Supervisor: Jacob Sherson

A recent American poll shows that 81% of the public cannot name a single living scientist. This is a troubling development and is one of many indications that shows us that the public’s interest in current science is low. We also seem to have entered in a “post truth” world where we no longer always look to scientist for answers about scientific questions. One way to address these problems is for scientist to get better at communicating their research.

In this colloquium I will talk about how to communicate science effectively to a mass audience. At the start I will lay out a case for why I think it is important to communicate science effectively. Based on the work of Randy Olson, a biologist turned movie director, I will go through the elements needed to give your research a meaningful narrative. This will mostly focus on simple tricks that can be used by anyone and that do not require a large commitment.

I will analyse specific examples like the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the Rosetta satellite to see how these major scientific results are communicated. This will also give us a chance to practice the techniques that we have gone through earlier.