Cassidy interviews Kevin Mercurio, host of the Metaphorigins podcast about creating your own science communication projects, juggling them with research, and why the words we use matter as much as they do.

Kevin's website + podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
Metaphorigins Instagram
Science rap

• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Cassidy details the start-to-finish steps you need to create your own Science Communication program, project or side hustle.

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• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Cassidy discusses what it's like to work at a science museum or centre, and the wide array of science communication roles available in the field.

Royal Ontario Museum
Ontario Science Centre
Canada Science and Technology Museum
 
How are skeletal mounts of dinosaurs in museum exhibits built?

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• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Cassidy chats about where in Canada to study science communication at universities and colleges, along with advice about picking an educational path in the field.

Programs mentioned:

Mound Saint Vincent Science Communication

Laurentian Master's in Science Communication

University of Toronto Master's of Biomedical Communications *Note I accidentally referred to this as biomedical illustration - this is the full title of the program :)

University of British Columbia Master's of Museum Education

University of Ottawa Master's of Arts in Communication Specializing in Science, Society and Policy

Algonquin College Museum Studies

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• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Today, I'm telling the story of how I became a full time science communicator, and give you my best tips to transition to a career in science communication.

Organizations that I've worked for / have supported me:

• NSERC
• Canada Science and Technology Museum
• Water Rangers
• Pelling Lab
• Pulsar Collective

My academics:

• University of Ottawa Specialization in Science, Society and Policy
• University of Western Australia Science Communication

Interesting opportunities for SciComm training:

• Massive Science
• Laurentian Science Communication
• Beakerhead Science Communication
• Let's Talk Science

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• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Cassidy interviews Dr. Andrew Pelling, the biophysicist who can grow ears out of apples and spinal cords out of asparagus.  This research has been featured in Wired, Vice, and Motherboard, amongst others, and has been shared with over 1.5 million people on the TED world stage.

Watch Andrew's first TED Talk "This scientist makes ears out of apples"
Watch Andrew's second TED Talk "Could we treat spinal cord injuries with asparagus?"
Visit the Lab's website at pellinglab.net
Connect with Andrew on Twitter and on Instagram
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• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

 Cassidy discusses how metaphors often fuel those "lightbulb" moments in science communication, where all of a sudden it just makes sense. This episode walks you through how to construct a metaphor, what to avoid, and why it matters.

Dive into metaphors by watching James Geary's TED Talk, "Metaphorically Speaking"

Read about the benefits and drawbacks of metaphors in this article (Taylor & Drewsbury, 2018)

Here's an example of a study on a specific metaphor in science communication

Read about racially loaded science metaphors by Herbers (2007)

Here's a summary of Illness as Metaphor, and you can likely get the original work at your local bookstore

--

• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️

Learn how to quickly and effectively pitch your research to anyone - even non-scientists. Get your free elevator pitch template at scicommschool.com/pitch 🔗

• Connect with me on Twitter at @SciCommCassidy 👩‍🔬
• Check out our website for free templates, all our past episodes, and more about the show 🔬
• Want to be a guest on the show or have an idea for the podcast? Connect with us at scicommschool.com/contact. Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎙️