Three actual fossils of Sauropods in Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

Originally, the only thing I liked about Singapore was that they have a really nice pedestrian culture. That view changed last week when I visited this small country again for a science communication conference in NUS. They do have a great scientific culture, and it is reflected by the talks I had with several Singaporean teachers and professors at that event. I usually don't share the detail of any event I attended in my blog, but I feel the urge to share about this event, as I am acknowledged that many of my readers are young researchers - striving to be good communicators as well.


I heard this sentence over and over from speakers at the conference. Whether it is an orchid hunter from Taiwan, the director of Science Center Singapore, or the designer team of Nature, Cell, and Science journal from China. I feel I belong here - a community which is consisted of a bunch of people who appreciate art as big as we appreciate science. We call ourselves "science refugees" - people who are no longer interested in doing research but still have a great interest in science and want to communicate it to a wider audience.


Various speakers from museums or botanical gardens presented their works and approach to communicating science. Some also presented their approach to measuring the impact of their science communication works. A Representative from The Mind Museum Philippines (who is married to an astrophysicist) said that scientists often intimidate people when they mention their institution and try to make an impression that it is only them who know or can do a particular thing. This is what makes people often reject science as a part of their daily lives - be it consumption decisions, policy-making, or parenting. This is where the separation of science and daily decision-making begins. Science should be like music - it activates all neural networks in the brain, and it has become part of our daily lives.

Steve Pointing, Director of the Science Division and Professor of Environmental Studies at Yale-NUS College said that in delivering science to the public, scientists should present not the numbers but what they mean. We are laymen to everything - just that we have a certain degree of laymen-ness of everything. This mindset should be inside every scientist's mind so we can understand how the public perceives our science. We, scientists, have problems with overconfidence, don't relate to the public, jargon, and skewed demographic. Not all science is Western, said Rod Lamberts from the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science - so context also needs to be understood by scientists prior to making a communication strategy.

Science communication is often a multidisciplinary collaboration. If we talk about working with designers who are going to communicate our science, we have to ensure that they: know the science and understand science so that they will be able to explain the science. People from museums said that they always have a board that will approve the design matters before they hand it over to designers. Once they pick designers who will work for them, they will trust them. Science communication requires trust. Scientists need to build their trust in designers, and the designers need to trust science. Because, at the end of the day, it is the trust of the public that they must obtain.


I met two great people at the conference. A professor from Taiwan who also works for Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center, which ranks top over the world in terms of botanical collection (lots of them have been extinct in the wild), and the founder of Digital Naturalism Conference. They answered my questions with humility and excitement. They believe that science must be exciting and invoke people to do more. In Taiwan, Prof. Chia-Wei Li engaged with National Geographic and even made a movie about a collector in the botanic conservation center who only obtained a junior high school degree and was previously an orchid trader but turned to be a botanist - and botanical painter. He also initiated a movie screening which was followed by a book discussion and scientific talk to speak about the science behind the movie. And the Dinacon founder humbly answered that robustness is still a challenge in convincing biologists to support his idea to make technology in the field to support research in animal behavior. But I personally think that he nailed it in terms of making so many students in IT interested in biological science and fieldwork. Back in 2015, when I made a proposal for a hackathon - I was afraid to propose a hackathon for biological fieldwork and ended with agricultural fieldwork. He is the kind of person that makes me believe that the idea is not that bad.

Speakers from Europe or Australia mostly talked about their effort in making science a part of production, consumption, and regulation. In Malaysia, they wanted to increase the usage of science for decision-making and boost its personal usefulness. A fact in Israel: 90% of deaf-kid parents are not deaf and have no knowledge of hearing impairment or audiology. This is where scientists should be present. And that presence does not mean being an expert. A presenter from Australia emphasized how expert opinion - which is mostly used by the government in making an evidence-based policy, is not even evidence; it is still an opinion.

A Corner in ARTBALI 2018

Science Movement is happening across the world. In Japan, science café is spreading across the Nation along with a new approach in mixing science with manga. The number of fungi-manga exhibition visitors was significantly higher than the Darwin exhibition at the same museum. So, does science communication stop making the number of visitors to museum grows higher?

The goal of science communication is not to make people who don't know to know about something. Science describes things that need definition, and there are a lot of uncertainties in the science. We should not forget to communicate the uncertainty after we provide the definition to the public. Science communication is an ongoing process of enhancing excitement over scientific evidence in daily life - rather than just showing its complexity. The goal of science communication, then, is really context-dependent. For example, in Denmark, beer corporations funded a lot of science projects, including the Royal Academy - that is because they are aware that they need science to make their production more efficient, but also how to establish a wise drinking culture and consumption. Science communication becomes important to achieve that goal - and to show the government the best way to make regulations around beer drinking in the country. As Fischhoff (2013) wrote, the goal of science communication is not an agreement but fewer, better disagreements. And scientists have an obligation to communicate their science no matter harmful it is. Remaining silent is unethical in the world of science.

The fact that I am the only Indonesian attending this event brought me to an awareness that I need to spread the insight: arts and culture (and even religion!) are not enemies of science. Instead, they can be used as tools to communicate science to young generations and wider audiences. More and more museums changed their regulation of taking pictures - and added spots to take pictures for visitors so they will be more engaged with science. I want to have this kind of thing in Indonesia. When I visited ARTBALI 2018 last October, I really hoped that someday, great scientists in Indonesia would be willing to spend their time talking to these great artists to make science accessible and understandable to everyone. As Nancy Baron wrote for scientists: "An important part of becoming an effective science communicator is to stop talking to your peers."

On the other hand, I also want to see more and more artists be more interested in science. I am grateful to have a partner who does art for a living but also parks Darwin and Sagan's masterpieces on his bookshelf. When I visited Our Ocean Conference in Nusa Dua - an important conference in marine conservation and industry, I hoped more arts involved in so many communication tools used by NGOs and the government. These things, I believe, can foster logical thinking in our daily lives and help us build a greater civilization.

From now on, I'd proudly say that I am a science refugee whose mission is to make science prominent even more.

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PS. I'd like to express my gratitude to my office which provided me opportunity and resources to join the conference in Singapore. I am grateful to have this amazing job.