Sci-comm a long way: my journey from research to teaching (and beyond?) Open Access

In 2020, while coping with the changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, I was halfway through my molecular biology PhD at the University of Leicester. Despite all the challenges, I enjoyed working in research: it allowed me to thrive in a vibrant and international environment. I could always meet interesting new people, learn from them and discuss the most recent publications in my field. Likewise, I was always challenged to troubleshoot new experiments and interpret never-before-documented molecular structures. While all of this was exciting, halfway through the doctoral programme, I realized that pursuing an academic career was not the best fit for my plans and I wanted to seek a scientific career outside academic research.

I find it is common for scientists pursuing a PhD or working in academia to not be aware of the job opportunities outside research. One of these gradually caught my attention: science communication. Science communication, or sci-comm, is a broad term to describe all the content that makes science more accessible, increasing the reach and comprehension of research across a broad audience. While the importance of science communication surged during the pandemic, the public still needs to be guided and informed by science communicators in order to turn scientific concepts into action. These professionals can be science journalists, social media, video or podcast creators, public speakers, public engagers and educators. The many roles science communicators can play have often contributed to generating confusion around their professional identities, keeping science communication among the lesser-known science careers.

Historically, science communication has not been widely considered in academia. Researchers are often trained to communicate with each other using their specialized jargon, preventing broad audiences from understanding and engaging with impactful scientific discoveries. Despite all this, things are slowly changing. To get funds, scientists are progressively asked to consider the social value of their research and find strategies to transmit it to the general public. With universities offering more training opportunities for faculty and graduate students to approach this world, science communicators configure themselves as standalone professionals who are primarily asked to bridge the gap between academics and the public.

My first steps in science communication go back to 2016, before my PhD. At that time, I had just earned my degree and had been impacted by a lab experience I had not particularly enjoyed. I felt a strong desire to embark on something completely new. I realized that I enjoyed sharing my science with others far more than staying walled up in a lab, repeating experiments and exchanging ideas with only a few colleagues. Despite having limited experience in communicating scientific concepts to non-experts, I took part in FameLab, a science communication public speaking competition. This is a talent show open to graduate students, who take the stage to present their research to a general audience. They are asked to make their point and intrigue the public in 3 minutes only, using at most some props. This experience was a sliding doors moment. It made me appreciate the challenge of sharing my research with non-scientists in a jargon-free manner and making them feel part of the scientific process. To achieve this, participants need to condense their research into a 3 minute story that is delivered to the public to give the gist of their scientific effort. This is done by wisely balancing verbal and non-verbal features that are intended to engage the audience, compelling them to react to the presentation and the scientific process as a whole. In addition, watching the presentations from fellow students inspired me to explore science’s full breadth and made me realize the importance of educating a non-expert audience on this approach. It is true that the complex nature of things is often underestimated by scientists themselves; however, I felt the urge to engage people and help them find better ways to interpret and understand our world: at first, by attracting their interest, to then build a two-way dialogue between specialists and non-experts. Communication techniques can thus work as a hook to lead people closer and closer to the scientific process, eventually counteracting campaigns of misinformation and disinformation.

As a research student, before even seeking a career in science communication, I naturally followed my interests and got involved in seminar series and side projects that could help me develop an experience portfolio. At first, these experiences boosted my self-confidence and communication skills, especially when it came to presenting my scientific results or structuring them in a coherent and appealing story. Other than taking part in public speaking competitions like FameLab or 3-Minutes-Thesis, I built connections with people who were already working in this field or were moving their first steps into it. Among other experiences, this allowed me to get involved in social media management and content creation for the 2021 Obesity Day at the University of Cambridge Institute of Metabolic Science.

I also took part in a student mentoring programme organized by the charity In2ScienceUK to inspire students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds and drive them to scientific studies. This experience introduced me to the strategies used in science communication for educational purposes. While education and science communication share some similarities, they are eventually different fields and I will explore this concept further in the article. Nonetheless, this was my first opportunity to address the challenges of leading a class and effectively transferring knowledge. Teaching while still being a student likely helped me build trust and ease communication barriers with the class. The diverse backgrounds of the students often required me to reconsider my teaching material, review foundational concepts together or simplify complex ideas. Despite these challenges, it turned out to be a wonderful and instructive experience: the students showed proactivity and curiosity, engaging with me and discussing not only about class topics but also their academic and professional aspirations.

The pandemic prevented people from attending events in person, leading to the emergence of new media. Podcasting and short videos came on the heels of this shift towards digital engagement, establishing themselves as the primary channels to reach the broad public through social networks. Platforms like TikTok kept growing at an increasing rate throughout the lockdowns and so did many podcasts. I then decided to ride the wave: in 2020 I started developing my video editing and podcast hosting skills. At first, I got in touch with a science communicator with a large following on YouTube and collaborated in the making of some of his videos. I have ever since started @leofeletto: my sci-comm project. This consists of short videos and blog posts published weekly on all main social networks. Together with a colleague of mine, I also founded clorofillapodcast.it, a podcasting project in which we talk with professionals, scientists and experts about the climate crisis. Other than stating the challenges ahead, the aim of the podcast is also to present the silver lining and encourage the listeners to take part in the greatest challenge of our times.

