Sunday, February 27, 2011

Translating research

Many of you have probably seen the comic "The Science News Cycle" from phd comics.


I like this comic because it pokes fun at a common frustration voiced by scientists (perhaps more so in high profile medical research than ecology but still...). However I also appreciate this comic because it reminds me that knowledge transfer is not solely the responsibility of the media. Yes, that is their job and there are some stellar journalists out there. But we have to remember that journalists, like scientists are also limited by time resources, money and external/internal pressures. Though in their case that may be the public rather than an University department or funding agency. What this means is that that scientists also have the responsibility to get relevant information from their research out to those who need and can put it to use. I think this is as important as the research itself.


I thought it would be fun to recreate the above comic with insertions from my own research (i.e. this is what could happen with my research...well ok, only if it was high profile enough to get picked up by the U of G's PR department):



No matter what type of research you are doing. Think about where it is going and who could use it.


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