Communications output needs to be adapted for different audiences. It might need a long, evidence-based article or report with multiple cited sources, but it might be better as a tight brief with bullet points, a data-based infographic or a quick explainer video - or all of the above. It's for that reason that I've built the skills to produce all of those materials.
One of the most complex areas for communication is science and technology - especially with the speed at which technology is advancing. We need to produce technology and policy communications material which doesn't require a PhD to understand and engage. Science is too important - too wonderful - too exciting - for us to leave anyone out just because we haven't got the tools to tell the stories properly.
That's where I've found my professional home - as the bridge between experts and their audience. I've worked with many academics, scientists, economists and policymakers over a 12 year communications career, with different fields, aims, passions, and even languages. I take the time to fully understand the research, the audience and the goal of the outreach, and then use a range of tools to transform their work into language and visuals which can engage and inspire broad audiences - without dumbing down.
The audiences for whom I write, design, and produce, are diverse - but mostly comprise government and policymakers, industrial partners and sponsors, and a general public interested in connecting with research. I'm also passionate about extending this to children and education. As a feminist, and a mother of three daughters, I have a particular focus on reaching groups otherwise under-represented in STEM. As such, I have been a creative director on large STEM outreach projects, and I took on the role of EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) Lead as part of long-term communications role at Cambridge University Department of Engineering.Below you can find links to two separate projects which tell the same story, for vastly different audiences, and the press outreach which sealed their impact
The first is a series of climate policy and innovation reports co-written with PhD students, post-docs and led by a senior professor at Cambridge. I edited their work, created graphics and designed layout to communicate research to a policy and industry audience. These reports have influenced policy and industry practices, supported grant proposals, and been downloaded and cited hundreds of thousands of times. Read more...
Tick Zero was born out of a desire to connect the same climate research with a wider audience. With the Principal Investigator of the same Cambridge research centre, I adapted it into a series of bitesize videos - first for the general public, and then a series of films and resources for teachers and school children. I adjusted the language and visual methods of storytelling to connect with this group. I even developed a book to help the youngest children in school start considering their place in a net-zero world. Read more...
I have built relationships with journalists, sending regular media alerts responding to related news stories, links to recent publications, punchy quotes for immediate use and pitches for longer opinion and comment pieces. By leveraging a clear schedule and strong relationships, I led a communications programme which saw regular mention in mainstream traditional media, as well as impact on industry and policy through parliamentary debate. Read more...
Equality in STEM is something about which I care very deeply. I've been working in communications for a really long time, and with every grant proposal has been the need to explain more fully to the research councils what we plan to do about EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion)... Read more...
Creating a better world through science and technology will take an act of collective imagination. In our STEM outreach schools workshops, part of 88 Pianists, thousands of school children demonstrated an astonishing capacity for imagination and innovation.