Amplifying Research

18. Geoff Paine on creating interactive experiences for impactful engagement

Today's episode is a deep dive with Geoff Paine, senior content curator at BehaviourWorks Australia.
Geoff is an actor and writer who’s entertainment industry experience includes acting on shows like Neighbours and running a studio producing corporate content for major Australian organisations. He now brings his wealth of experience to BehaviourWorks Australia, focusing on creating engaging and impactful content.
In this episode, Geoff shares insights on how to design interactive experiences for impactful engagement. Drawing on his extensive background in storytelling and performance, he discusses the importance of making research communication engaging, interactive, and memorable. Geoff provides practical tips and innovative strategies for researchers to enhance their presentations and public engagements.
Whether you're a researcher, educator, or professional communicator, this episode is packed with valuable insights on using interactivity to drive engagement and impact!
 
Our conversation covers:
Practical tips for making complex research accessible and engaging
Designing interactive elements to enhance presentations and workshops
Techniques for storytelling and theatrical methods to engage audiences
Practical steps for planning and delivering interactive presentations
The importance of vulnerability in effective communication
Strategies for overcoming public speaking anxiety
Conducting simulation training for behaviour change within organisations
 
Find Geoff Paine online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-paine-5ba0248
https://www.behaviourworksaustralia.org/team/geoff-paine
https://www.monash.edu/msdi/about/people/professional/geoff-paine
 
Find Chris Pahlow online:
• Chris Pahlow on LinkedIn
 
Practical tips:
Designing your presentation
Start with a question and end with the same question to see the change in the room. At the end, reflect on the change and encourage the audience to do the same.
Design your event by figuring out key messages, personal connections, and the right sequence of content.
Incorporate elements of surprise and curiosity. Use tension and release to keep them engaged.
Use storytelling techniques to create a compelling narrative.
Continuously gather and reflect on feedback to refine your interactive methods.
Interactive techniques to engage your audience:
Encourage reflection to help set the context and deepen understanding.
Involve them in the communication process through thinking, reflecting, voting, or participating in activities.
Use interactive methods like Q&A sessions, voting, or asking them to get on stage.
Use physical activities or role-playing scenarios to make the experience memorable.
Using visuals effectively:
Use multimedia elements, such as videos and animations, to illustrate key points.
Use visuals to provoke thought and change behavior, not just to present information.
Clearly explain the purpose of your visuals and what you want the audience to take away.
Preparation and practice:
Get your “flying hours” in by practicing with friends or delivering the presentation to smaller groups first.
Practice vulnerability to build a connection with your audience. Admitting that you’re nervous is better than pretending not to be.

17. Bonnie Johnson & Anna Dennis on strategic comms for research orgs

Today's episode is a deep dive with Bonnie Johnson and Anna Dennis from the Academy of Social Sciences.
Bonnie is the Academy's Communications Director with over 15 years of diverse experience in comms and marketing, specialising in not-for-profits. Anna is the Academy's Communications Manager with an honours in sociology and experience in the NGO space.
Over the last four years, Bonnie and Anna have achieved incredible things for the Academy, including the Seriously Social podcast reaching more than 100,000 downloads in three years and increasing the Academy's newsletter open rate from 12% to 47%.
In this episode, we use these initiatives as case studies to explore how Bonnie and Anna transformed the comms and engagement approach at the Academy of Social Sciences.
Whether you're the leader of a research org, a professional staff member, or an individual researcher, this episode is packed with actionable insights for boosting your reach!
 
Our conversation covers:
Setting clear goals for communications strategies
Identifying and understanding your target audience
Developing effective newsletters with high open rates
Creating and refining podcast content
Building and managing an effective communications team
Building trust in comms roles
Implementing and adapting communications strategies
Tracking metrics and providing regular progress reports
Leveraging technology and tools for efficient communication
 
Find Bonnie and Anna online:
https://socialsciences.org.au
info@socialsciences.org.au
 
Find Chris Pahlow online:
• Chris Pahlow on LinkedIn
 
Practical tips:
Newsletter success:
Use compelling subject lines, maintain consistency, and ensure the content is well-written and engaging.
Analyse previous editions to identify the best times for release and adapt based on audience behavior.
Visual communication:
Invest in tools like Canva to maintain visual consistency and streamline the creation process.
Understanding your audience(s):
Create audience avatars/personas/profiles to better understand and target your communication efforts.
Map out key stakeholders and tailor your messaging to resonate with each group.
Consistency, adaptation, and trust:
Meet your audience where they are and establish a consistent communication voice.
Adapt your strategies based on feedback and changing audience needs.
 
