BOOK REVIEW

How Scientists Communicate: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Knowledge & Sell Your Research: Public Speaking for Scientists

Review by Jenni Metcalfe

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I think scientists, especially early-career researchers, will find both books useful for writing successful papers and presenting their research to a diversity of audiences.

Both these books provide tips to scientists for communicating their research. The more substantial How Scientists Communicate focuses on scientists communicating with other scientists, mainly through publications but also through presentations at conferences. One chapter deals with communicating with non-specialist audiences. In contrast, the slimmer Sell Your Research is almost entirely about presenting science to non-specialist audiences, including the general public, young people, journalists, managers and funders.

Alan Kelly: How Scientists Communicate: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Knowledge, Oxford University Press, 2020— Alexia Youknovsky and James Bowers: Sell Your Research: Public Speaking for Scientists, Springer Nature, 2020

If we define ‘science communication’ as being the communication between scientists and those without formal scientific expertise (e.g. laypersons, publics), rather than between scientists, How Scientists Communicate is mostly about ‘scientific communication’ while Sell Your Research emphasises science communication.

Despite their differing centres of focus, both books are written by scientists for scientists and the authors of both books run workshops for scientists. Alan Kelly is Professor in Food Science and Technology at Ireland’s University College Cork. Alexia Youknovsky and James Bowers have engineering or scientific qualifications and work for Paris-based science communication consultancy, Agent Majeur. Both books provide insights and tips on scientific or science communication through the lens of the authors’ own experiences and interests as scientists who have been successful communicators in their own right, as well as successful trainers of other scientists.

This might explain the view informing both books that communication is essentially one-way. Sell Your Research espouses the classic sender-receiver model of communication while How Scientists Communicate emphasises the one-way communication of knowledge through papers, presentations and media. I thought both books placed too much emphasis on the importance of traditional linear communication techniques and largely ignored the possibilities for interaction.

Kelly contributes delightful historical perspectives throughout his book. One anecdote relates how in 1632 Galileo presented his then radical views about the orbits of the earth, sun and moon through a dialogue with two philosophers and a layman. While this did not end well for Galileo — he was placed under house arrest — the idea of dialogue progressing and exploring new scientific knowledge in public forums is appealing. Kelly generally makes nice use of anecdotes to illustrate his points. However, these are mostly limited to his field of expertise and interest; it would have been good to include examples from a greater diversity of scientific arenas.

How Scientists Communicate provides invaluable tips on preparing and writing a scientific paper, submitting it to an appropriate journal, handling peer review, and tracking its impact once it is published. There are interesting discussions on the issues of ethics and open access. Kelly notes the dangers of ‘predatory journals’, especially for early career researchers: “It is relatively easy, if absolutely infuriating, for experienced researchers to sift through the swamp and ignore the noise but, for those starting out, the need to develop crap-filters and not end up chasing ephemera and dead-ends is ever more urgent, and this should not be the way things work”.

The authors of Sell Your Research also provide useful examples to illustrate their points, although these are mostly relevant to applied rather than more basic research. I particularly liked their demonstration of how to improve a particular aspect of a presentation, such as the talk plan or a sequence of slides. Their presentation insights are grouped within an acronym they have devised, SELL: S stands for skeleton, which includes preparing the content, message and plan of the talk; E represents the envelope needed through slides and supporting materials; and LL, life and logistics, considers style and nerves.

From the perspective of someone who has been running workshops for scientists for more than a quarter of a century, I found most of the tips provided in both books to be sound and well explained. One difference of opinion I have with both books is their assumption that all effective presentations require slides of some sort. Kelly suggests scientists plan for one slide per minute for their presentations at conferences. Sell Your Research stresses the necessity of slides, including a title slide with logos. In my experience, some of the very best scientific presentations use no visual aids. Instead, they engage audiences with their stories, style and substance.

Despite such differences of opinion, I think scientists, especially early-career researchers, will find both books useful for writing successful papers and presenting their research to a diversity of audiences. Each book provides nice formulae for considering, planning and implementing such communication.

Jenni Metcalfe has been Director of science communication company, Econnect Communication, since 1995. She is a Campus Visitor at the Australia National University’s Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. Her recent publications include Training scientists to communicate in a changing world, a chapter in Todd Newman (ed.) Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training (Routledge, 2019).

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