ABC Top 5 Science Residency, Week 2: My Final Thoughts
An overview of the second week of the ABC Top 5 Science Residency and my final thoughts on the program as a whole.
The second week of the ABC residency has now come to an end. We spent the week working from home and connecting online. This week we focussed on science communication. We were asked to do an activity where one person is a time traveller who has made their way 500 years into the future, to what is our present day. The other person was tasked with explaining to this traveller how a smartphone works. The idea was to consider how you can communicate technical concepts in a simple way. One of the other Top 5 residents - who took on the traveller role - asked if it was like a pigeon messenger system. I loved this analogy but I still struggled with trying to explain how I was able to talk to someone, through a device, who wasn’t physically next to me.
This activity then evolved into asking the traveller to x-ray their broken finger - which may or may not have been broken during the time travelling fiasco - and another resident tried to simplify the science of an x-ray by explaining that an x-ray draws a picture of the different layers of a finger. Explaining a complex concept to someone who doesn't have the background knowledge of that concept is not an easy task. I think that’s why science communication really is its own artform.
Over the week we had the chance to meet producers of various shows and also past Top 5 Science residents. We had some workshops on working with media offices and also on building social media presences. The idea of a social media presence is something I still struggle with, my thoughts always mull over the difference between visibility and impact. Nonetheless, the workshops were still very useful in getting a sense of what an online presence can look like and how you can shape it into something you’re comfortable with.
We were given time with both Robyn Williams and Geraldine Doogue. They were both very open to talking about their experience in the media, their thoughts on social media, their perspectives on science communication (and communication in general) and also some personal anecdotes like working with Monty Python.
We were also tasked with presenting our story in five minutes - who you are, how did you get to where you are, what is your research about. I’m usually someone who diligently prepares for presentations. I often have a script to make sure I don’t forget to say all the important things and also to keep to time. For this task, I challenged myself to present without that preparation. I knew what the scope was, so I made a few dot points of some of the key things I wanted to mention. I did not rehearse and I did not write out the full script.
The scope of the presentation was pretty straightforward and I wanted to be able to talk to those points with ease. And I did. Allowing myself the space to speak freely in those five minutes gave me the confidence in my own narrative and in the importance of my work. It can sometimes be hard to connect the importance of your work outside of the academic bubble. This residency has given me the tools to make those connections.
The program focuses on different methods of communication, but it advocates for maintaining who you are. There is no mould that everyone is supposed to fit in. Each person brings their own perspectives and experiences to their work and I learnt to embrace that individuality over the last two weeks.
The highlight of this program for me has been the mentorship element. Each resident is assigned digital and audio mentors who work with you to develop outputs. I am currently working on two digital pieces and one video piece for social media. My mentors have worked with me throughout the two weeks to develop these pieces, providing a lot of useful and constructive feedback along the way.
Having now completed the residency, I can give an honest reflection on the program as a whole. I think this is a well curated program that provides early career researchers with an opportunity for growth. What I liked most about the program was that each resident had the flexibility to choose what that growth looks like. For me, writing was my main focus and I have had plenty of opportunities to develop those skills throughout the program. Other residents were focussed on different skills and they were also given the same support to develop those skills. While I had a very clear focus going into this program, the way it is designed meant that I also gained a tonne of other skills that fall under the huge umbrella of communication.
I ended the residency with a radio interview (afternoons with Josh Szeps, ABC Radio Sydney), an experience I was nervous about because my focus had been on writing. But I found the skills I had inadvertently learnt throughout the fortnight really came through quite naturally during this experience.
I would definitely recommend the Top 5 Residency program to early career researchers who are thinking about how they can extend the impact of their work beyond the academic world. The ABC staff were all very welcoming and supportive. They were generous with their time and open to collaborations and new ideas.
Having the other residents to share this experience with was very special. I’m lucky to have been a part of a supportive and talented group of science residents.
