Research funders, governments and institutions are increasingly aware that modern research depends on researchers being able to work across fields, explain their ideas clearly, and collaborate in complex environments.
Over the years, working with scientists and researchers across Europe on science communication skills, I’ve noticed how often explanations become clearer once researchers start somewhere slightly earlier in the story.
Researchers are not learning a single technique. They are learning how to adapt explanations to different contexts and audiences. And that kind of flexibility usually develops gradually, through experience.
Communication training is usually framed as helping researchers explain their work more clearly to others, but something interesting often happens during the programmes that we run: researchers frequently report that the process of explaining their work helps them understand it differently themselves.
In many ways, communication training is less about teaching new techniques, and more about helping researchers notice how their explanations sound to people outside their field.
Alongside providing excellent resources for communication, how often do we create structured opportunities for researchers to practice these skills together?