How to communicate your research to anyone

It’s one thing to present your research to other academics, who share a similar level of passion for and expertise in your field. You can use technical language and complex equations, and you’re unlikely to need to spend much, if any, time explaining the basic principles that your own work is based on.

But what about presenting your research to a non-academic audience? That brings a whole new set of challenges and demands a particular level of adaptability. You don’t want to confuse them if they’re not familiar with the technical aspects of your field, and you don’t want to lose their interest by going on about things that aren’t relevant to them. But at the same time, you don’t want to avoid talking about your research – it’s an excellent way to inspire people, to get them interested in concepts that are still being developed and refined, and to inform them of how these concepts might impact and benefit their lives in the future.

• Get the word out: four ways to communicate with non-academic audiences
• Tips for sharing research findings with diverse audiences
• Researchers: fight back against your struggle with self-promotion

This is something I am especially passionate about, and during my academic career I have used a range of techniques when sharing my research with non-technical audiences. Whether it’s a YouTube video or blog post that’s accessible to the general public, or an in-person talk at a school or university, I adapt what I say and how I say it to suit the audience, their (presumed) existing knowledge and their level of interest in my field.

Put it in context

One of the first things I do is explain the context of my research. Where did it all start? What ideas came before mine? As researchers, we build on the insights and discoveries of those who came before us; we “stand on the shoulders of giants,” as they say. So, surely it would be better for a non-academic audience to first learn about the Big Ideas that those giants pioneered, instead of being told, without much context, about the niche concepts that I am researching. 

One way I like to do this is to talk about the history of those ideas and the people who developed them. Explaining the big picture is often a necessary step towards helping the audience understand my own work. So why rush it? Give them time to appreciate these foundational concepts.

By talking about the history and people behind the Big Ideas, I can also start to build a narrative or story into my presentation, and that, in turn, helps to keep the audience’s attention. This is particularly important, I think, when speaking to people whose attention may be harder to capture – a group of pupils who were required to attend a school event, for example. I want them to want to listen to me, not feel obliged to do so out of politeness.

Gamify to engage your audience

Storytelling is not the only way I go about keeping my audience engaged. I also like to get them involved in some way, to make them feel part of the presentation by making it interactive.

I find puzzles and games to be particularly effective. For example, I like to talk about the fundamentals of optics using a puzzle involving a farmer trying to help a cow that got stuck in a canal. 

Alternatively, if the situation allows it, I let the audience form pairs and play games against each other. A simple game could involve starting with a number of counters on the table, with the players taking turns to remove either one or two counters at a time. The player who takes the last counter wins. After a few rounds, I ask them if they can find a strategy that will guarantee a win. Formulating a strategy naturally leads to mathematical concepts – in the game I just described, the key is to keep track of whether or not the number of tokens on the table is divisible by three.

Another example that’s particularly relevant to a school audience is to get them solving a problem that, on the surface, seems more complex than what they are used to. For example, a geometry problem that can be solved with trigonometry in the curriculum, but with a more complicated set-up than they may have come across before. The end goal is to find a formula for a certain angle.

My strategy here is to ask questions that allow pupils to make a link with the curriculum (for example, “Do you know any functions that link angles and distances?”, or “Can you spot any special triangles in this drawing?”). Such questions allow them to think of good mathematical tools for the task at hand, without putting them under pressure to solve the problem on the spot.

What these examples have in common is that they focus more on problem-solving, on the process of figuring out a solution, than on the solution itself. If my audience can appreciate how a mathematical concept works in practice, this is a great way for them to better understand my research and other aspects of the wider field. And who knows? I may have just inspired the next generation of researchers.

Mats Vermeeren is a research fellow and mathematics lecturer at Loughborough University.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.

This video will cover:

1:11: How to tell a story

2:52: Understanding your audience’s prior knowledge

3:53: Engage your audience with interactivity

Hello, my name is Mats Vermeeren. I’m a research fellow and lecturer in mathematics at Loughborough University. My research sits at the intersection between mathematics and physics. It involves some of the abstract structures that underpin many of the equations used in physics. 

I also enjoy sharing my passion for my field with a wider, non-academic audience. That can take many forms, such as written pieces, YouTube videos or in-person talks. 

Let’s say I’m preparing a contribution to a science festival that aims to deliver talks on the latest scientific research in a format that requires no prior knowledge. That’s a lot to ask, and I want to take you through my thought process when I try to come up with a contribution that fits this mission statement. I’ll talk about three main things: telling a story, knowing your audience, and keeping them engaged. 

When I’m delivering a presentation, I think my role isn’t just to talk about my field, it’s to tell a story. And there are many places where I could start my story, but the best places to start are usually quite far removed from my own research. As researchers, we build on the insights and discoveries of those who came before us. So, before I can even consider discussing the niche topics that I am researching, it’s important to talk about the big ideas that underpin those concepts, to establish some context and history. In story terms, to do world-building.

There are many other ways to build narrative elements into a presentation. You could centre the story around the future challenges and potential impacts of your field, or it could involve a fictional character in a far-fetched situation. For example, I like to talk about the fundamentals of optics using a puzzle where a farmer needs to get to a cow that got stuck in a canal. Whether real or fictional, serious or absurd, telling a story is one of the best tools to keep an audience engaged. 

I usually try to focus my narrative on one or two big ideas, and only at the very end do I let the story continue towards my own research. That can be as short and simple as saying “My research is about how Big Idea X connects to Big Idea Y”. The last bit may be what I’m most excited about, but to the audience, everything will be new, the big ideas as well as the new insights. Except – did I just make a sweeping assumption about what the audience already knows? Effective communication always depends on understanding the audience – their prior knowledge, as well as their attitude towards the subject. 

At a science festival, the audience actively sought out the event, so it’s reasonable to assume that they will have an interest in science and some previous exposure to popular science. But I shouldn’t assume that they have any formal science education. 

That’s a bit different from a talk in a school, for example, where the audience’s knowledge will be more uniform, linked to the curriculum, but it may be challenging to capture the attention of a group of pupils who are required to attend. 

There’s some good advice that applies regardless of the audience – using simple and inclusive language, building in a compelling narrative and making things interactive. But the way I implement these strategies depends on the audience. I mentioned interactivity just now, and one of the best ways to keep your audience engaged is to get them involved.

 To get a conversation started, I like to ask questions that don’t just have one right answer. In the puzzle with the cow, I don’t lead with the question of what the best possible course of action for the farmer is. But I ask: “What would you do in the farmer’s situation?” 

I find that the most difficult part of interactivity is to steer the conversation while keeping a positive attitude. I don’t want to tell anyone their answer is wrong, so I always try to find some positive aspect to comment on first, before explaining, if necessary, why it wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for. There’s a bit of an art to conversations like this but I find that even if they don’t go perfectly, they often help to build a positive atmosphere and to keep the audience engaged. 

Think about who your audience is, which aspects of your field are most relevant to them and how you can present all that with a compelling narrative.