Experimenting with content creation and embracing science communication first-hand helped me a lot in building skills that I still use every day in my job. My online experience put me in contact with an ever-growing community of science communicators and allowed me to enrich my portfolio even more. In 2023 I was awarded an Engagement Grant by the Cambridge Crystallography Data Centre and I led a project consisting of a series of short science videos about protein crystallography. In the meantime, I had a short collaboration with a spin-off of the Quadram Institute, a centre for food and health research located in Norwich (UK), and created content centred around nutrition and wellness.

I feel that I have so far been through an exciting sci-comm journey. However, before the end of the PhD, I realized I would have needed to expand my professional network and make myself known more before doing only this for a living. All the opportunities that came to me with science communication made me develop as a professional, but were never economically sustainable per se. With the ever-growing content saturation of social media feeds and a lessening attention span, many people will often perceive scientific information content as a commodity that is delivered for free by experts and professionals. On the other hand, this is often made available by freelance communication professionals with an initial major investment of time and money. If this investment is not backed up by a large community of followers that is willing to provide economical support or by institutions that can sponsor it, these activities are necessarily subordinated and need to be complemented with other occupations.

This is why in the last part of my PhD I undertook the process of becoming a teacher in a public school and completed a postgraduate programme that allow teachers to practice their profession in Italy, my home country. At one point, I had also considered starting my teaching induction in the UK and scheduled a teaching demonstration at a secondary school in Oxfordshire. Unfortunately, the class I was supposed to attend was scheduled for early April 2020, right when schools closed due to the pandemic outbreak. After that, a series of circumstances, including Brexit, led me to consider returning to Italy for my next professional steps. By the time I completed my lab work, I got my first short-term contract and started teaching while writing my thesis. After defending my PhD, I was offered a permanent contract as a science teacher. Unlike in science communication, as a teacher, I have followed a defined curriculum and have been teaching science to teenage students for a living ever since. Given all the uncertainties a career in academia can offer, it is now increasingly common to find teachers with a PhD in schools. Teaching allows me to still be active in my parallel science communication projects and most importantly to make use of the techniques I learnt as a science communicator to engage students in the classroom. Making clever use of storytelling, humour, pop culture references and memes can be highly effective in capturing the attention of teenagers while explaining scientific topics. Additionally, structuring hands-on activities and quizzes is just as useful for engaging students as it is for engaging diverse audiences in public speaking.

While it is important to highlight how teaching and science communication can overlap to some extent, I want to stress how they remain two separate missions that require different strategies. Communicators are asked to adapt their content to specific audiences as long as they keep it accurate, clear and exciting. Teachers can potentially use similar tools to reach students, but they ultimately need to play a different role in their growth. It is true teachers are increasingly being asked for skills as communicators and entertainers, to deliver information to young audiences with an ever-decreasing attention span. However, it is not always easy to reconcile the task of a communicator with those of an educator, an evaluator and a classroom order-keeper. This contrast often leads the general public to misunderstand the roles and polarize the figures of teachers in one direction only: either demanding even more entertaining skills from them or, alternatively, their guarantee of strict discipline aimed at a nostalgic respect for roles. I feel this is especially true in the scientific field: faced with a rapidly changing world and increasingly difficult challenges, society identifies science and technology as the promise of a better future. This leads many adults to selectively push young people towards this type of learning, ignoring their natural inclinations and placing the entire responsibility for their education on STEM teachers. Communicating science to a broad audience or teaching it in classes can hence be a real challenge. Nevertheless, I am grateful for what I have done so far: science communication and teaching helped me build many international collaborations with others working to make science more accessible through cultural materials, videos and podcasts.

In conclusion, my journey from molecular biology research to science communication and teaching has shown me that science is not only about designing and running experiments, but also about the humanity and interactions between scientists and the general public. This made me realize the importance of bridging the gap between academia and non-specialists, turning science into an accessible and engaging resource. Through public speaking competitions, social media content creation, podcasting and teaching, I have strived to break down barriers and translate complex scientific concepts into understandable and relatable content. My passion for science communication has not only enriched my own understanding of science but also allowed me to inspire others and foster a greater appreciation for the scientific process.

As I look to the future, I am excited to continue my career in education while further exploring opportunities in science communication. I aim to expand my reach and impact by developing innovative ways to communicate science, whether through new media platforms, educational programmes or collaborations with fellow science communicators. Ultimately, my goal remains unchanged: to empower individuals with the knowledge and curiosity to engage with science, to cultivate critical thinking skills and to contribute positively to society. Throughout this journey, I have learned that flexibility, creativity and empathy are essential in both teaching and science communication. My advice to others considering a similar path is to embrace diverse opportunities to communicate science, whether through teaching, social media or public speaking. Each experience will not only improve your ability to make science accessible and engaging but also enrich your personal and professional growth. By continuing to adapt and evolve in my approach to science communication and teaching, I hope to play a meaningful role in shaping a more scientifically literate and informed society.■