{"id":27657,"date":"2021-11-22T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=23814"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:14:09","slug":"the-incredible-value-of-going-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/the-incredible-value-of-going-public\/","title":{"rendered":"The incredible value of going public"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the Science Museum opens its doors to a new exhibition curated with Cancer Research UK, we speak with two science communication masters about the benefits, ethics and sheer fun of communicating your research to the public.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the early 1800s, Sir Humphry Davy \u2013 by that time a well-established Royal Institution lecturer \u2013 began including spectacular, and often dangerous, chemical demonstrations in his public talks. Eventually, the popularity of his lectures meant the sheer volume of carriages at the Institution\u2019s location on Albemarle Street led it to become the very first one-way street in London.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of stir Professor Brian Cox could only dream of today. It\u2019s also a good reminder that scientists communicating their research to a public audience is not, by any stretch, a new craft. However, the public\u2019s appetite for science is, in fact, on the rise<\/a>. And with more traditional forms of public engagement bolstered by increasingly powerful and accessible digital technology, communicating your research to the public has never been easier.<\/p>\n

Which is a good thing, says Professor Frances Balkwill, because at its heart there is something deeply fundamental about the practice. \u201cIt sounds a bit grandiose,\u201d she says, \u201cbut we have a duty to communicate our science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balkwill is a group leader at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. She studies the links between cancer and inflammation, alongside being a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and holding an honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association. Despite a very full and busy day job \u2013 she takes her public engagement duty seriously. \u201cWe get paid money, public money \u2013 especially Cancer Research UK-funded researchers who benefit from funds raised by donors, and volunteers \u2013 and so, the least we have to do is explain what we do and why we do it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Frances Balkwill is Professor of Cancer Biology at the Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s an ethos that has driven her to write many children\u2019s science books as well as taking on the huge task of setting up Centre of the Cell<\/a> at Queen Mary \u2013 the first informal science education centre in the world to be located within a working biomedical research laboratory. All this outreach experience has now been channelled toward Cancer Revolution<\/a> \u2013 a new exhibition created by the Science Museum and Cancer Research UK.<\/p>\n

Balkwill\u2019s own work will be featured \u2013 she also helped shape the center piece of the exhibition; a two-metre-high installation representing the tumour microenvironment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very substantial piece of art,\u201d she says. \u201cI ended up going to a studio in Brixton, to see a model of the piece and saying things like \u2018the blood vessels should be shaped a bit more like this and while the extracellular matrix looks good, I\u2019d make it a bit more like this\u2019. It was such fun doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Cancer Revolutions is the world\u2019s first major object-rich exhibition focusing on how cancer is prevented, detected and treated \u2013 it isn\u2019t the only show in town. Outwitting Cancer<\/a> is currently running at The Francis Crick Institute and showcases the latest research through the scientists involved.<\/p>\n

Outreach and empathy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hana Dethlefsen, exhibitions manager at the Crick \u2013 an institute which has always put communication at the center of its operations \u2013 knows the key to the exhibition is understanding the audience you want to reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s so important to home in on why research matters to the visitors,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main part of our exhibition is a series of interviews between researchers and people who have an experience of cancer \u2013 either they have a diagnosis or have a family member or friend who has. That way it really cuts to why the research matters, because the people who are interviewing the researchers are fully invested in the outcomes of the research.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this ability to identify how people might interact with what you as a scientist want to tell them that was a priority for Balkwill. \u201cI thought, if I were a cancer patient, would I really want to see a two metre-high installation of a cancer?\u201d She says. \u201cBut I felt the design was sufficiently open that it didn\u2019t feel sinister. It just looked dynamic, and very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The installation of a tumour microenvironment is the centre-piece of the Cancer Revolution exhibition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And, perhaps especially for cancer-related science outreach, empathy can go a long way to bridge what can be quite a gap between researchers and the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Crick\u2019s exhibition we have video installations showing interviews with Charlie Swanton, Karen Vousden and Simon Bolton,\u201d explains Dethlefsen. \u201cAnd yes, they talk about exciting science, but it also means we can be real humans to visitors, you know, show we\u2019re not robots. The more we can show that human side of ourselves and why we\u2019re doing the research and why it matters to people, the more we can build a positive relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

