Papa PhD Gold 001: The Hidden Benefits of Science Communication for Researchers

Welcome to a brand-new Beyond the Thesis with Papa PhD experience – the “Papa PhD Gold” format, where we dive into a past episode of the show to explore the intersection of science, communication, and personal growth as a researcher. In this episode, we are joined by Elodie Chabrol, a passionate advocate for science communication and a scientist who emphasizes the importance of stepping back to view the “big picture” in research. Elodie and David Mendes discuss how engaging in science communication can transform a scientist’s approach to their work and career, from applying for grants to improving public engagement skills.

Elodie Chabrol has a PhD in Neurogenetics and is the international director for the Pint of Science festival. She is also a freelance science communicator involved in different freelance projects like training, moderations and podcasts. Elodie’s mission is to make science accessible to everyone, everywhere show the human side of it.

Key take-home messages:

• The Value of Seeing the Big Picture: Elodie shares her insights on how often getting lost in the intricate details of your research, you may neglect the overall context of your work and shares how science communication events encourage scientists to reassess their research from a broader perspective, gaining renewed clarity and purpose.

• Science Communication as a Learning Tool: By attending events outside your domain, you can gain fresh perspectives and discover innovative ways to communicate your research, as exemplified by Elodie’s transformative experience at a physics scicomm event.

• Benefits of Science Communication for Researchers: Engaging with lay audiences helps scientists hone their skills in turning complex information into accessible narratives. Feedback from public presentations can lead to new insights and strengthen academic skills like grant and paper writing.

• Experiences from Pint of Science: Elodie shares feedback from scientists who found value in communicating at Pint of Science events, illustrating how taking part in such initiatives can reignite our passion for our own research.

Why Listen? Whether you’re grappling with the challenge of detailing your research for non-experts or looking to refine how you share your scientific journey, this episode provides valuable strategies to incorporate science communication into your professional toolkit. Unlock the benefits of enhanced communication for career growth and personal satisfaction.

Connect with Us: Have thoughts about this episode? Want to recommend a guest for us to interview? Share your voice with us! Visit speakpipe.com/papaphd to leave a voice note. We value every piece of feedback and look forward to featuring some in future episodes.

Tune In: Don’t miss this insightful conversation aimed at helping you redefine your path Beyond the Thesis. Subscribe to Papa PhD on your favorite podcast platform, and join us next week for another inspiring episode!

This episode’s links:

• Website: www.elodiechabrol.com/
• Twitter: @eloscicomm

 

Episode Transcript

Elodie Chabrol: Sometimes in research, we’re losing sight of what we’re doing because we are so buried into very deep details on very tiny things that sometimes we are forgetting the big picture. Doing that kind of things brings you back to seeing the big pictures help you it’s also helping you finding cool ways of explaining your research, which is never lost because when you’re gonna apply for a grant, when you’re gonna maybe, apply for a job, apply for whatever, you have to explain the project you want to do and the people in front of you are never gonna be in your domain exactly.

David Mendes: Welcome to Beyond the Thesis with Papa PhD, your weekly inspiration for post PhD career development. With me, David Mendes.

Elodie Chabrol: When I was watching my lab meetings and I was watching my lab mates presenting their research, most of the times I didn’t understand because they didn’t give me any context. They were just like jumping hard into details. And I was like, what, wait, what what’s happening? And I was completely losing the plot of what they were doing. And this is also a way to discover, like, stuff in your domain in a very cool way. So I would say it’s inspiration on how to do, it’s relaxing, to watch in a cool way science in your domain but usually what I, often advise for your for for researchers or for scientists is to go to events that are not their domain because then they’re going to learn things. If you go to your domain, you might not learn anything. So I I think it’s the the best criticism I got from someone. She was a researcher. She went to, an A Pint of Science Evening and then she came to me and she was like, well, I didn’t learn anything. And I was like, okay, cool. It means it was, simple enough. Then she was like, it was too simple. I was like, cool. Perfect. So because it wasn’t for you to learn something, it was maybe for you to learn a way of presenting, but not for you to learn anything because definitely you’re too advanced for that kind of thing. But I would say if you go and it works for any kind of science communication, go for stuff that are outside of your domain, because the beauty of science communication is that you will understand thing. And you will get, even if it’s, you know, I was really bad at physics to a point that was painfully bad. I think the last grade, so in France, we’re grading, from zero to, 20. And my last uni big grade in physics was 0.5 out of 20.

