“Non-researchers” in the building

As the temperature rose to 28 °C and the summer months kicked in, the campus grew quieter since most of the undergraduate students went home. I was set to enjoy this tranquility and devote myself into a productive period of conducting experiments. One day, I entered the building and found chattering groups of elementary students seemingly participating in a science event in the lobby. A couple of days later, a group of high school students flocked to the lab next door and distributed themselves across several stations to observe experiments demonstrated by researchers. Later that afternoon, I asked one of the researchers about it. She replied, “It’s a project with local high schools. We want to expose students to scientific research and let them check out what lab work looks like.” “They asked the simplest, yet very difficult questions!” she added with a laugh. Although the undergraduate students were gone, the campus was not as quiet as I thought it would be.

These encounters with the “non-researchers” in the science building made me reflect on whether I was missing something important. As I paused and organized my thoughts, I noticed that there were more outreach events happening around me which I had simply failed to notice. I had seen several posters from student associations advertising science outreach events at local schools, community fairs, museums, and even pubs. In fact, my lab mates had collaborated with a local brewery to put fun scientific facts on their beer labels!

My science communication journey 

My train of thought then took me back to a couple of years ago, when there was more to my professional life than just research. During my master’s, I volunteered as an interpreter at a neuroscience exhibition, explaining the science behind each artwork to a general audience. Every visitor I spoke to was supportive, friendly, and fascinated by all these interesting facts about the brain. In an effort to make neuroscience fun and accessible, I teamed up with other graduate students and created biographies of important neuroscientists in the form of comics. It was clear that I was passionate about sharing exciting scientific findings with the public, and these interactions brought me plenty of joy.

All of my science outreach efforts stopped when I started my PhD. What happened? Maybe it was the challenges and excitement of moving to Europe for the first time. Or perhaps I was simply overwhelmed by the increasing demands of my research. Whatever the reason was, it is now time to restart, no more excuses!

Science is relevant to everybody

In an effort to revive my science communication efforts, I signed up for a workshop on the “Art of Science Communication”. As I awkwardly stared at my phone’s camera, the pre-workshop assignment immediately showed me how difficult it was to explain my research in accessible terms in a short video. Avoiding jargon was stressful enough, not to mention my attempt to make it flow like a captivating story. The workshop turned out to be incredibly creative and fun. I learned that science communication is not “dumbing things down”, but about actively building a connection with the audience. The most memorable exercise was “building an audience persona”, in which each participant imagined several personal profiles of their audience. We considered questions such as “Where did they grow up?” or “What motivated them to attend your talk?”. We came up with all sorts of personas: high school students, teachers, retiring grandparents, medical doctors, venture capital investors, policymakers, religious groups — you name it. It soon became very clear that my research was relevant to everybody, not just a handful of labs in my field.

In a 2025 national survey conducted by Research America, the vast majority of participants believed that scientists should consider communicating their research to be part of their job. There has been a steady increase in this percentage over the years, from 80.4% in 2022 to 84.6% in 2025. Seeing these data as a reflection of the public’s curiosity and trust towards science, I feel strongly encouraged to share my research and its potential impact.

Final reflections

During my Postdoc.Mobility period, my host institution’s vibrant atmosphere for science outreach made me reconsider the role of a scientist. Doing science is only part of the job. Getting the science out there is just as important and helps maximize the value of our research. Transforming complex knowledge into forms that are accessible and useful - not only to experts but also to general audiences, goes a long way.