“You’re a scientist too?! Phew!”
It’s a comment I get a lot from the scientists I work with to produce content, reports and synthesis pieces, or communication strategies, and from the scientists I interview for work I’m creating for others.
It’s a comment that, quite frankly, took me by surprise at first. After all, there are science writers out there who don’t have a PhD but still cover science-based stories really well.
So I started asking some of them – why does it matter that I’m a scientist? Here are five things I’ve learned:
They have a greater level of trust in the work I am doing. Even if their field is not remotely related to my own scientific expertise (marine ecologist and biologist), this is true.
They feel safer talking to me because they feel I understand where they are coming from. We’re all scientists, after all.
Scientists I’m interviewing to put together a case study or user story for a company whose products they’ve used in the pursuit of science trust that the content will value their work. It won’t just be a marketing piece that misses the point.
Scientists that I interview feel more valued by the organisation/business I’m doing the work for because they are working with a scientist.
They have confidence that the organisation/business I’m doing the work for is not peddling misinformation or spin..