At Alexis Achim's annual lab retreat , I was asked to present on 'comment vivre un projet dans la communauté scientifique', or 'how to make a project come alive in the scientific community'.
Alexis said he viewed me as a sort of 'scientific influencer' because I was quite active online - I have my own website (and I manage that of Silva21), twitter (and that of the IRSS), instagram (and that of my nutrition coaching business) and write a lot of scientific communication pieces like blog posts and extension notes. So even if I have little influence, he's not wrong that I do have an online presence.
He attributed this to the fact that I appeared confident in myself, my research and my writing skills - something that graduate students often lack. So in this presentation I wanted to explain to graduate students about various forms of scientific communications and how creative outputs can help display more personal skills that will not only buff up your CV but also them to help feel more connected to their project. In addition to different writing pieces, they can have the potential to showcase their research to a wider audience (both in and outside the scientific community) in a more diverse way.
To bring a research project alive should be simple in the fact that you are a living person! But by this I mean in the way that there are lots of things that make you who you are - your background, education, perspective and area of expertise - that make your research project different from someone else's.
Similarly, collaborative projects like Silva21 are so lively because of all the different people that make up the research. Not only the monetary partners who conceptualized the project but the graduate students and researchers and the unique perspectives they bring to the table.
It's important to remember that just like your field of research cannot live in a silo of its own field, your research project can not live in a vacuum. To make it successful (or at least tolerable), you have to interact with other people, utilize outside materials and present your research to the community. So why not bring your own unique personality into it to make it more enjoyable, learn new skills and scratch a creative itch?!
We can do this by creating scientific communication pieces that are outside the scope of traditional peer-reviewed journal publications. This can include blogs and extension notes but also communication via social media outlets such as ResearchGate, LinkedIn, X, Instagram and GitHub.
Of course it can be intimidating to put yourself out into the world (and the internet), nevermind putting your own research out there. So here are some things to consider when thinking about creating this projects, especially if you're feeling hesitant.
Let go of shame and embarrassment
When graduate students lack confidence, they're less inclined to put their work online in any way, shape or form unless its as a scientific publication, which they are required to do for their job. But I believe this lack of confidence stems from lack of confidence in their knowledge about your projects or the results you're generating. This can stem from being afraid of asking "dumb" questions or having the wrong answer. To avoid this, I encourage you to ask more questions. About anything and everything. Here's why:
Imagine you are unsure about a certain methodology. You're not 100% sure with what you're doing but you don't want to look stupid in front of your advisor, so you do what you think might be right and come up with a result. But because you weren't sure about the methods, you're obviously not confident with your results either.
Your advisor sees the results, is very confused, tells you they're way off and asks you to explain how you got there and to interpret what they could mean. If you're anything like me, you find this ultra embarrassing, and because you don't truly know the answer you lose all confidence and and may experience a lot of shame. This is a terrible way to feel in your research, in your job and with your results.
This could have all be avoided if you had asked for clarifications about the methodology. You would have gotten the methods right and been more confident in your answer. Even if your answer had still been wrong, at least you can say that you understand the methods and can explain to your advisor how you got the results. Knowing that you had asked for clarification and clearly made an effort, your advisor is likely to be more understanding of your far-off results and be more keen to help you work through where something may have gotten wrong. You're likely to avoid some embarrassment, but definitely a lot of shame, so that you can try again (and ask more questions if needed) until you get the right answer. It also allows for a better learning opportunity between you and your advisor (like trial and error) rather than creating feelings of discomfort (like you thinking they think you're an idiot - which you're not).
This also helps build confidence in your project, your understanding of the subject and your results. This is likely to make you more confident to publish additional pieces of communication throughout your graduate studies.
So, get confident
Lack of graduate student confidence is also usually deeply rooted in imposter syndrome. But incorporating different forms of scientific communication can also build your confidence by learning new skills or incorporating skills you already have but may not feel are applicable in academic (like web/graphic design, etc.). The more you do these things, the better you get at it and thus start the positive feedback loop that builds self confidence.
Find a creative outlet
Creativity is an important component of one's true self. That means we feel more aligned with who we really are when we're doing something creative. For some this is painting, for others it can be learning a new skill. So if you think of trying these scientific communication pieces as a creative outlet it may help you feel more aligned and more creative in the often stressful - sometimes inflexible - world of academia. It also helps you practice and hone new skills that you can later add to your CV and perhaps to gives you a competitive edge. It also allows your research to be read by a wider audience in plain language.
So where to start?
To make this process more interesting (and fun), I recommend to consider your own personal skills and what you like to do outside of the university and then infuse these with the work that is required of you as a graduate student.
Some might say they want to keep their personal and their professional life separate, but I find by combining extracurricular passions with your 9-5 job (if they're not already intertwined) can help you feel more connected to your research project. Once you find a creative outlet (or social media platform) to put them together, your confidence from your passions is likely to bleed into your confidence of your work outputs. It also helps showcase some of your other skills that separate you from other grad students.
Online platforms for academics
There are many different things you can use as creative outlets and online platforms that can help you produce scientific communications:
ResearchGate is a great online platform to share your research and doesn't require a lot of time to set up.
