Sunday 29 April 2012

Research Briefings: A call for scientists to explain themselves!

Recently, Chris Chambers (neuroscience researcher, Cardiff University) posted a compelling argument for scientists to make their research findings more available to a wider audience via blogs. In his own words:


"The aim of such blog articles shouldn’t be to court publicity or to merely regurgitate our peer-reviewed publications. Instead we should try to provide an overview that is tailored specifically for non-scientists, using minimal jargon and assuming no background knowledge. In keeping with Tim Radford's 7th commandment, we should also avoid insulting the reader's intelligence."

So, to do my part, my next blog will review the findings, and implications, of a study that we recently published in the relatively generalists scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I will aim to provide an informative overview that simplifies without insulting - and also does not read simply as a PR exercise in self-promotion! If this succeeds, I will try to make a habit it of it... so stay tuned for Research Briefings!

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