David Mendes: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Elodie Chabrol: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And when I started, science communication, I went to do physics night and then I started understanding it in a way that I was like, if they explained it to me that way in in lectures in in uni, I would have understood. Yeah. So it’s it’s nice to go to outside of your domain to maybe learn things, that are different. And the beauty of science communication is it’s supposed to be presented in a way that you will understand.

David Mendes: Mhmm.

Elodie Chabrol: So don’t don’t be scared. Go to do do go watch something else.

David Mendes: This brings me to the last kind of or the third piece of this puzzle, a point of science, which is the scientists who are presenting. They’re offering something to an audience, but I’m pretty sure they’re also gaining something from it. Do you have feedback on that?

Elodie Chabrol: Yeah. I have lots of feedback. So first, usually they get really I think they didn’t they don’t realize, but usually, they they get a lot of step back from their work because they have to explain the whole big picture. And often, I hear that actually it’s good sometimes to take, you know, the heads out of, like, your work and look at the big picture to be reminded of what you’re doing. So often I hear that. Also, when they work on that, they also work on, like, ways of explaining their research, so they become better explaining that. So often I hear that. And I think the best, thing I heard, it was someone that came to me and said, oh, the team, the team emailed me last year. I didn’t want to do binder sense. I didn’t have time. I was like, oh, it doesn’t start well. And then this year they came to my lab, so I didn’t have a choice. I said, yes. And I was like, it’s not gonna fail. And then she told me, but I did it kind of like I felt a bit forced to do it, but it was amazing. And it was one of the first science communication thing I did. And she said, it convinced me to do more science communication because by when preparing it, I really took a step back on my work and it really helped me seeing again the big picture and it’s gonna help me when I’m gonna have to write grants and everything because sometimes in research, we’re losing sight of what we’re doing because we are so buried into very deep details on very tiny things that sometimes we are forgetting the big picture.

David Mendes: Yeah.

Elodie Chabrol: And and doing that kind of things brings you back to seeing the big pictures, help it’s also helping you finding cool ways of explaining your research, which is never lost because when you’re gonna apply for a grant, when you’re gonna, maybe, apply for a job, apply for whatever, you have to explain the project you want to do. And Of course. The people in front of you are never gonna be in your domain exactly, you know, they are gonna be kind of in your domain, if you’re lucky, or maybe they are gonna be very far from your domain, and you’re gonna have to convince them to give you money, a job, whatever. Mhmm. And learning how to put your research in, you know, in in action with all the big picture, the context, and everything, it really helps.

David Mendes: It’s clear to me at least that, that point that you just said that any investment in putting yourself in a situation of science communication, science outreach is going to have a positive effect for you even academically in, like, grant writing, etcetera. Being able to change the tone in which you speak about your research and also be challenged by other people as to how you talk about it. Because I’m sure that some of the questions are challenging. Yep. And, you know, these things kind of, contribute to you developing a richer and richer way, but also more effective way of talking about what you do. Like, leaving out details that are too complex and getting to the point more quickly, etcetera.

Elodie Chabrol: Yeah. And sometimes I zhink, scientists, they don’t realize that they are communicators. Posters, articles, grants, we spend all time communicating. And sometimes they say, oh, but you know, I’m not a communicator. Come on, you are a communicator. This is what a scientist’s job is. It’s to do research, but also to communicate a lot about it. So when you start doing science communication, you learn the little tricks that make you better at it.

Elodie Chabrol: And

David Mendes: Mhmm.

Elodie Chabrol: I think I’m convinced science communication is a good way to also get better at being a scientist. I think I’m convinced science communication is a good way to also get better at being a scientist.

David Mendes: Thank you for listening to this new episode of season six of Beyond the Thesis with Papa PhD. Have a question about this interview? Wanna leave a comment about the podcast? Have someone you want to recommend to be interviewed? Go to speakpipe.com/papaphd and leave me a voice note. Just hit the big record button and leave me an up to ninety second message. I listen to all my messages and I consider all of them for feature on future episodes. Hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you, Elodie Chabrol!

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