Quotes:
"You create these avatars. We do about three to four usually. So let's name them… It's Melanie. She's 32. She reads the conversation. She reads a bit of news. She's also on Facebook. She follows this. This is her career. This is her income. This is her family life. This is where she commutes." - Bonnie Johnson (on creating audience avatars)
"Sometimes when you get that request of a general audience or general public, it can be helpful to actually break it down into niche." - Bonnie Johnson
“It's important to continually benchmark the work that you're doing. But also, yeah, think about your audience and their changing needs. It's not just about what you want to communicate to somebody. It's what they want to hear. So it's a fine balance, I think, where we've clearly got things we need to communicate to them, things we've achieved, done, want them to contribute to. But really thinking about how will they best engage with this and how is it relevant to them and how does it speak to them?“ — Bonnie Johnson
"If you're beginning an initiative, you really have to meet people where they are. I think once you establish consistency, you establish your voice, you can bring people along with you a little bit as well. Maybe the way that we communicate with our audience now, we would not necessarily have done four years ago, but they know us now. They have confidence in what we're putting out and the way that we're communicating with them. And I think that gives us permission to be a little bit more creative or a little bit more bold." - Anna Dennis
“It's about figuring out where your particular resources are going to have the most impact. And while there may be great potential growth areas, if you're not equipped to do that, if you don't have the team or the resources at the time, I've found in this organisation and in other organisations I've volunteered for, it just chews up so much energy and leads to not a great result. And I think an example of that is, you know, videos. Video was a huge growth area on social media and still is obviously in different formats, and I've seen organisations just completely get swamped, putting all of their energy on tiny, tiny little budgets into video when, yeah, there is potential for growth there, but maybe that particular organisation's impact can be found somewhere else, better bang for your buck, I think.“ — Anna Dennis
“We wouldn't have known that except to do it, to get in and just give it a go. And one of the things I would share to you in comms often is I think, as you mentioned, Chris, people can feel quite daunted, but sometimes you just have to get started. It will not be perfect. When Anna and I, in preparing for this interview, went back to look at what we did in 2020. So cringe, some of it, it's like, Oh, I would never do that now, but you kind of don't know until you get into it and get stuck in.” – Bonnie Johnson
"Comms needs a little bit of a PR overhaul itself, especially in research. When we started, comms was kind of sequestered in the overall strategic plan of the academy… It's kind of a dirty word, like communications marketing. It doesn't necessarily have the gravitas of the other kinds of work we do." - Anna Dennis
“So when it began as a strat comms, the metrics were on open rates, mainly subscriber growth or decrease, our followers on social media, our website hits, and then podcast downloads as well. But over time, our policy team was then like, Hey, can you also tell us how many people have read that submission? Can you please tell us how many people have written in about X, Y, Z. So we're now collecting data that is much further beyond just the comms. So we are now collecting data on, people who are applying for grants with our organisation, the website page hits, as I mentioned, not just generic, like, Oh, this is how many are going to the website. But actually this month we did three posts on this particular event and this event page got this many. So we can track that back, and the data is quite rich.“ — Bonnie Johnson
On what makes a succesfull newsletter: "A really good subject line... Consistency… And it has to be well written…. Make it interesting, the content snappy." - Bonnie Johnson
"It's been so valuable for us to reach those broader audiences as we've spoken about. And I didn't understand that when I started working there. And when I was exposed to comms, I didn't really understand the potential beyond posting on social media and ticking those boxes." - Anna Dennis
"We couldn't just talk to the people who already knew what was going on. So I guess the process was for me in events, it was kind of looking at what is happening in the event space more broadly, maybe outside of academia, and trying to see like what the steps were to get us a little bit closer to those big conferences that draw in people from lots of different sectors and bring together different thinkers." - Anna Dennis
“But as you mentioned about the quick wins before Chris, you do have to get some of those on the board to just get going, I think a little bit and start to demonstrate the power of communications. And I'm pleased to report we have a slightly bigger team now because we have proved ourselves, I should mention to actually just for your listeners that the podcast did have contractors, like a sound engineer and an editor who were not in house. So we didn't have to do that as well, which is a huge task.“ — Bonnie Johnson
“You’re working with people who are researchers and scientists, and they want to see evidence for things. If you need more support or more resourcing, and you can show them something, I think there are a lot of people who are going to approach it very logically, and hopefully we'll get on board.” — Chris Pahlow
“One of the key messages I think people can take away from this episode is to really open your mind as much as you can as to what kind of activities you should consider, and which ones are going to be most appropriate for your impact goals and the different audience groups you want to engage with.“ – Chris Pahlow
“Improving the engagement or stakeholder management on behalf of an academic organisation, it has to be multi-faceted and a lot of really effective work can be done empowering other people within that organisation or other teams. It doesn't have to just be putting out press releases every week. “ – Chris Pahlow
"I think it's very easy to pick people in recruitment who tick the boxes and maybe have the exact skills you're looking for. But in my experience, I found it much more valuable to have people around who understand what the point is and who are thoughtful and creative. And I think skills can come afterwards." - Anna Dennis

16. Prof Greg O'Grady on moving from academia to startups

Today’s episode is a deep dive with Prof Greg O’Grady, a professor of surgery at the University of Auckland who has successfully made the transition from academia to the world of startups.
Greg is the co-founder and CEO of Allimetry. We previously had Hanie Yee, Allimetry's COO, on the show to discuss the nuts and bolts of research commercialization. Building on that discussion, Greg gives us a first-person account of what it was like to make the move, and shares invaluable insights about navigating the unique challenges and opportunities that come with bringing academic innovations to the commercial market.
If you're an academic contemplating a venture into the startup space, this episode is a must-listen!
Our conversation covers —
Challenges and strategies for academics transitioning to the startup environment
Communicating your vision clearly and persuasively to potential investors.
Early market validation to guide product development
Finding and defining your company's narrative.
Tailoring your messages to meet the specific needs and perspectives of various stakeholders.
Techniques to motivate and align your team towards common goals
Celebrating wins and maintaining morale within the team.
Adopting a quarterly approach to strategy to stay agile and responsive.
The benefits and challenges of having a co-founder.
Tracking metrics and keeping the team updated with regular progress reports
 