It gives you space to describe the different projects you're working on which is great for newer grad students if they want to showcase their project but don't necessarily have publications yet.
It allows you to follow fellow researchers and projects, ask scientific questions and share copies of your publications even if they're not OpenAcess.
LinkedIn is a great option if you're looking for more interactions than ResearchGate,
You can share more general items such as articles, news clippings and personal thoughts (similar to a Facebook 'status').
It allows your profile to be viewed more like a resume/CV as it lists your background, education, work experience, etc.
It is also a great resource for finding job opportunities!
Websites: f you're interested more in web design, creative writing, photography or teaching, personal websites are a great way to share these things. It's a great place to show pictures of field research or create a blog to document your experience. It can require a bit more work to get set up, but there are may platforms with templates available that work easily using point and click (such as Wix and Weebly).
For those looking to use websites and blog platforms, but also want to utilize their statistical analysis or coding skills, websites can also be made using R Markdown and GitHub. For people who want to stick on the platforms they already know, they may prefer this method because it can be relatively quick and a great way to keep up with a low maintenance website.
Don't worry if these seem time consuming - they don't have to be and they don't have to be completed in one sitting. I like to go and work on these kinds of pages when I have downtime in between research projects or on days when I'm having difficulty concentration. We all know those days when we think "ugh, I suck at writing today, nothing is coming to me!". In those cases it's a perfect time to take a break to perform some low-maintenance projects that require less brain juice. Not only are you still doing something that relates to your research, but at the end of a few hours you'll have something you can use! A much better use of your day than doom-scrolling.
Social media for academics
Other more typical social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook can also be used. Of these options I find Twitter my preferred academic social media outlet as it allows me to connect with a lot of fellow researchers, labs and university programs. It is a great way to learn about new publications, connect with fellow researchers, share new R/python packages, hear about upcoming conferences, events, professional skills and job postings.
I use Instagram more for personal use, but there are a few people who use it as a great way to showcase their lab work, field work and personal experiences with nature. One example that I included in this presentation is Lacey Rose. Hers is filled with great pictures and videos of being out in the forest while showcasing a lot of aspects of silviculture and harvesting, but also balanced with fun videos of her adorable dog.
It's important to remember that these can be used as creative outlets for your academic career while also serving as your own personal time capsule of your work and successes.
Though GitHUb is not a traditional social media platform in that it does not allow you to follow fellow users (it is moreso utilized as a code hosting platform for version control, bug reporting and collaboration), it can be a great place for coding-enthusiasts to deposit their work, collaborate and showcase their skills. It can also be the baseline for them to create other platforms like R packages and websites, as previously mentioned.
An important thing to remember when using social media: it is important to set healthy boundaries when using social media. Since most of us probably do not want to increase our overall screen time, I recommend disabling push notifications for social media apps and having your phone enter "downtime" after work hours to limit notifications and distractions. Boundaries are also important to not get sucked in by internet trolls. This can include avoiding spending time in the comments section and blocking those who leave negative feedback that you are not open to.
Graphic design for academia
There are also many tools available to those with an interest in graphic design for its use in creating presentations, posters, reports, etc. which are great for illustrations, graphics (for which graphical abstracts are more commonly being requested by scientific journals) and diagrams.
Canva is a great tool for anything from presentations, posters, business cards, logos, basically anything you can ask for and also incorporates AI. I used Canva to make this original presentation from a pre-existing template. You can see it here. I have also used Canva to make the templates for Silva21's Extension Notes to make these common language research notes more aesthetically pleasing.
Adobe photoshop: some of my colleagues like Catherine Chagnon have used their background in graphic design to make amazing illustrations in Adobe Photoshop support of findings in their scientific research. It's a great way to showcase new concepts, theories or brain maps in scientific publications.
Adobe illustrator: Tristan Goodbody is another example of someone who has used their skills in Adobe Illustrator to create practical flow diagrams of his GIS and remote sensing methods.
It could be worth checking out to see if you have free access to these kinds of tools through your institutions.
It's also important to remember that dipping your toe in scientific communications - no matter what kind - is mastered through experimentation and practice which creates confidence for further outputs.
In addition to scratching creative itches and improving science communication skills, using these kinds of tools can also be great for personal and professional development.
For personal development, not only do they help build confidence, but they can also add new skills to your CV. The more tools or outputs you put out into the scientific community will also help collaboration and networking opportunities by getting your research out to larger groups of people.
These are skills that grad students will build over time but these are great for professional development as not only does it improve the visibility of your research but also improves your ability to synthesize your research for a general public while creating outreach materials. This also provides more publications to your CV in between your other peer-reviewed publication.
And remember, while the expression "a jack of all trades is a master of none" is often viewed as someone with a lot of skills but remains a generalist who may lack expertise. But if you read the full quote that continues with "but oftentimes better than a master of one" you realize that having a variety of different skillsets (and a platform or tool to showcase them) can add to your expertise and your qualifications.
I always like to say I don't want to put all my highly skilled eggs in one academic basket.
To view a full copy of this presentation, click here.