A key focus for FLEET was building our members’ self-sufficiency in communicating their own scientific discoveries.
While members are in a Centre of Excellence, they have access to a communications coordinator who can help them share their research. But this will almost certainly not be the case for most of a scientist’s career. FLEET devoted significant effort into building researchers’ skills in ‘DIY sci-comms’.
FLEET’s members gained the skills and confidence to share their research through several channels, including effectively leveraging university communications teams, online scientific platforms and social media.
In addition to undertaking structured communication training, members were trained, coached and encouraged to write articles aimed at the general public (a contrast to peer-reviewed scientific papers).
An unexpected benefit in comms skills also came from the Centre’s science-outreach efforts:
FLEET’s ambitious goal of every member (from Director to students) doing at least 20 hours of science-outreach each year had unexpected benefits for FLEET members…
In explaining their science to school students and members of the public, members developed science communications skills that were just as useful in explaining their work to colleagues, members of Faculty, or possible collaborators or investors.
“Our experience doing science-outreach to schoolkids is an opportunity for us to think and practice how to explain science to the public,” Dr Peggy Zhang
“Doing school outreach helped me get the right tone for a subsequent research pitch to MPs and policymakers. I used exact descriptions and examples that we’d developed presenting at a college in Sydney,” Dr Harley Scammel
FLEET allowed a wide array of outreach activities to ‘count’ as outreach hours, allowing members to find an activity that matched their skill-set and preferences.
For example, FLEET members from PhD students through to Chief Investigators developed teaching resources for the Year 10 Future Electronics unit at John Monash Science School. For most junior Centre members, this was their first exposure to teaching – and a valuable addition to their skill set and their CV.