Find Greg online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-o-grady-b9520353
https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/greg-ogrady
https://www.alimetry.com/our-team
 
Find Chris Pahlow online:
• Chris Pahlow on LinkedIn
 
Credits:
Host & Producer: Chris Pahlow
Guest: Greg O’Grady
Edited by: Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers: Maia Tarrell, Michelle Joy
Music by: La Boucle and Blue Steel, courtesy of Epidemic Sound
 
Quotes:
"Do it early and then take it really seriously and do it thoroughly and get as many views as you can. People are often a little bit afraid that their ideas might get stolen... They just have a fear of doing it. And I'd say you've just got to stick your neck out and talk to as many people as possible, getting many views and really laser on the questions that maybe you don't want to ask you want to get thorough on the problems, the challenges, the weaknesses, you know, whether they really are problems." - Prof Greg O'Grady
"And once people are aligned on the mission, they know where we're going, we're going to climb Everest or whatever it is, then they're motivated, right. And, if they're lacking that vision and purpose then they're gonna just drift around… Everyone loves the mission." - Prof Greg O'Grady
"You can talk to something or you can show the vision with a picture images and slides. So where I talked about before we went through that design process, it was really enabling to have that vision that we could put it in pictures for people to really understand where we were going with this." - Prof Greg O'Grady
"Sometimes when you're in the thick of the engine room, you don't necessarily stand back and look Oh, we've made all this progress and it's not until you kind of have these opportunities to sit back at whether it's team functions or the company birthday or whatever it is other celebrations or events where you can stand back and think, Oh, this is all the progress we've made, and thank the incredible people that we've got with us make this possible." - Prof Greg O'Grady
"Good people want to know what the plan is, right, and where they fit into that plan and they want to be excited about it and really understand the big picture. That's what good people want, and those are the people who I'm lucky to work with. And so if you don't do it, things pretty soon start getting squeaky." - Prof Greg O'Grady

15. Elizabeth Davie on unlocking the power of play for researchers

Today’s episode is a deep dive with Elizabeth Davie, the coordinator of the University of Melbourne’s Complex Human Data Hub and an accomplished comedy performer, director, and teacher. Elizabeth shares her insights on the critical role of playfulness in research communication and engagement. She brings unique perspectives from her experience in clowning, improv, and stand-up comedy, emphasising how these art forms can transform workplace culture and enhance researchers’ communication skills.
Join us as we explore how playfulness can lead to more authentic, engaging, and memorable research presentations and why it’s essential to incorporate fun into our professional lives.If you have an important presentation, conference, or meeting coming up, this episode is a must listen! Elizabeth provides incredibly powerful and granular tips on how to be present and get in touch with your body during high stakes communications and engagements.
 
Our conversation covers:
The role of playfulness in professional settings and why it matters.
Elizabeth’s journey into clowning and how it influenced her approach to teaching and communication.
Practical tips for researchers to get comfortable with failure and use it to their advantage.
Techniques for becoming more present during presentations — including breathing, how to deal with nervous energy, and what to do right before you step on stage.
How to be playful about serious topics.
The importance of curiosity and how to foster it in your daily work.
Strategies for incorporating play and fun into research organizations to improve team dynamics and productivity.
Elizabeth’s insights on creating engaging and effective communication through humor and play.
 
Find Elizabeth Davie online:
Elizabeth’s Website
Elizabeth’s Online Stand-Up Skillshare Course
 
Find Chris Pahlow online:
• Chris Pahlow on LinkedIn
 
Credits:
Host & Producer: Chris Pahlow
Guest: Elizabeth Davie
Edited by: Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers: Maia Tarrell, Michelle Joy
Music by: La Boucle and Blue Steel, courtesy of Epidemic Sound
 
Quotes:
“We’re human beings and it’s easy, I think sometimes to forget that in a professional context because we have these important roles and skills and jobs that we need to do. But the more we can remember that, and I think play is our essential nature, like it’s such a core part of us that it’s a way of waking that up.” - Elizabeth Davie
“I kept getting up and failing and getting up and failing. But I realized it was something I really needed because there is something about clown of being comfortable with failure. So that is part of the training because often the funniness comes from failure or acknowledging it.” - Elizabeth Davie
“Clown is a physical state, not a mental state. So it’s working through the body. And the mind follows.” - Elizabeth Davie
“Fear is excitement without breath. So if you can add the breath, not just tell yourself you’re excited instead of afraid. You actually need to add the breath because then your body’s like, Oh, I’m actually getting the air I need. I can function.” - Elizabeth Davie
“The more you can approach everything as a sort of playful experience, not that you don’t take it seriously, but that you have a level of lightness. I think it makes things so much easier from my own experience of like gripping very tightly and white knuckling my life to like seeing that there are opportunities for play everywhere and there’s opportunities for that looseness and relaxation and that it actually facilitates more serious discussion and deeper kind of thinking and wider connections if you can access that curiosity and play.” - Elizabeth Davie
“Curiosity is definitely the word of the day. I would say if there’s second billing, it’s getting in touch with your body, whether it’s right before you’re about to present, whether you’re actually on stage and want to feel grounded and get into your breath and get out of your mind.” - Elizabeth Davie

