…But a supervisor suggested that gaining first-hand research experience might make her a better communicator. Today, she sells workshops to companies, schools and universities and teaches science to Sunday-school students at a private academy in Tokyo.
Smriti Mallapaty catches up with her to learn more.
Yuko Ueno
Naturejobs journalism competition winner Catherine Carnovale explores this distinction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivcHblYSd94
In July 2016 scientists found out how to map the brain into dozens of new areas using neuroimaging. We also discovered that thousands of such brain scanning studies may be flawed. To someone lacking insight into neuroscience, these two equally important studies can seem conflicting. Although “science communication” happens everywhere, science can still feel like a black box to the public, mysteriously churning out breakthroughs which are packaged and relayed by a barrage of tweets and headlines.
For the past four years I’ve been working in science communication (SciComm), and academia. I’m now mid-way through my PhD — I’m studying on Alzheimer’s disease and I know I would be finding research a lot tougher if I were not involved with science communication.
Rachel Harris doing some SciComm at Bristol Neuroscience Festival this year
Guest contributor Thais Moraes
Thais Moraes
The conference comm4science – communicating science beyond the lab – in Heidelberg, on the 6th and 7th of May, put together many popular names involved in science communication both in and outside of Germany. They all highlighted the importance of communicating science. But they also recognized the many problems we face today concerning dialogue between scientists and the public. In my opinion, one critical point is to make scientists understand how essential it is to share their research with society. Continue reading
Naturejobs journalism competition winner Mary Gearing
Any career, scientific or otherwise, is the product of choices. In my own path in science, the first set of choices was clear: major in biology, conduct undergraduate research, enroll in a PhD program. This was a comforting, well-trodden path, but it left me unprepared to make the next big decision: my post-PhD direction. Now, as I near the end of my graduate studies, I’ve realized that this decision is much simpler than I thought. The most important tool for a career change is self-awareness – the willingness to analyze yourself as thoroughly as you would any key experiment.
Following the success of the Boston and San Francisco Naturejobs career expo journalism competitions this year, we’re launching the competition for our tenth career expo in London, to be held on September 16th.
The London Naturejobs career expo is our flagship event, so we are looking for five budding science writers to help us with our coverage of the conference sessions, workshops and general ambience of the event for those who cannot make it. The conference will explore career paths in industry, academia and science communication, finding funding, and much more.
The five winners will have the opportunity to attend the expo and write up at least two of the sessions or workshops for our readers, sharing the advice and expertise of the speakers with our worldwide audience. Winners will also have the opportunity to work closely with Nature editors, and their articles will be published on the Naturejobs blog. Continue reading
Every day in this job, I learn something new. As a publishing assistant, I guide manuscripts through the peer review process at Scientific Reports. As such I handle manuscripts at multiple stages of the process. I like to think of it as following a manuscript’s journey from the lab up out into the world. Each day brings new challenges. Organisational skills are a must.
Jessica Lawler
Naturejobs career expo journalism competition winner Diane N.H. Kim
Confidence is not something we normally associate with science. In this field, grounded in facts and far from emotions, it’s no wonder we have trouble seeing how our attitudes affect our success. A confident attitude is considered much more important for an actress on the red carpet, or a politician delivering a speech. Scientists are still largely portrayed and perceived as solitary individuals with passive personalities, spurred by a media portrayal of a lone scientist in their basement lab.
Continue reading
