This week on Papa PhD, I’m bringing you Wilf Nelson. Wilf is a PhD researcher at the University of Bigmingham in the UK and he is the host and producer of the Watercooler Neuroscience Podcast. During our conversation, Wilf shared his passion for science, for science communication, and for podcasting. And if you listen to the end, you’ll hear what advice he has to share as a PhD researcher turned entrepreneur.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The main goal of science communication
- The difference between talking science within academia and in the context of public engagement
- The inner workings of content creation and of podcasting
- Why you should get involved in entrepreneur groups in university and in graduate school
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Wilf Nelson is a neuroscience PhD who now runs a media company that produces a number of shows on the brain, talking not only about what the research finds but also teaching their listeners to understand HOW the research is done.
Thank you, Wilf Nelson!
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Wilf's pearl of wisdom:
“David: In your vision, why is it important for some proportion of scientists to become science communicators in more of a formal, in kind of a high quality way?
Wilf: I can explain it very simply, you are paid by public money. That means the public pay your bills and they have the right to know what you do. Or they, in a democratic society, can shut you down. That’s it. That is the fundamental basis. If you take their money, if you take tax payer money and are not capable of explaining to the public what you do on a level that they can understand, because I should make an aside – say that somebody chose to be an accountant, right? They chose their formative years to spend learning finance and accountancy. You spent it to learn to be a biologist. They are no lesser because they didn’t do your degree. You have to explain it in a standard that they can explain, because you are the one with the privileged education to be able to.”