14. Prof Bianca Brijnath on engaging with CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities

Today's episode is a deep dive with Professor Bianca Brijnath, the director of social gerontology at the National Aging Research Institute.
With over $24 million in research funding, much of it focused on cultural diversity, Professor Brijnath leads the Moving Pictures project, the largest website in the world for curating multilingual resources about dementia in various formats, from videos to comics.
Our conversation explores the critical importance of engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) audiences in research dissemination. Bianca also shares insights on the benefits of using different mediums and the significance of co-designing with your audiences to achieve meaningful and impactful communication.
Our conversation covers —
The importance of engaging with CALD communities
Benefits of co-designing with communities
Responding to feedback from different cohorts
Managing iterations in project development
How institutions can engage more with multicultural communities
Choosing the right medium for your message
Starting with the community for impactful communication
The significance of inclusive science and messaging
 
Find Chris online:
Chris Pahlow on LinkedIn
Amplifying Research Website
 
Find Prof Bianca Brijnath online:
Bianca Brijnath on LinkedIn
National Aging Research Institute
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
"Inclusive science is better science. It is more generalizable science, and it is more meaningful science, and it is more impactful at the end of the day." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"Science is failure, right? It's not like we all just woke up one morning, decided to do an experiment, and voila, by the end of the day, we'd all cured cancer and dementia and got on with our lives... And so I think, if you're going to be a scientist and a researcher, you have to be resilient.” - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"We want our work to have carriage and currency across all populations. That's true impact that we're creating. And so I think it's really critical for that reason to engage with different audiences and populations on that." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"Now, co-design is not easy. It is time-consuming and it takes a lot of effort, but you really do need to listen to people and what it is that they want. And in terms of the output that you are creating, you have to, again, think really what's going to be beneficial to the people on whose lives I'm trying to change." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"In the real world, we have to create content sometimes that cannot be totally bespoke. I wish it could, but it can't always be totally bespoke. Sometimes we do have the luxury of time and budget where we can do that. But when we don't, we have to find common ground that's going to take enough people on that journey of helping facilitate change. So that's what we do." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"What would you prefer? What do you actually want to see? How do you actually want the story to be told? And people will often give you that answer as well, which is really important. And sometimes they won't give you that answer, but when you reflect on it, you can kind of start to realize that there are other ways of doing things." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"Some of the questions that we ask in research are so culturally bound, right? And they kind of privilege certain kinds of knowledge, products, systems, and ways of knowing things that are not universal. And that in fact, they can put many communities offside. So we really have to think about, you know, inclusive science alongside inclusive messaging and dissemination." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"So it sounds like it's really important when you first get the group in to make the stakes clear and to, I guess, align them to the purpose of what you're doing. That don't worry about hurting their feelings. If we want this to make a real difference, we need to have your honest feedback. And that's such a great point. When they start to feel that ownership, they become champions of the project." - Chris Pahlow
"You want to get the messaging right, and then you can sort the medium out after that." - Prof Bianca Brijnath
"Science is failure, right? It's not like we all just woke up one morning, decided to do an experiment, and voila, by the end of the day, we'd all cured cancer and dementia and got on with our lives." - Prof Bianca Brijnath

13. Dr Yee Lian Chew on becoming "the Worm Lady" and comms advice for EMCRs

Today's episode is a deep dive with Dr Yee Lian Chew.
If you google her, you're likely to come across left-of-field descriptions like Worm Wrangler, Worm Nerd, and Worm Lady — because she's the head of the Chew Worm Lab at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute.
In addition to her day job, she's a passionate science communicator. She was part of the superstars of STEM  2022 cohort. She's appeared on ABC Science and given public lectures at great events like National Science Week. 
Today, we're going to be exploring Yee Lian's experience as an EMCR who's passionate about building communication skills, both in terms of comms and engagement efforts with the public as well as in terms of becoming a leader in research.
 
Our conversation covers — 
* Becoming "the worm lady"
* Tapping into people's curiosity
* Finding the joy in your science
* Defining and following your values
* Investing in being a better communicator
* Institutional support for science communication
* Communicating about basic research and the scientific process
* Making your science relatable
* Uniting your team
* Embracing feedback
* And a whole lot more...
 
Enjoy, and stay tuned for our next episode in two two weeks.
 
Find Dr Yee Lian Chew online:
https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/yeelian.chew
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yee-lian-chew-739440ba 
https://chewwormlab.wordpress.com 
 
Find Chris online:
https://www.amplifyingresearch.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispahlow
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
 
"I think you can have a playfulness in science. It's not all serious.  There are some things you do have to take extremely seriously. But, when it comes to it, like... It is fun."
 
