Institutional
Science Communication
& Social Media

Dr Achintya Rao

achintya.rao@uwe.ac.uk

Communicating Discoveries

About me

Hi! 👋

  • Science Communication and Engagement Manager, COALESCE (based at UWE)

  • Science communicator with 12+ years of institutional scicomm experience, largely at CERN

  • Occasional freelance science journalist, mostly for Physics World

  • 👉 a-ch.in/ty-a (or achintyarao.in)

Education

  • BSc (physics), St. Xavier’s College, Bombay

  • MA (science journalism), City University London

  • PhD (science communication), UWE Bristol

Career

  • Science Content Writer: Zeus Learning, Bombay (eight months)

  • Intern: BBC Radio Science Unit; The Telegraph; Science Magazine (during MA)

  • Science Writer and Communications Officer: CMS Experiment, CERN (7.5 years)

  • Science Writer and Web Editor: CERN (3 years)

  • Freelance journalist: Physics World (now and then)

  • Writer and editor: Geneva Solutions newsletter (three months)

  • Community Manager: The Alan Turing Institute (>1 year)

  • Science Communication and Engagement Manager: COALESCE project, at UWE (current role, since mid-2023)

  • Web Developer: Fluid, University of Cambridge (six months) – scientific storytelling

Institutional science communication:
cultures clashing?

Defining “institutional
science communication”

How do we define it?

  • Based on what we are not doing

  • Everything under the sun

  • “All” audiences ≡ vague, undefined audience

  • Internal audiences vs external audiences; themselves varied

  • …

What kinds of institutions?

  • Research laboratories

  • European projects

  • Nature charities

  • Universities

  • Science centres

  • …

Scope of science communication

  • Share latest research

  • Celebrate milestones

  • Attract funding / donors

  • Engage with policy makers / government representatives

  • Recruitment (current and future)

  • Engaging with education

  • …

Roles in institional
science communication

Writing and editing

  • News and updates

    • For whom?

  • Blog posts

    • By whom?

  • Press releases

  • In-house publications

  • Reports: versions for different audiences

  • Scripts and captions

Multimedia

  • Photography and photo editing

  • Filming and video editing

  • Podcasts

Live events

  • Press conferences

  • Live streams of talks (technical or not)

  • Interactive Q&A sessions

Visits and on-site tours

  • Donors / potential donors

  • Press

  • School groups

  • Dignitaries

  • Wider public

Social media for institutions

Caveats

  • I have never used TikTok!

  • I miss the old Twitter

  • I have strong opinions on social media and ethics

    • (slight understatement)

Expectations

  • Broadcast only

  • No reacting / re-sharing unofficial accounts

  • Use platforms with existing audiences

  • Collaborate with partner institutions only

Opportunities

Scientists and social media

  • What motivates them?

  • What gets in their way?

    • Language? Culture?

  • Opportunities for development

    • Who prefers which platform?

    • Are we excluding people based on assumptions?

My lessons

How to embrace your role

  • Trust yourself; in most situations, you might be the expert

  • Earn trust; this happens gradually

  • Stand up for your principles, but gently if possible

Questions?



📧 achintya.rao@uwe.ac.uk

🕸️ a-ch.in/ty-a

🐘 @RaoOfPhysics@scholar.social

🦋 @achintyarao.in

 

talks.achintyarao.in/2025/inst-sci-comm