From empathy to pragmatism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Of course, all researchers communicate about their work. Often in fact. But doing so to a public audience requires a change of gears that doesn\u2019t always come easily. So, is it really worth finding the space in a very busy professional life to do so?<\/p>\n

There are reasons beyond the ethical to communicate your work to a range of audiences. \u201cThese days,\u201d Balkwill says, \u201cif you can\u2019t write a good paper or a good grant, then you\u2019re not going to get anywhere. Science is all about good communication and I\u2019ve always found that having this outreach strand to my career has been enormously helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dethlefsen has also seen researchers benefit from sharper communication skills. It\u2019s a very pragmatic flip side, she says, of what researchers can get out of talking about their work in general terms. \u201cThe people who make decisions about funding, they have to care about a researcher\u2019s work.\u201d She says. \u201cThey won\u2019t always be experts and they need to understand the impact of the science.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Science is all about good communication and I\u2019ve always found that having this outreach strand to my career has been enormously helpful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps unexpectedly for those who don\u2019t regularly talk to the public about their work, there is also a lot to be said for what, essentially, amounts to crowd-sourcing a critique of your research.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so much useful feedback from non-specialist audiences,\u201d says Balkwill. \u201cFrom a selfish point of view, scientists can benefit because they just improve the clarity of what they\u2019re doing. Somebody might come and ask, \u2018but why are you doing that?\u2019 Or \u2018have you ever thought about this.\u2019 Answering questions like that helps you to put your research in perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, all this has side-stepped the simple fact that it can also be a tremendous hoot. \u201cWhile it can definitely benefit scientists\u2019 work in many ways,\u201d says Balkwill. \u201cIt\u2019s also very rewarding and just plain fun, and I\u2019ve been very, very fortunate in being able to do so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hana Dethlefsen is a Public Engagement Manager at The Francis Crick Institute<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And that\u2019s no small thing. It must be a two-way process in order for a thriving public engagement environment to develop. And thrive it must, says Dethlefsen. While public disposition toward science in the UK is reassuringly positive in general, there are pockets of society where the opposite is true<\/a>. \u201cWe can see in the wake of the pandemic, there can be a mistrust of science and researchers. The more transparent we can be about the work that we\u2019re doing, the more we can build those relationships with the public and gain their trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

To do so, says Dethlefsen, engagement can\u2019t just be about science. It also has to be about how that science is done. And while that might not be an easy sell, it is a vital one. \u201cOne of the biggest challenges we face is to talk about the process of science and how long things can take,\u201d she says. \u201cThe more that the public can understand that, the more that they can be on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

How has it changed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While road-altering bumper crowds thanks to 19th<\/sup> century polymaths might be a thing of the past \u2013 the public desire to hear about research clearly isn\u2019t. It\u2019s just that the delivery methods have expanded. \u2018Old\u2019 media, \u2018new\u2019 media, virtual talks, media-rich exhibitions \u2013 even augmented reality \u2013 have become the modern-day lecture theatre. Not to mention actual modern-day lecture theatres. This means that there are fewer barriers between the desire to reach a public audience and the means to make that happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed, and really pleased, to discover that some of our researchers use Instagram to do their own outreach,\u201d says Dethlefsen. \u201cThey\u2019re just so keen to do science communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

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You can get into the science and be entertaining. It\u2019s not one or the other. The science is interesting \u2013 just pitch it at the right level and give people a reason to understand why it matters to them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And it\u2019s not just the medium that has changed. Particularly encouraging, says Dethlefsen, is that young researchers continue to take the idea to their hearts. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see people who are earlier in their career getting involved right from the beginning,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that makes me really hopeful that it becomes embedded in their work and it doesn\u2019t drift away as they get more senior.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s positive change too when it comes to the vital question of representation. One of the most powerful things about good public engagement is that it can crystalize in the minds of young people the idea they too can be a scientist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve found really exciting about who is volunteering to work with us is that it is really diversifying who is out there in the public, showing themselves as being researchers,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are so many more women, so many more ethnicities, there\u2019s so many younger people, people of different sexualities. I cannot remember when I was a kid, seeing that kind of representation. And I think that really would have made a difference to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The song remains the same<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Despite the incredible variation in the types of public engagement and, increasingly, in the types of people doing it, there are some key things that remain universal.<\/p>\n