"And, when I was trying to explain what I was doing, the one thing that they all remembered was the worms. I worked on brain health and ageing and that sort of stuff. But you know, it was kind of like, okay, well, that's cool and important and everything, but worms? And everyone would ask... The first question would be like, how are worms related to humans? I mean, I could go down the evolutionary tree and share a lot of Latin names that are very difficult to spell. So there is that evolutionary connection, but also, that kind of made me realise that there was something that was special and unique about what I do... I deeply believe that in the work that I do there's a great added value of using the worm model. So I kind of embraced that. And as time went on, like I met my fresh science colleagues in later years and they would be like, Oh my gosh, worm lady, how are you going? So I just kind of embraced that from that moment."
 
"You're so right about engaging curiosity. I think that is really key. I think in the end, all humans are curious. And in anything where we have to talk about science, whether it's, you know, writing a scientific article or talking at a public lecture, or even writing a grant application, we're all about  tapping into what makes people curious and what makes people want to know more."
 
"She had so many things going on academically and at home. And she said something to me like. it sometimes feels like you're just lurching from one deadline to the next, and that really stuck with me. I mean, she said this to me 12 years ago. It does remind me a lot about how we operate I think as humans in this society that we live in. We are just lurching from one deadline to the next, whether it be a professional deadline, or whether, you know, my bills are due, or I need to cook dinner tonight, or I need to go grocery shopping on Saturday. And I think one thing that we really need to keep in mind is it's not just about those things. It's about finding joy in the whole process."
 
"It's not like I had to pass a test and then suddenly I was a leader... I just found myself in that position. And so I think what made it clear to me was that I don't have all the answers just because I'm suddenly in a position of leadership. And so I needed a way to help me recognise when I don't have the answers and I still have to make a decision about things or guide people to make decisions... And so I needed to follow some set of guiding principles. And so that came the idea of these values."
 
"I think if you do follow your values,  in the end, it's never really a wrong decision for yourself."
 
"Being a good communicator actually makes you a better scientist in a lot of ways. I think  it helps you to firstly communicate your results to other people who are not in your field. And I think we've recognised that trying to work in a specific field only is not actually tremendously helpful because you need the input and the guidance from people who work outside your discipline, because they're going to come up with something which ends up being totally original and totally innovative. And if you can't explain what you're doing to people outside your field, you will never get that benefit."
 
"If I had to say that there's a set amount of time that you had to train to be a science communicator, I would say it's probably weeks or months. But the more important thing is that it has to be regular. It has to happen kind of more or less consistently. I think you can do some intensive training, but you should kind of keep onto the pulse of trying to, you know, visit a school every two or three months, or trying to get a spot on radio every quarter or something. Or, you know, every time that you want to publish some interesting scientific work, reach out to the media team and write a media release together with them. I think it's something that we can build on and constantly work on. It doesn't have to be all the time, but it should be in there as an element of what we do in our work. "
 
"Write a plain language summary on that staff profile page. And I found that so deeply helpful and something I could just do straight away... I feel like it is actually really useful for people who want to know who I am and what I do."
 
"Focusing on fundamental basic research is, I think, something that we could do more of in the public space. The second thing is to talk about the scientific process as part of that."
 
"So being able to talk to people about that and kind of clarify that we don't have all the answers and that part of the journey is trying to find the answers. And we can only give the best advice, you know, on what we know now. I think that helps people to understand how changes in policy work, that do affect their lives. How those decisions are ultimately made."
 
"For me, I find because I realise I don't have all the answers, what I would prefer to do was unite people behind a common goal. And that we all work towards that goal in different ways. And so people have the chance to provide input on that goal. And to say, okay, this strategy that we're doing, I think we could make it better in this way. Like, I love that. I think that's something that I really need because I don't have all the answers."
 
"I think it's important to be transparent about the pressures that are influencing those changes [within an organisation]. For example, we had funding to do a particular project. Okay, so that funding doesn't last forever. Right. So, we have commitments we have to make sure that we are spending that money wisely."
 
"One of the things is just bringing your whole self, and for example, if you talk about, you know, cultural differences, or even personal differences, differences in gender, sexuality, and all of those things. If you are not bringing your whole person because you feel like, I don't want to talk about this because it might make people feel uncomfortable, then there are other people who are going to think, oh no, I shouldn't embrace this part of my personality at work because it makes people uncomfortable. So I think I'm in a position now where I can talk comfortably about my life. I can say, Oh, you know, there's this  particular event of cultural significance, which is important to me. This is how I grew up and I'm going to talk about it to everyone. And so they feel that it's okay to talk about their own cultures as well. You don't have to pretend to be like a bland monoculture at work. You can talk about those things. So bringing your whole self is something that  people can do straight away, as much as they're comfortable."

