Outreach
Science does not end when I publish a paper. Outreach, communication, and inclusion efforts to make research accessible and inclusive are central to my work as a scientist.
Community Outreach
Sharing science with your community through local and global outreach efforts is one of the greatest joys of research. Building extensive partnerships with local community members including industry leaders and local residents has allowed my research to expand and improve. Presenting at regional festivals, attending industry events, and pursuing discussions with local groups allows me to not only share my research, but also integrate their thoughts and needs into my future projects. The first project I pursued for my Ph.D., for example, was built around interviewing long-term local residents about their views on the marine environment and needs they’ve identified for the community. These connections then informed the other projects I pursued and have been vital resources for me throughout my research career.
I am particularly interested in outreach to youth groups and K-12 classrooms, encouraging participation in science even from a young age. Through partnerships with local schools as well as programs like Skype-A-Scientist, I’ve presented about marine science and led interactive events for over a dozen classrooms from Kindergarteners in the UK to high school students in South Korea.
Science Communication
Beyond targeted outreach efforts, I also have a passion for science communication, especially through animation and non-traditional presentation methods. The Covid-19 pandemic began at the start of my Ph.D., leading to the proliferation of virtual conferences. In my view, this new approach to conferences necessitates a new approach to presentations. With that in mind, I became a self-taught science animator and have created videos for my projects using both analog stop-motion and digital techniques. While these videos have brought attention, including numerous conference awards, the greatest benefit is that they allow me to share my science in an exciting, manageable format for the general public. I’ve shared my videos with classrooms and social media groups to convey the importance of ecosystem restoration and show how scientists actually conduct their research.
Scientific animation has also changed how I think about my own science. At their core, animations are just stories presented through a certain medium, and animating my science has required me to visualize my own research from a story-first perspective. Ultimately, this has shaped how I view science, not just as the creation of experiments but as the generation of compelling, evidence-based, stories of how the natural world functions.
Diversity and Inclusion
Science has historically been an unwelcoming and often explicitly hostile environment for people deemed ‘other’ based on their race, gender, and sexuality. Addressing this history requires rethinking the culture of scientific institutions and actively recruiting and retaining scientists from historically excluded backgrounds. As a queer scientist my identity is central to my research as it impacts how I see the world and how I conduct science, especially engaging in rural field work and working with conservative local groups who often have different views on the benefits of diversity. This has given me a unique view into science and led me to collaborate with groups like LGBTQ+ STEM and Pride in STEM to present at LGBTQ+ focused conferences and provide queer representation that science is often lacking. I also led a team of incredible LGBTQ+ restoration scientist to publish a series of recommendations to widen LGBTQ+ support in the field of restoration.