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Networking

There is a broad community of science communicators that you can connect with through community engagement opportunities, social media, and conferences.

Engagement opportunities for AABA members

• Skype A Scientist has a database of thousands of scientists and helps them connect with classrooms, families, libraries, scout troops, and more all over the globe! They give students the opportunity to get to know a real scientist and get the answers to their questions straight from the source. AABA members can sign up to connect virtually with classrooms through Skype a Scientist.
• Sausage of Science is a podcast supported in part by Human Biology Association, a vibrant nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to supporting and disseminating innovative research and teaching on human biological variation in evolutionary, social, historical, and environmental context worldwide, and the American Journal of Human Biology. It is hosted by biological anthropologists Cara Ocobock and Chris Lynn. They focus their efforts on interviewing graduate students and early career scientists, both to give them experience with the podcast format and to highlight their work within our field. AABA members can offer to be featured as a guest on Sausage of Science
• The Clergy Letter Project is an endeavor designed to demonstrate that religion and science can be compatible and to elevate the public discourse around this issue. AABA members can volunteer to serve as technical consultants to clergy members who have questions about the science associated with all aspects of evolution.
• 500 Women Scientists has 500+ pods which are based in specific geographic locations and open to any women and gender minorities who support the mission and goals of 500 Women Scientists. The pods connect young women and gender minorities who are interested in STEM, equity, and justice with each other and with potential mentors.

Social Media

You can connect with the AABA on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Please consider adding these popular hashtags to your posts on social media: #SciComm, #SciEngage, #SciCommJobs #PhysAnth #AABA #Primatology

Online Communities

• NPR SciCommers is “a community of scientists and engineers that includes undergrads, graduate students, post docs and faculty interested in improving their science communication skills.” “The NPR Scicommers team has begun several initiatives to help Scicommers become better connected with each other, develop science communication related skills and advise on career development.”
• “The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) works in cooperation with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program to build and advance the informal STEM education field. We do this by providing infrastructure, resources, and connectivity for educators, researchers, evaluators, and other interested stakeholders.”
• The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) is a national non-profit organization that supports a community of teachers and learners in all sectors of STEM education (k-12, undergraduate, informal, and graduate). Through professional development institutes, topical symposia, materials, workshops and mentoring activities, we help educators in and outside the classroom improve their educational practice by connecting STEM learning to real-world issues of civic importance.
• InformalScience.org is a central portal to project, research and evaluation resources designed to support and connect the informal STEM education community in museums, media, public programs and a growing variety of learning environments. The website is operated by the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), an NSF-funded resource center for the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program.

Conferences

The conferences listed here are partly or entirely focused on science communication and engagement.

• The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting includes a communicating science seminar (hosted by the Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology) each year. Each meeting also hosts many individual presentations and additional symposia on science communication and engagement with educators, policymakers, and the public.
• The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) hosts events, webinars, regional meetings and an annual conference.
• The Inclusive SciComm Symposium “is a global movement to shift the traditional paradigm of science communication toward an approach that centers inclusion, equity, and intersectionality. Although a growing number of people are committing themselves to inclusive scicomm, this movement is in its early stages, and is evolving rapidly. The biennial symposium, which will be held virtually this year, is an international convening of practitioners, trainers, researchers, educators, funders, and others who work across diverse disciplines and settings to prioritize inclusion, equity, and intersectionality in all forms of science communication.”
• The Communicating Science workshop for graduate Students (CommSciCon) “is a series of workshops focused on the communication of complex and technical concepts organized by graduate students, for graduate students. ComSciCon attendees meet and interact with professional communicators, build lasting networks with graduate students in all fields of science and engineering from across the US and Canada, and write and publish original works.”
• SciTalk “Sci-Talk is an initiative to expand the influence and impression of life science research articles to broader audiences globally. With “FREE”-to-access, audio-visual content that allures audiences and speakers from around the world, we provide FREE dynamic digital platform for all the budding investigators/ scientists to share their research work (published/ unpublished), viewpoints and for audiences (scientific/ non-scientific) to access pioneering research.”
• Science Talk “Science Talk is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower and inspire the science communication community to expand their communication potential and affect the world. We promote responsible practices in science communication, facilitate discussion and exchange of ideas, enable networking, and foster public engagement.”