12. Dr Mark Boulet on behaviour change

Today's episode is a deep dive with Dr Mark Boulet.
Mark is the Environment Portfolio Lead for BehaviourWorks Australia, which is based in the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, and it's the largest applied behaviour change research unit in Australia.
So far on this show, we've talked a lot about communicating and engaging with different types of stakeholders and audiences. But it's one thing to get people to understand your research, to know something new, but what if you want them to do something new? What if you want to actually change their behavior?
This is exactly what Mark and I discussed in today's episode. Our conversation covers —
Changing behaviour ≠ increasing understanding
A 101 breakdown of behaviour change
Changing the behaviour of a group of people
Being more targeted
Taking advantage of industry partnerships
How institutions can help
When to call in the experts
Enjoy, and stay tuned for our next episode. Amplifying Research's release schedule is now switching to every other week, so episode 13 will be released two weeks after today's.
 
Find Dr Mark Boulet online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-boulet-78a65846/?originalSubdomain=au
https://www.behaviourworksaustralia.org/team/mark-boulet
https://www.monash.edu/msdi/about/people/research/mark-boulet
 
Resources:
BehaviourWorks INSPIRE frameworkhttps://www.behaviourworksaustralia.org/blog/inspired-communications
 
Find Chris online:
https://www.amplifyingresearch.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispahlow
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
 
"I think even a researcher just taking a little bit of time to inform themselves around how humans tick can give them some insights around how they communicate their research. And that's really at the heart of it."
 
"One of the things that we often say at Behaviour Works, particularly when we're working with research partners or when we're teaching courses is, you are not your target audience. What motivates you is more than likely not gonna motivate the people that you're engaging with..."
 
"If you want someone to take up a behaviour, make it easy for them to do so. Make it attractive so they can see the benefits to themselves. Make it social and make it timely."
 
"It could even be being a little bit more target about when people may actually be paying attention to the thing that you're interested in... This is why a lot of groups talk to people about a particular issue on days, you know, biodiversity day or forest appreciation day or all that sort of stuff. It's because you know that you've got a greater chance of talking to people about your issue when they're actually paying attention to it. "
 
"We often talk about, we need to create culture shift within an organisation or we need to create a social norm around this sort of thing. You can't create a social norm within a day, right? A social norm is a cumulative thing. And I would say that's the same thing with amplifying research, right? It's a cumulative thing. And most of your guests, you know, when you listen to their stories, it's been repeated attempts to engage, and then as a result, they've had an impact, right? And it's been a big, exciting impact, but it's very rarely just, wow, they just got up one morning and thought I'm going to be really impactful, right?"
 
"Sometimes with these research partnerships, and suspect it's also when it comes to questions around communicating and amplifying research, we need to take our research hats off sometimes... And realise that the things that motivate your colleagues in the discipline, the things that motivate the reviewers of your papers, the arguments that you have and the things that make you get very excited at conferences are probably the things that are going to bore and annoy the people that are outside of your discipline."
 
"As a general idea, you know, even being a little bit more nuanced in how universities see and define impact could be helpful. You know, we have this sort of general expectation that we need to be impactful, but what does that mean? Is impactful a conversation article that you've had half a dozen comments on? Or is being impactful the fact that you've worked with a community organisation for two years and you've generated a number of useful reports for them? A little bit more nuance around how we understand and define impact within the university sector, and then obviously how we recognise it... I think the university sector and the research sector talks good game around impact. And yet still it's the traditional metrics of research income and publication that gets you promoted."

11. Amy Bugeja on embedding engagement in your research org

Today's episode is a deep dive with Amy Bugeja, Manager of Engagement and Strategy at the Contemplative Studies Centre at the University of Melbourne.
In 2019 the University awarded her the Excellence in Engagement award for the development of PsychTalks, the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences forum for ideas and discussion.
Our conversation covers —
The importance of engagement
Attracting donors
The importance of close relationships between researchers and comms/engagement staff
Using different formats/mediums for different types of people
Communicating your team's mission
Interdisciplinary communication and collaboration
The benefits of decentralising support teams
Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week's episode. We'll be releasing weekly for the first 12 episodes, and then switching to every other week to give us a bit more time to release some of the other exciting Amplifying Research projects we have in store for you.
 
Find Amy Bugeja online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-bugeja-0151412b
 
Contemplative Studies Centre
https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/CSC
 
PsychTalks Podcast
https://psychologicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/engage/psychtalks/podcasts
 
Find Chris online:
https://www.amplifyingresearch.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispahlow
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Emily Bird and Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
 
"It was really essential having some type of stakeholder management, engagement role at the helm of this because we're looking outside of the ivory tower where we're really trying to embed, our work actively in the community. So it's just not possible if you don't have that dedicated resource."
 
"Just have that little thought in the back of your mind of what would you do if you were given 10 million dollars?  How could you change the world that we live in for the better?"
 
"Putting yourself out there, doing as much media as possible. If you're not comfortable in front of the camera or doing really accessible public panel sessions, then write for the conversation or pursuit or find the different channels out there that are going to reach the audience that you want to reach, knowing your audience and who you want to communicate to is the most important thing."
 
"It's really important to be able to record these things in different formats for different people. Everyone's consuming media in such different ways these days, whether it's by podcast... Radio... Some people like to sit down and watch YouTube... Others just want to read a conversation piece or have that translated into something super accessible in maybe the Herald Sun or something like that. So really making sure you can get the breadth of audience, the largest breadth of audience as possible."
 
