The typical scientist, and particularly the typical early-career scientist, is so busy focusing on their research and their outputs (and grant applications and publishing and more grant applications and more publishing) that they don’t give priority to communicating their research, or even their successes, outside of that framework.
The University of Oxford has a female vice chancellor, Louise Richardson, who took up the post in January 2016. {credit}Getty{/credit}
Just 34 of leading universities named in this year’s annual Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings have female presidents, down 1% from the 36 that were led by women in 2017. Continue reading
An infographic helps to explain why understanding what makes you tick is essential to finding the right motivationEarlier last year, I attended the Week of International Scientific Talent in Paris, and found that museums can be excellent platforms for scientists eager to apply scientific knowledge outside of their labs. Curious to learn more about this avenue of science communication, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is growing interest in applying scientific concepts to museum settings.
Sketch Town; one of the exhibits at MAAS Sydney {credit}Reproduced courtesy of teamLab{credit}
One example that has captured wide attention is the use of fragrance in the Peabody Essex Museum (mentioned by Nature here) to provide visitors with a multi-sensory (including sight, hearing, touch and smell) museum experience. Nature also recently ran a feature on scientists-turned-curators. One step led to the other and soon, I found myself applying for and receiving the Visiting Research Fellowship by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS Sydney), in Australia.
At MAAS, my research focused on the exhibit ‘teamLab Future Park’, which used various stimuli such as lights, sound and touch to stimulate the senses of visitors. Capitalizing on this, I investigated how concepts in sensory neuroscience can be applied to improve visitors’ experience. In my research, I explored the idea of homeostasis (whether excessive sensory stimuli diminish the value of a museum experience) and adaptation (whether visitors get bored of interacting with exhibits in the same way). Beyond my research findings, I developed some useful communication tips that might be helpful to other scientists in their own outreach.
I’ve been involved in science communication for some time now, but this was the first opportunity to work face-to-face with people. With writing and other communication work, I’ve had the time to prepare everything meticulously. Not this time, especially because Future Park — by design — has a whole lot of distractions. I was forced into trying to engage children who were busy playing in the exhibits, and trying to engage adults who were concerned about the whereabouts and safety of their children. This trained me to speak quickly and clearly — and learn where I needed to improve. Considering others’ attention span is crucial.
During my fellowship, I explored the concept of adaptation — whether museum visitors would be bored interacting with museum exhibits in the same way. The most popular exhibits were all identical in terms of how visitors used them — in each, we asked people to color a drawing, scan it, and take a look at a 3D representation of their work. Cool for the first time you see it, but perhaps less novel the time after.
The majority (70%) of the respondents felt that Future Park was highly engaging but about 20% of the respondents suggested that their experience would be better had there been more variety in the activities.
This finding was a surprise to me — most of the visitors were there for the first time and already felt that there could be more varied activities. This finding confirmed my belief that there is value in diversifying the ways I communicate science in writing, drawing, infographics and videos. It also reminded me that it helps to integrate different tools into my presentations to engage my audience. In the past, I’ve shown my audience bits and pieces from my research lab during presentations, for example.
In a few weeks’ time, I will be volunteering in a community college with an infographic on my current research project. The museum experience has inspired me to develop ideas to incorporate hands-on interactions to help students learn about my research.
Light Ball Orchestra; another exhibit{credit}Photo: Leïla Berney. Reproduced courtesy of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.{/credit}
If you’re interested in museum work, there are a variety of internship and fellowship opportunities. The Smithsonian Institute offers a range of fellowships for scholars with different expertise including genomics, medicine and chemistry. The National University of Singapore Museum offers internship positions for students interested in programming, marketing and design. Universcience Paris (Cité des sciences), the largest European science museum, also offers ad-hoc positions.
As many museums operate on a tight budget, they might not be able to offer any stipends for internships. If you are truly curious about this industry, I would advise you to find a museum near your city to gain working experience first. Even if the museum might not explicitly advertise any opening, it doesn’t hurt to email a museum representative and the specific curator for volunteering opportunities. This exposure will come in handy when you apply for fellowships to work in larger, better equipped museums in the future.
Andy is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering at Stanford University.
His research focuses on nanotechnology and stem cell differentiation. In his free time, Andy enjoys using the gym and reading.
Andy is grateful for financial support from Endeavour Research Fellowship during his stay in Sydney and MAAS for hosting his research project and providing the images in this article.
You can find Andy on LinkedIn and Google Scholar.
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Rozanna Meijboom is one of three early career scientists to receive a new UK Medical Research Council (MRC) award to partner labs undertaking similar research at the US National Institutes of Health.
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The awards, which are funded by the UK Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), also involves participation in a symposium at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
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A study involving interviews and online posts of 28 women in the later stages of PhD studies in engineering and physical sciences in the United States, published 31 January in the journal Social Sciences, revealed many day-to-day slights that left them feeling alienated and undervalued. Some said they were contemplating leaving research as a result. “There’s a culture in male-dominated environments,” says Bianca Bernstein, a co-author of the study and a psychologist at Arizona State University in Tempe. “Some women feel it’s not for them.”
Even though they were already deep into their PhD studies, 12 of the 28 women indicated that they didn’t want to pursue research careers. Five cited personal or work-life balance reasons, but six chalked up their decision to change course to the workplace environment and culture, including two who specifically expressed a desire to escape a male-dominated field. Hypothetically, Bernstein says, more women would finish graduate school and remain in research careers if the gender balance wasn’t already so skewed, but noted that any such scenario is difficult to test.
The interviews and posts, which took place over seven months, highlighted many of the positive aspects of the scientific life, including feelings of accomplishment and mastery. But the women in the study also reported “frequent” instances of feeling ignored, dismissed or excluded. One woman reported that a male colleague reacted rudely when she won a scholarship. “He blamed it on the fact that I was a woman and that they probably gave me a scholarship to fulfill a quota,” she said in an interview as part of the study.
The women reported that they were disproportionately asked to perform “women’s work” such as cleaning up the lab or performing clerical duties. “We’ve been hearing that complaint for decades now,” says Bernstein, who is also a principal investigator with the US National Science Foundation’s CareerWISE programme, a coaching initiative for graduate-level women in science and engineering. “It’s surprising that it hasn’t changed.”
A few women reported unwanted sexual advances in the workplace. Bernstein notes that the interviews and posts tracked only study subjects’ recent experiences, not everything that had ever happened with them during their graduate programme. Also, the interviews and posts took place before the rise of the #metoo movement, so women may have been more reluctant to report such events than they would be today.
Kevin Miller, a researcher with the American Association of University Women based in Washington DC, says that even seemingly minor grievances can add up. “Women in STEM have to fight an uphill battle that starts when they are girls and their interest in the sciences may be discouraged or ignored,” he says. “The experiences described in this study show that women face bias both subtle and overt as well as systemic factors that make them more likely to exit STEM fields.”
Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.
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