Tell us a bit about you and the Liston-Dooley Lab. Apart from researching how to keep the body’s immune response in check, you have also been working on improving equality of opportunity within science careers, communicating science to children through online games and books. What makes you want to update how scientific communication works today? Do you feel that there is much that people do not know about science as a field?
Science is building knowledge faster than any person can learn, so there is always more science to communicate. This project, however, was really about filling that gap in understanding what a scientist is. The pop media tends to portray scientists as solo geniuses, capable of tinkering around and coming up with insights other people just don’t have the innate ability for. That really isn’t how science works – anyone could become a scientist. Science is really just about training up your curiosity, learning a few tools, being resilient to failure, and following the data over your pre-conceptions. That’s it!
Tell us a bit about your own journey. You had never met a scientist and would probably have ended up as a truck driver too had you not been lucky enough to land a scholarship. Looking back, do you wish things were different for you?
Everyone makes mistakes in their own journey, I’d rather just look at making a better path forward. I talk to a lot of early career scientists who worry about making a detour in their career through the “wrong” choice. Over and over, what I see is that it is the detours that give you a unique perspective, and in science the ability to look at an old question from a new angle is incredibly valuable. So I say be willing to take a risk and embrace the odd detour in your journey!
If making it to college was not enough, you have touched upon class snobbery and the feeling of alienation that not many people speak about. Tell us how challenging it is and how did you overcome these difficult moments? Is it something you have seen several other colleagues from not very affluent backgrounds also facing?
I’m proud of being working class. For sure it led some people to dismiss me or look down on me, that is the point of class borders. But it is who I am, and I think it is actually a great preparation for being a scientist. Working at the very edge of human knowledge means floundering and flailing and believing the data when it tells you that you are wrong; over-confidence is the biggest risk in a scientist, while perseverance and humility are virtues.
What are the biggest challenges that plague the scientific community today? Jargon, for instance, is one that you have avoided in your books.
So many challenges! Funding is an obvious one. Investment in science generates more economic gains than the expenditure, but it takes time to reap the benefits. So even though it is a win-win situation, short-term pressures often stunt the growth of research budgets – you wouldn’t believe the advances that are being held back just by a lack of investment. We have a potential treatment for traumatic brain injury that is waiting for funding to allow us to move to clinical trials – it can be very frustrating!
Perhaps contributing to this problem is the increase in deliberate misinformation. No one can have a solid understanding of the breadth of science, even active scientists, so I don’t begrudge anyone having misconceptions or accidently passing them on. Unfortunately at the moment we have a serious problem of people deliberately spreading misinformation for political gain. Whether it is climate change, vaccination, stem cells, or any other topic, we are seeing a systematic effort to degrade the public’s ability to determine fact from fiction. In a very real way, it undermines the foundations of our technology-driven civilisation.
From children’s books to an online game and now a graphic novel, what do you keep in mind while evolving in terms of medium, language and message to reach out to a young audience.
The only way you reach someone is to go out and meet them where they are. Anything else is just preaching to the choir or screaming into the void. If you want to connect to someone, learn their language and enter their place.
Why did you decide to tell the stories of these 12 scientists? Was there a particular incident that triggered the thought? How do you think it can help more children consider science as a potential career, irrespective of where they are in life?
These stories were not hunted down, they were the 12 lab members of my lab at the time I wrote the book. I genuinely believe everyone’s story is interesting, so I try to learn about my team. My son is nearing the stage where he is thinking about careers, and of course he has a good idea of what a scientist looks like and how they think, but so many kids won’t have that opportunity. So I thought I could write the stories of my team members and share it with other kids his age.
Once you had the concept in mind how long did it take to collate everyone’s stories, put it down in words and as illustrations and get the book ready? How did the other scientists respond to the idea of seeing their stories become an inspiration for others? Were any of them apprehensive or were they all excited to share their personal journeys?
When writing about people you know well, it is probably faster to tell their story then it is to tell your own. Initially most of us were apprehensive – it is an insight into us as people, and normally we only write about our science. Putting a window into our hearts out for the whole world is daunting. However the feedback we have received has made everything worth it!
How has the feedback been for the novel? Any heartwarming responses from those who have read it?
We’ve had lot of great feedback from scientists, but what means the most to me is hearing from people who resonated with a particular story. For example I’ve heard from people who came through the foster care system, some of the most disadvantages kids in society, who read James’s story and felt uplifted by his success, and are now sharing it with the foster kids they mentor. Sometimes all it takes is one event during your childhood, just one time that you need the epiphany that people like you can succeed, to make a life take a different track.