REMOVE THE JARGON TO SELL SCIENCE

The application of ST&I in society is a pre-requisite for socio-economic development. To be appreciated, ST&I must be well understood and its impact felt in the society. An important question posed by wananchi that science must answer is how science is going to address their challenges and improve their socio-economic status.

For a long time, Science articles and features have been misunderstood because of how they are presented.  Science marketing involves packaging Science in a language and format that is both appealing and easily comprehensible. This calls for development of effective communication strategies that take into consideration the target audience to enable the communication to be tailor-made to suit different audiences including policy-makers, younger generation, fellow scientists and peers.

Science communicators include the scientists and researchers involved in scientific work as well as journalists and reporters who fish for science stories and write on them.

The role of reporters and Journalists as science communicators is very crucial yet they pose a big challenge to effective communication as some of them lack training on how to communicate science and technology. Rather than informing they end up misinforming the audience. Scientific communication training for journalists will better their understanding of science concepts as well as provide background information for any feature they write on.

Together with training, I advocate for the establishment of Science- clearing houses to help Journalists authenticate what they write on Science. This may take the form of a Science- media liaison office in Research institutions, Higher Education Institutions and Government institutions involved in Science, Technology and Innovation policy. Institutions must be able to allocate enough resources in form of availing skilled human resource as well as continuous training their personnel in science communication.

Higher Education Institutions need to instill science communication skills in their students as a major component of the curriculum for post graduate level science courses to enable students to effectively communicate the results of their research work.

To gain public confidence and ensure accurate science reporting, we must unpack scientific facts, theories and principles without distorting the meaning. For science to find its way to the heart of the society, it must be un-coded to unravel its impact and application to socio-economic development.  In my opinion, the most critical aspect is to strive to make the connection or linkage between scientific ideas and new discoveries and how they can improve of the society’s day to day lives.

It is important to create more opportunities for dissemination of scientific knowledge, the simplest forums being baraza’s or science café’s where different scientific concepts are discussed and debated to remove any grey areas. We must also utilize and exploit the social networks to reach a wider audience through science blogs and websites.

Science communication is particularly important for information on policy making and agenda-setting. Vision 2030 strategic objectives include the need to enhance ST&I  awareness in order to develop a culture of creativity, innovativeness and a society that supports ST&I uptake and utilization.

Effective Science communication will create a transparent and open forum where the role of science in society will be clearly defined to enable society maximize its usefulness.