"So I guess allowing those science communicators or event managers, whoever it is you have working with you, the space to learn how to innovate, making sure they're getting professional development, making sure they're having time to talk with their colleagues so we can learn from each other."
 
"Look for slow news cycles, if you want to be pushing something out there into the more general realm. Ensuring that you have something that's really groundbreaking that you haven't offered to anyone else. and making really, really great relationships with those journos who are happy to publish things like that."
 
"The more I talk about this, I'm like, Oh my gosh, it is so much work for any one researcher to do all this. It is a ridiculous amount of work. But it is the model that we've found that's working in this new landscape that we're operating in."
 
"It's because the Centre is smaller that I really understand what is happening in all aspects of the Centre's research and education. When I had this similar role in psychology previously, even within psychology, there's so many different disciplines within that one discipline. And it ranges from basic science through to really accessible science, which makes it so challenging because there's just not going to be equity in the media coverage."
 
"We do speak really different languages and we're going to have so much impact if we can cut through the issues that might be associated with that, and find really beautiful, meaningful ways to work together across different disciplines."
 
"Even though I am a professional staff member, I am equal to my academic colleagues and we work hand in hand. We wouldn't be able to have the same impact if we didn't work together in such a great way."
 
"I could not do what I do so successfully if I wasn't so close to where the action was actually happening and building those relationships. And in a way, you know, I do feel for, those wonderful colleagues that we have working more centrally. Because, it must be so much harder to be able to build that trust."
 
"We're at a university. We're surrounded by experts. I've loved just being able to reach out to the school of journalism or the school of government and picking their ear on ways that I can learn about writing a white paper or whatever it is. We do have those resources within the university and it's just, everyone's so time poor and that, that is a real challenge when everyone's workloads are so high. But there's so many people out there who are so excited about their work that they're really, really happy to share their expertise with you as well. "
 
"So we're having to seed this work with investigative journalists. We're not journalists. We shouldn't do this work ourselves. We're going to leave it to them to tell the story from their perspective. and we can supply some of the expert commentary, but we're just sort of going to leave it to them to explore. And I think that's really important as well as, figuring out when you aren't the best to follow through with the type of engagement activity that you want to do and when it is actually left best with the people who do it really well."

10. Hanie Yee on commercialisation

Today's episode is a deep dive with Hanie Yee, an industry leader with over 23 years of international experience working in the commercialisation for biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. 
Right now, she's the COO of Alimentary, which is a digital health and diagnostic devices startup based in Auckland. And she's also involved in helping researchers get into the startup space. 
She's an investment committee chair of the MedTech and Surgical Committee for Return on Science. This is a national research commercialisation program in New Zealand, that leads the establishment of best practice to deliver new research to market from universities research institutes and private companies as well. On top of that and the many other amazing things she does She's a judge and mentor for velocity, which is the university of Auckland's innovation and entrepreneurship program...
 
Our conversation covers — 
* How commercialisation can lead to impact
* Defining your pitch and problem statement
* Talking about IP
* Finding common ground between you and your stakeholders
* The importance of authenticity
* Defining and talking about strategy
* And a whole lot more...
 
Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week's episode. We'll be releasing weekly for the first 12 episodes, and then switching to every other week to give us a bit more time to release some of the other exciting Amplifying Research projects we have in store for you.
 
Find Hanie Yee online:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/haniey
https://returnonscience.co.nz/hanie-shahpari-yee
https://www.alimetry.com/our-team
 
Find Chris online:
https://www.amplifyingresearch.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispahlow
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
"So if you start with current state, then the future or ideal state, the gap, and how you address that, and the uniqueness on your value proposition, then you've got a pitch, and you can take the audience with you... If you start with, look at what I've come up with, you haven't calibrated the room. You have no idea what people know or don't know or assume. Whereas if you set the scene by creating a calibration of, this is where we are today,  this is where everyone believes we should be, therefore here is the problem, and I'm going to articulate it well to you..."
 
"The chances are that if they're not doing it, they may have a really good reason. So you have to be sensitive towards that, right? So as a big company, if they don't have a product in X, but they have covered everything behind and everything after, then there may be a very good reason for that. A lot of the time it comes back to IP patents or whatever that may be that you are not aware of. But having that conversation and acknowledging and showing them that you have gone deep and looked at their portfolio with interest, with curiosity, actually signals that you care."
 
"Most companies, don't like to be threatened, but love people's interest in what they're doing. So it, it has to be come, it has to come across with an element of curiosity and interest like a problem solving, mindset, rather than, ha, gotcha."
 
"If you don't know about IP, you just have a really good solution or a service or an offering... Do speak to someone who understands it and you trust before going and speaking to that industry partner. Be it through a tech transfer office, be it through an IP firm, legal firm. Get some advice before you go and speak to them. Because that would be the first question that I would ask as someone in the industry from someone who comes and says, Hey, I've got something to talk to you. The first question I'll ask is, where is your IP at?"
 
"It really depends on who you're speaking with, and where their interests lay. What's that Venn diagram look like, right?  So you want to achieve these things. They want to achieve these other things. What's that overlap looks like?"
 
