Arctic scientist engages through tweets, blogs and podcasts
“I realise that speaking to school children might not be for everyone, but I would encourage everyone to give it a go at least once. I think many people would surprise themselves.”
– Ceri Lewis, University of Exeter
Tweets, blogs and podcasts may not be methods that many scientists would use to communicate their work, but Dr Ceri Lewis has embraced these new tools and now uses them on a regular basis. Lewis, a marine biologist at the University of Exeter, regularly tweets about her daily life as a scientist. She also writes blog entries and records podcasts whenever she has anything particularly interesting to say, such as for example, when she goes on an expedition to the Arctic.
“The great thing about tweeting, blogging and podcasts is that they are free and don’t have to take up a lot of your time,” says Lewis.
Lewis has also found that these tools are not only about getting her message across, but equally importantly enable her to listen to feedback, comments and questions from the public as well as other researchers. She also uses twitter as an important information source. “All the top journals in my field have a twitter feed and so twitter is where I find out about the latest research,” says Lewis.
Top Tip:
Digital dissemination tools such as twitter, blogs and podcasts can be an easy way of disseminating your research and creating impact. They also enable end users to feedback to you and ask questions.
Lewis now has more than 400 followers and they include amateur biology enthusiasts, her university students, journalists and other marine biologists. She tweets several times per week, often about her day-to-day tasks such as hours staring down a microscope, or a successful day rock pooling. “I want to break down the image that some people have of scientists,” says Lewis. “We really are just normal people, doing normal jobs and by giving people an insight into my daily life, I hope I go some way to changing our image and perhaps inspire people to become scientists.”
She has teamed up with Digital Explorer, a company that has pioneered educational expeditions and provides inspirational lessons and resources direct from the world to the classroom. “My data is now being used in lesson plans and classroom experiments,” says Lewis. “We have had some great feedback from teachers because the children find the lessons fascinating.”
The lesson plans are designed for GCSE-level students and are free to download. Training weekends are held in Southampton so that teachers are able to implement the plans with confidence and also train other teachers how to use the lesson plans. Lewis also goes into schools to give talks about her work.
“It really is a great feeling when you are speaking to school children about your work and you see that your enthusiasm for your work has reached them,” says Lewis. “I realise that speaking to school children might not be for everyone, but I would encourage everyone to give it a go at least once. I think many people would surprise themselves.”
Lewis’ adventure into the world of public engagement started through her work with Catlin Arctic Survey, an organisation funded by the insurance company Catlin. “It was Catlin Arctic Survey that encouraged me to interact with schools and use modern tools such as twitter and now I really enjoy this side of my work,” says Lewis. “I will certainly use the skills I have learned and apply them to my future research.”
Institution: University of Exeter
Funding council: NERC and Catlin Arctic Survey
Links
Catlin Arctic Survey
Digital Explorer
Dr Lewis’s twitter feed