Heather Doran

I've been thinking about how to use my blog and online spaces. I spend a lot of time consuming science communication and public engagement news, updates and discussion across all of the social networks. I have little time to blog but I realised that there is a big gap - as nowhere pulls all of this news and information together regularly.  So, I am launching a newsletter for science communication news.  The aim is to bring together science communication news from around the globe, including events, journal articles, events and podcasts.  It's for anyone that practices science communication or studies it or has any vague interest in it whatsoever.  You can sign up here . It's free. It will be in plain text. It will work on mobile. Simple!  The first newsletter will arrive on Tuesday 29 Sept. Then it will be weekly from that point.  I've been quiet as I am returning to work from maternity leave. Stepping away from work always allows some time to reflect. I have also been

I have promised myself that this year I will be better at sharing information, documents and general things that I have created for training, conference sessions or just for fun.To start 2018, here is a list of different formats in which people communicate science through events. I used it for a discussion with Masters students about the many different forms science communication can take. The list started life as a local one but I am keen to include more international examples. I have included links where appropriate so people can find out more information. Have I missed any? I expect I have... Talks, comedy and storytelling  Lectures  - still an important way of communicating science  Café Scientifique (and Café MED , if you are in Aberdeen) Bright Club comedy  The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas Nerd Nite Skeptics in the Pub Sci-bar Pint of Science Soapbox science Speed science The Story Collider – science storytelling (and there is a great podcast) PechaKucha Night

I have written a Buzzfeed post of the 10 top tips I have gathered from science communicators, universities and science writers in the US and Canada... click on the image below to be taken through to the guide. I hope you find it useful. This list was compiled as I undertook my Churchill Travel Fellowship. I also wrote up some good example case studies and how to plan a social media engagement strategy on the LSE Impact Blog .  I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported me and met with me during my Fellowship. Everyone I met was so open about discussing what they do. I was worried that people wouldn't want to speak openly to a stranger who was external to their organisation but that wasn't the case at all. Every single person I interacted with was incredibly welcoming. Their thoughts and views have definitely impacted on me and how I will approach everything in the future. Many discussions included not only the focus of the sharing of science a

Washington DC was a VERY HOT whirlwind of interesting conversations. new experiences and lots of lessons in American history. I think the time I spent in DC is going to spawn a number of blog posts focused on different topics but for now, here's what I got up to and my thoughts from DC. I've included a summary of my take home messages at the bottom of the post. First stop was the American Association of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's ( ASBMB ) 'Hill Day'. This is where a group of scientists from the association meet with with their representatives, Senators and Congressmen to discuss their science and issues in funding. Benjamin Corb and the policy team at ASBMB do an excellent job of training the scientists in what to expect from their meetings with Senators and Congressmen, how to structure their short discussions and get the most out of them. It was fascinating to see the interaction between scientists and their representatives(and see the C

Over the past few weeks, as part of my  Churchill Fellowship , I've been speaking to scientists across the US and Canada about their motivations for using social media. It has been interesting to hear what motivated them to start and their motivations to continue.  The reasons scientists made the first step in setting up social media accounts for professional use have included being 'told to get online/start a Twitter account' by research funders or their institutions; to voice general frustrations and/or connect with others outside of their immediate research lab; because they heard it was 'a good thing to do' from others or they wanted to connect with the public about their work. For many, it is of course a combination of those reasons. Very few started out with an aim or vision of what they wanted to achieve. Their navigation of the networks and their choice of network was determined by what they were told to do (e.g. 'get on Twitter') or by wo

For the second part of my Churchill Fellowship I took the train from Boston to New Haven, the home of Yale University. I caught up with scientists in the Geology and Geophysics group, visited the amazing Peabody Museum (definitely one of my new favourite museums - more below) and met up with science writer and blogger Carl Zimmer. I was extremely grateful to Carl for giving up some time to meet with me. I think it is important to speak with communicators as well as scientists as they are experts in knowing both how science works and also how to engage the public about science. We spoke about how the low barrier to entry on social media (no cost, no paperwork) makes it easy for scientists to put themselves out there online. But, how they choose to use social media platforms is up to them. The Yale Graduate building For Carl, he said the use of social media by scientists is interesting as you can see what really excites them about the work they are doing. Scientists share whe

For the  next part of my journey I visited the beautiful Harvard campus. I met with a number of scientists that use social media and a number of social media managers. Harvard Harvard is really easy to get to on the T line and is a beautiful campus to explore. The graduations had taken place the day before. There were lots of tents and food-trucks set up around the campus and a really vibrant atmosphere. It helped that the sun came out too! Here's a video round-up of my visit - no hair in my face this time! Between meetings I took a quick tour of the Harvard Museum of Natural History which has some incredible collections. My favourite exhibit in the museum is the  glass flower collection, which I stumbled upon by accident. I thought these were persevered flowers but they they were all made from glass for the teaching of botany. Yep, not a real flower... Cabinets of glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History The museum is really acti

I packed my bags and headed to Boston this week for the first part of my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to investigate how scientists are using social media to connect with the public. Here's a round-up of the first part of my trip There were stunning views from the flight all the way to Boston. Hotel accommodation in Boston is super-expensive so I tried out Airbnb for the first time. It was really easy to find an Airbnb place located half-way between Harvard and MIT in Cambridge despite the lack of affordable hotels in this area. The apartment is lovely and my hosts were great. I'm definitely going to be using Airbnb more. I was pretty exhausted after the flight and so having a nice place to relax and rest was just what I needed. Cambridge is a great area full of coffee shops and leafy streets. I got to know the area well on foot. It's easy to navigate and feels like around every corner is a lovely coffee shop, perfect for a cup-of tea and a t