illingworth and Andreas Prokop: Science communication in the field of fundamental biomedical research.
- Research Councils UK page containing information on the benefits of public engagement for researchers.
- Booklet from Vitae on Inspiring people to engage with your research.
- PNAS article by Baruch Fischhoff and Dietram A. Scheufele: The science of science communication II.
- Science editorial by Marcia McNutt: Improving Scientific Communication.
- BBC article on the problem of reduced scientific engagement in primary schools.
- Guardian piece on the importance of scientific engagement with young children.
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Advice on public engagement
- Website for the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement.
- Public engagement guide from Sense About Science.
- Website containing advice and suggestions on public engagement from the University of Bristol.
- A Research Council UK support resource containing advice on public dialogue.
- Wellcome Trust advice page with public engagement support for researchers.
- Library of resources from Vitae on being an engaging researcher.
- Booklet from Vitae on Inspiring people to engage with your research.
- FASEB toolkit of resources on how to become a scientific advocate.
- Entomology Today piece on Five ways to improve your science writing.
- Cell opinion article by Rosemary J. Redfield: Putting my money where my mouth is: the Useful Genetics project.
- PLOS biology article by Ian M. Devonshire and Gareth J. Hathway: Overcoming the barriers to greater public engagement.
- University-School engagement advice from Research Councils UK.
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Experiment ideas
- Royal Society of biology provides free resource activities to use at events.
- The Swedish Research Council and VA’s Science Communication Toolbox contains inspiration and syggestions for various kinds of scicomm activities.
- The Royal Institution page of easy and interesting experiments for school-age students.
- Fun easy neuroscience experiment ideas from Backyard Brains.
- Educational experiments using Planarians by the Sánchez Lab.
- Manchester Fly Facility: droso4schools: online resources for school lessons using the fruit fly Drosophila.
- BioEYES: ideas for school experiments using zebrafish.
- Foldscope: how to make an easy origami microscope for use in simple experiments.
- YouTube video showing a simple sensory discrimination experiment to teach about the nervous system.
- Instructions on how to turn a smartphone into a digital microscope to allow quick imagining of outreach experiments.
- 3D-printable open-source platform, the €100 lab.
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Non-experiment ideas
- Ideas for getting involved in different aspects of outreach from SciComm Hub.
- ‘Science with Tom’ YouTube channel with videos communicating science through music and rap.
- PLOS Biology article: Science educational outreach programs that benefit students and scientists.
- Article by Jessica Summer and Andreas Prokop: Informing the general public about cell migration – an outreach resource.
- Easy method of demonstrating how Rosalind Franklin discovered the helical structure of DNA using a ballpoint pen and a laser pointer.
- Hama Bead Patterns of several model organisms to educate about the use of models in science.
- Stem cell outreach resources for scientists.
- Building games to teach biology.
- The Swedish Research Council and VA’s Science Communication Toolbox contains inspiration and suggestions for various kinds of scicomm activities.
- Our own ‘A Day in the Life…‘ series celebrates and informs about the diversity of model organisms used in developmental biology
- Development’s ‘Advocating developmental biology‘ series provides case studies arguing the importance and excitement of the field, a resource for researchers, educators and students alike
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Get involved in existing projects
- Many existing projects to get involved with through the British Science Association.
- Opportunities to get involved in Research Councils UK outreach projects.
- Exhibit at The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
- Volunteer with CurioCity to help teach key science concepts in schools.
- Become a volunteer STEM Ambassador to enhance science teaching in schools.
- List of US science festivals to take part in a science festival near you!
- Become involved with Fascinate, part of the University of Manchester outreach program.
- Contribute to a wiki to encourage professional and hobby scientists to collaborate.
- Skype a Scientist project to allow classrooms of school children to talk to a real life scientist.
- The Swedish Research Council and VA’s Science Communication Toolbox contains inspiration and syggestions for various kinds of scicomm activities.
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Online #scicomm
- Blog post by The Online Academic giving advice on social media for academics.
- EuroStemCell resources for educating about core stem cell topics.
- Blog from the International Society for Stem Cell Research providing information about stem cells.
- Resources from the Naked Scientists on a range of scientific topics.
- Science poetry by Sam Illingworth.
- Guide to synapses and synapse development.
- Information on your genome by the Sanger Institute.
- Genetics Science Learning Centre covering a vast variety of biology topics from the University of Utah.
- The MIT BE CommKit is a collection of guides to successful scientific communication
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