The University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, School of Biology, Manchester, UK.
The University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, School of Biology, Manchester, UK.
Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2017 Oct;70:38-48. doi: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2017.06.004. Epub 2017 Jun 15.
Science communication is increasingly important for scientists, although research, teaching and administration activities tend to eat up our time already, and budgets for science communication are usually low. It appears impossible to combine all these tasks and, in addition, to develop engagement activities to a quality and impact that would make the efforts worth their while. Here we argue that these challenges are easier addressed when centering science communication initiatives on a long-term vision with a view to eventually forming outreach networks where the load can be shared whilst being driven to higher momentum. As one example, we explain the science communication initiative of the Manchester Fly Facility. It aims to promote public awareness of research using the model organism Drosophila, which is a timely, economic and most efficient experimental strategy to drive discovery processes in the biomedical sciences and must have a firm place in the portfolios of funding organisations. Although this initiative by the Manchester Fly Facility is sustained on a low budget, its long-term vision has allowed gradual development into a multifaceted initiative: (1) targeting university students via resources and strategies for the advanced training in fly genetics; (2) targeting the general public via science fairs, educational YouTube videos, school visits, teacher seminars and the droso4schools project; (3) disseminating and marketing strategies and resources to the public as well as fellow scientists via dedicated websites, blogs, journal articles, conference presentations and workshops - with a view to gradually forming networks of drosophilists that will have a greater potential to drive the science communication objective to momentum and impact. Here we explain the rationales and implementation strategies for our various science communication activities - which are similarly applicable to other model animals and other areas of academic science - and share our experiences and resources to provide ideas and readily available means to those who are actively engaging or intend to do so.
科学传播对于科学家来说越来越重要，尽管研究、教学和管理活动已经占据了我们的时间，而且科学传播的预算通常很低。似乎不可能将所有这些任务结合起来，此外，还要开展参与活动，使其质量和影响力达到值得付出努力的程度。在这里，我们认为，当将科学传播倡议集中在长期愿景上时，这些挑战更容易应对，以期最终形成外联网络，在共享负担的同时提高动力。作为一个例子，我们解释了曼彻斯特蝇类设施的科学传播倡议。它旨在提高公众对使用模式生物果蝇进行研究的认识，这是推动生物医学科学发现过程的及时、经济和最有效的实验策略，必须在资助组织的组合中占有坚实的地位。尽管曼彻斯特蝇类设施的这项倡议在预算较低的情况下得以维持，但它的长期愿景允许其逐步发展成为一个多方面的倡议：（1）通过资源和策略，为高级蝇类遗传学培训，针对大学生；（2）通过科学展览、教育 YouTube 视频、学校访问、教师研讨会和 droso4schools 项目，针对公众；（3）通过专门的网站、博客、期刊文章、会议演讲和研讨会，向公众和同行科学家传播和营销策略和资源，以期逐步形成果蝇学家网络，这将更有潜力推动科学传播目标的动力和影响力。在这里，我们解释了我们各种科学传播活动的基本原理和实施策略——这些策略同样适用于其他模式动物和其他学术科学领域——并分享我们的经验和资源，为那些积极参与或有意参与的人提供想法和现成的手段。