Chief amongst them is to always remember your audience says Balkwill. \u201cWhen dealing with a non-specialist audience, whether they\u2019re adults or children, you\u2019ve got to think of a way of explaining your science that relates to their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not always, it\u2019s true, an easy task. But there is a more candid way to think about this. \u201cSometimes I frame it with a question,\u201d says Dethlefsen. \u201cIt might sound kind of rude. But I always think, as a non-researcher, \u2018why should I care?\u2019 And that\u2019s something you should always try and answer on behalf of an audience before you try and engage with them. Think to yourself \u2018if I stopped a 10-year-old on the street, why should they care?\u201d<\/p>\n

For Balkwill, as she set about writing her first children\u2019s science books, this was a question that she really couldn\u2019t avoid. \u201cThe early books were really written on my kitchen table. I had kids at the right age at the time, so I was immersed in that mindset!\u201d<\/p>\n

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If you want to do something substantial in public engagement, you can\u2019t do it on your own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For outreach on a relatively small scale, a bit of consideration of who your audience is and what they might want will go a long way. But to step up a gear, there is real benefit in going further with some proper audience insight. When Balkwill was approached by the eminent immunologist Siamon Gordon to write a book about AIDS for children in Africa \u2013 a continent she had never visited \u2013 she wasn\u2019t entirely sure how to approach it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and my illustrator decided the best thing to do was go out to South Africa and talk to the kids,\u201d She says. \u201cYou know, find out what they thought would be useful for the children of the world to know about HIV and AIDS, and then go back and write the book, and then come back and test it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach paid off, and the book, Staying Alive<\/em>, was given for free to thousands of young people around the country. \u201cAnd we do this all the time with Centre of The Cell \u2013 which had over 214,000 visitors since opening in 2009,\u201d she says. \u201cWe conduct front end evaluation with our target audience, and we evaluate the impact of our activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

That kind of appraisal requires a joint effort from people with a variety of skills, and there\u2019s a lot to be said for that, says Balkwill. \u201cIn my experience, if you want to do something substantial in public engagement, you can\u2019t do it on your own,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you want to have a full-time academic career, then you need to find people who have experience and training in science communication to help. Ultimately it\u2019ll make it better as well \u2013 it\u2019s really good to work in collaboration with artists and writers to co-produce things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balancing act<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another fundamental of public engagement is the constant high-wire act of balancing facts and being, well\u2026 engaging. It\u2019s something which often calls to mind a question for budding outreachers \u2013 what\u2019s more important, the science or the entertainment? But that, says Dethlefsen, is a false dichotomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get into the science and be entertaining. It\u2019s not one or the other,\u201d she says. \u201cThe science is interesting \u2013 just pitch it at the right level and give people a reason to understand why it matters to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when it is done right, it really can change lives. \u201cA couple of years ago, we recruited a first-year medical student as a part-time explainer,\u201d says Balkwill. \u201cShe was Tower Hamlets born and bred and she had been home-schooled by her mum. However, she hadn\u2019t been taught any science. She came to Centre of The Cell when we first opened, and she loved it so much that she taught herself science to GCSE. She got into sixth form college and went on to study medicine at university. Now she helps inspire the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fantastic reminder of why all of it, from high-end exhibitions to small-scale efforts by individual researchers, is so important. And if you are wondering if this is for you, there is a simple rule of thumb says Dethlefsen. \u201cJust go and try it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you do, it\u2019s not going to be perfect the first time. But you just have to get out there and give it a shot.<\/p>\n

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Top tips for engaging the public in your research<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fresh from our in-house research engagement team, here are a few things to bear in mind before taking your science to the public:<\/p>\n

Tailor your activity to the audience<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a point mentioned by both Balkwill and Dethlefsen but how, exactly, do you do that? There are several ways to gather this kind of information:<\/p>\n