65. How to get started in scicomm

We know many of our listeners are keen to get more experience in science communication but don’t know where to begin. Have we got the episode for you! This week we had a fantastic chat with Dr Donovan Garcia-Ceron about how he got started in science communication and the things he’s doing to build his scicomm profile. As you’ll hear, Donovan is kind and curious. He works in research to protect crops from pests, with the aim of increasing food security and enabling healthier communities. He has worked in the creation of eco-friendly insecticides, and investigated how fungi “sneeze” to cause stronger infections in plants. As a research officer, Donovan now develops next-generation fungicides that can “switch off” the genes that fungi use to cause diseases, without being harmful to the environment. During his PhD, Donovan developed an interest in science communication. He won prizes for the 3-minute Thesis and Visualise Your Thesis competitions in several years, and has been invited to write for blogs and to participate in philanthropic events to pitch science projects. He is passionate about making scientific knowledge accessible and open to anyone, and is interested in connecting with other science communicators. In his spare time, Donovan does Brazilian drumming and builds furniture using reclaimed wood (IG: @slothfurniture). You can follow Donovan and learn more about him and his work here: https://twitter.com/DonovanGarciaC https://www.linkedin.com/in/donovan-garcia-ceron/ https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/dgarciaceron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP-DIKYgFCo (Donovan’s Visualise Your Thesis entry) https://www.instagram.com/slothfurniture/ Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/i79s