"The corporate VC, or a company, or an industry partner, would want something that grows with them. It has to fit their strategy. So you have to modify your pitch, your offering, something that takes that trajectory into the future... Versus if you're talking to a standard VC and they just want to fund this, but then they want to get their return in X amount of time, you need to show how that could happen if they were to invest in you... If you're saying technology, for example, works for surgeons and also for physicians. When you're talking to the surgeons, you have to talk in the context of hospital procurement systems, et cetera. If you're talking to the physicians, talk to them in the context of what happens in their day to day.  Understand who your audience is, where their problems are, where does that come from... And again, going back to the Venn diagram, where does that overlap? with what you want to achieve... And if you have more than one in the room, the Venn Diagram gets more circles. And that area might become smaller, and you need to emphasise exactly where that sweet spot is, that everybody wins. And make sure you come back to that and repeat that. People will hold information that they hear more than once... Start with it, end with it, and make sure you emphasise it a few times in the middle."
 
"If it doesn't change the bottom line, does it matter? There's been a lot of presentation I've seen that they said, Oh, it changes it significantly. Great. But does it matter to the doctor or the treating physician? Does it matter to whoever is at the end of this, the customer?"
 
"I had someone who was a very effective, salesperson, I would say, and they did beautiful pitches, but they never sold anything. They always asked the room to give them the top three reasons they think this,  technology would fail. That was their opening line. It was beautiful. Because you get everyone's biases out really quickly, then you know what you're dealing with."
 
"One of the things I'm going to go back to is be authentic. If you are pitching anybody or anything, be yourself, because the first thing you're selling is trust. The minute the authenticity is not there, the rest doesn't matter because it's very obvious. Most audiences pick on that very, very quickly, consciously or subconsciously and the rest goes away."
 
"Co-founders, there's a lot of research done on this, that when the times get tough, the ones that have co-founders have really weathered those a lot better than people who have been on their own or have, didn't have someone to share the load with."

9. Jacinta Bowler on how to be a journalist's best friend

Today's episode is a deep dive with science journalist Jacinta Bowler.
Jacinta has well over 1,000 articles published for outlets like the ABC, SBS Science, Cosmos, the SMH, and Science Alert... And they've also been published in Best Australian Science Writing in 2021 and 2022.
 
Our conversation covers — 
* Preparing for your interview
* Building an ongoing relationship with journalists
* Mitigating risks
* Writing about your work for a general audience
* How to approach different mediums
* And a whole lot more...
 
Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week's episode. We'll be releasing weekly for the first 12 episodes, and then switching to every other week to give us a bit more time to release some of the other exciting Amplifying Research projects we have in store for you.
 
Find Jacinta Bowler online:
https://twitter.com/jacinta_bowler
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacinta-bowler-ab3a64103/
 
Best Australian Science Writing 2023
https://unsw.press/books/best-australian-science-writing-2023 
 
Best Australian Science Writing 2022
https://unsw.press/books/the-best-australian-science-writing-2022 
 
Find Chris online:
https://www.amplifyingresearch.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrispahlow
 
Resources mentioned:
Adrian Smith (the "bug guy")
https://www.youtube.com/antlab 
 
Credits:
Hosted and produced by Chris Pahlow
Edited by Laura Carolina Corrigan
Consulting Producers Maia Tarrell and Michelle Joy
 
Quotes:
"So for me it's responding quickly. So if I send you an email in the morning, respond as soon as possible, as soon as you can, and tell me whether you can talk to me today or you can send me some responses."
"So in journalism we talk about the smart questions, where you ask questions that make you seem like you are really knowledgeable to the scientist,  and that's fine. Except the person who you are writing this article for hasn't read the paper, hasn't talked to the scientist, and so needs it to be much more simple than what I'd be able to get. So, although I've read the paper, although I probably understand this in more capacity than most people, I still need you to answer me in really simple ways because that's what the best quote's gonna be."
"You need to have descriptive language...  So maybe you tell a story about how the person who discovered citrate fungus, for example, was walking through the forest and then was seeing these frogs upturned in the riverbed, and they knew that upturned frogs meant that they'd gotten the disease. So you are trying to tell a story in the same way as you would a fiction story. You've got your intro, your middle, and your end. And throughout that you're keeping the reader interested with these interesting characters and these like descriptive languages of place. And that's what you would do  for these like longer features where science writing really comes to the fore..."
"It's similar to maths. Everyone thinks that they can't do maths, they don't have a brain for maths. Like you don't have a brain for writing in this way. I don't think that's true. I think really it is, you have to work on it. You have to get better at it. But most people can tell a pretty good story. They can probably write a pretty good story too."
"I think a lot of people in science just assume that you should use the jargon because that's what people have used before. But we actually did a study looking at lawyer speak, so the idea of why lawyers have this ridiculous form of writing that they do. And turns out lawyers don't like it. No one knows why they use it. It doesn't make any sense and it's really hard for anyone else to read. And so then it's like, okay, well let's get rid of that then." 
"So firstly, the thing you wanna focus on is what do you like doing? Are you a person that listens to podcasts all the time? Do you like the radio? Do you like watching tiktoks? Are you more of a Vox-style, longer video guy? Think about what you really enjoy listening to or consuming. And that is probably where you wanna start."