Careers in science: what is science communication?

Science communication is factual, and often fun. Photo by Eric Masur on Unsplash.

So you want to be a science writer?

I’ve pulled together a series of blog posts to detail the types of work that fall under the broad umbrella of science writer. This post focuses on science communication.

TLDR: snapshot of science communication

What is the objective? Inform the public about what science is, how it works, what it offers.

Who pays? Scientists, universities, research institutes, media platforms and companies, private companies, state and federal governments, or self-funded.

Science communication in more detail

Science communication is an umbrella term for the practice of informing and inspiring the public about scientific knowledge.

Science communication is often created and paid for by people or institutions who have a strong belief that science is useful. This might not necessarily be the case for science journalism – the job of the journalist is to uncover or shed light on the truth, not wax lyrical about how cool science is. This is an important differentiation: journalists aim to write without bias or an agenda (they report science news to inform the reader), whereas communicators often have a specific goal in mind (to improve reader knowledge about science).

Although producing science communication can be good fun, you still have a responsibility to make sure what you’re covering sits on a strong evidence base. If you are commissioned to produce science communication, you should still wear a journalist’s hat and cast a critical eye over data and narratives to ensure they hold up in a broader context. High quality science communication is evidence-based, ethical and reliable.

Having said that, one of the harder elements of science communication is deciding when to let go of finer details so as not to scare off your audience.

Science communicators often play a vital role in bridging the gap between journalism and people who don’t tend to read or be exposed to evidence-based reporting. Science communication can translate a complex piece of science journalism into content that is suited to a more general audience, or for specific audiences such as children.

Science communication is published by specialist science publications and websites, in magazines, on government platforms including CSIRO, on radio, television, in podcasts and on social media (including TikTok – see Hank Green, Doctor Karl, Space Australia and Zoe Kean). Many platforms publish both science journalism and science communication. For example, The Conversation is a brilliant website that commissions articles written by experts and edited by journalists, and combines the best parts of journalism and communication.

Some of my favourite science communication individuals, platforms and content are:

Science communication isn’t always “newsy”– it doesn’t necessarily have to be linked to a new discovery, or be a hot topic right now (although that can help grab people’s attention). Often science communication produces ever-green content that will be relevant and/or helpful to many people over a long period of time, but of course must be updated to reflect new evidence when necessary. The internet lasts a long time.

Some science communication happens for free – that is, nobody pays for it. It comes about due to passion from the creator, and their motivation to inform the public. This means some science communication isn’t an unbiased source of primary information, as the producer might not always be objective, or fact-check and verify their information with other experts. Also, when a scientist talks about their own work, no matter how rigorously it was performed, they are sometimes viewed as having a vested interest in promoting it. It’s important to make sure you trust the producer of a piece of science communication, or at least keep in mind the motivations of that person.

When a producer of science communication moves beyond knowledge improvement and instead wants to provoke a specific response in a reader or viewer, then it’s starting to look like science marketing or PR.

This article was triggered by conversations with my IMNIS mentee Monique VanAcquoy, and an associated panel session I participated in recently. Run by Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), the IMNIS program connects motivated PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with industry leaders in a one-year mentoring and professional development program.

Sarah Keenihan