Let’s scicomm together

I'm currently looking for researchers to collaborate with me on science communication by sharing eye-catching images/videos from their research via this form that I can then use for educational social media videos and posts.

In the future, I’d also love to collaborate more directly by visiting research labs and facilities. During these short visits, I’d conduct interviews and snap some photos and videos to use for more in-depth educational videos.

Science isn’t done until it’s shared! Open science requires free and accessible distribution of knowledge, and this is a free and low-lift opportunity towards that goal. But there are some benefits for contributors beyond the philosophical, including:

1. The creation of an accessible educational resource related to your research by an experienced science communicator and video producer at no cost to you, which you can link to as needed in the future.

2. Amplification of your research across social media channels that can reach millions and have 200,000+ people actively subscribed. You can opt in to being directly tagged where applicable if you’d like to receive more traffic to your own social media accounts, and I’m happy to share links to your work or resource pages where people can learn more if interested.

3. Access to a free science communication workshop exclusively for contributors where I’ll share best practices, social media tips and answer any scicomm questions.

I want to share some of the cool stuff being studied in labs in easy-to-access (but factually accurate!!) ways on social media, but gone are the days of my PhD where I had daily access to microscopes and all sorts of lab spaces for my scicomm activities.

While my back is grateful to not be hunched over a 'scope all day, I truly miss it! Looking through the microscope at brain cells used to give me the same sense of awe and wonder most people feel when they look to the cosmos, and it is my main goal as a science communicator to make that feeling tangible for more people.

I use social media for my science communication because it gives me the flexibility to tell stories about science in a unique way that I know can break through echo chambers and reach new audiences where they are. Popular science coverage in mainstream news outlets tends to focus on new insights from individual studies. But, as we know, scientific knowledge is so much more than individual studies. I want to leverage my platform to share big questions that drive science rather than potential answers from an individual study that has yet to be replicated. I want to focus on evergreen topics, and big, foundational concepts that may not be "newsworthy" but are the very things that made me -- and probably you -- want to do research. A big task, one that I left the lab to pursue. And that's why I need your help.

Oh and PS. Check out the comments in the sample videos linked further below on this page to see some of the impact social media videos can have.

I’ll be sharing these posts and short-form videos primarily on my Instagram page, and potentially also on my Tik Tok or YouTube Shorts. I cross-promote videos across platforms, so in total may be sharing posts to over 200,000 followers.

The majority of my followers are women 16-40 years of age, with most based in Canada, the US, UK, Brazil, India and Australia.

But the reach of these videos can extend beyond this. In the last few years, most social media platforms have prioritized recommended content in newsfeeds, meaning there is more opportunity to reach non-followers with the right strategy. My day job as a consultant for social media strategies for scicomm means I stay up to date on these tactics, and generally anywhere between 40-80% of views on my videos are from non-followers. This is an exciting metric to me because it means we can reach new audiences with science.

No, it’s free for both of us!

While I strongly believe science communication should be valued and should not be something people are expected to do for free, I am privileged to be in a position where access to scientific expertise is a meaningful and sufficient form of compensation. This collaboration comes at no cost to individuals in academic labs or non-profit institutes, and you will retain ownership of any submitted photos and videos while granting permission for me to use them with credit. 

If you're stretched for time but want to contribute to more science outreach, I hope this can be a win/win opportunity.

I’ll spare you my rant about trust in science and just say that social media can be a dumpster fire. Having been a scientific creator on basically every social media platform for many years now, I am committed to prioritizing quality over quantity, and accuracy over clickbait. Always.

Sure I have a PhD, but probably not in your area of research (unless you’re a neural stem cell biologist, then I might know a little something). I do not claim expertise when posting outside of my areas of expertise. As a science communicator, it is my job to share scientific consensus, not my own opinion or unqualified interpretations. As such, I read a lot of primary research and do a ton of fact-checking before posting, but if I’m ever in doubt I’ll ask follow up questions rather than guess.

I also care deeply about accessibility, representation & inclusivity in STEM, and open science (you can learn more about my values here).

Please note: I rarely do sponsored content on my social media, and when I do it's only with carefully vetted scientific companies and/or educational organizations (e.g., Visions of Science, 3M, Ontario Genomics, etc). No content contributed by researchers through this process would never be used in sponsored content without your expressed written permission.