Team:Exeter/Inclusion
Inclusion
One of our main goals during the project was to ensure that our work could be accessible to a large range of people, no matter what age, educational background, gender or marginalised identity. Stereotypically, scientific research is created with the mindset of purely presenting to fellow scientists however we wanted to produce an open and inviting way of showing our research to the wider community. Science shouldn't just be for the specialists!
All Learning Difficulties
10% of the world population has dyslexia and with that in mind we wanted to create educational posts on our social media that could be easily read and are accessible to all learning difficulties. By using dyslexia friendly font as well as white writing on dark backgrounds, it not only helps with the clarity of the posts but also keeps it clean and consistent so that information is not jumbled up and difficult to comprehend. We used language which is suitable for anyone to understand, no matter the educational background, by removing jargon and discipline specific language. We also supplied alternative text within every social media post to assist the visually impaired community. This is important as recognition tools that read out what’s on the page refer to the alternative text to describe images.
All Ages
Science should be for all ages and so we set about targeting each age group using demographically appropriate techniques. We wrote a children’s book to help younger generations become exposed to the ideas of science early on, specifically biology and genetic engineering. Representation of marginalised groups is a huge downfall for most products advertised for children and so to improve inclusion we made sure to include a range of identities such as a character in a wheelchair, a Black female scientist, and a non-binary child. We wanted to show that anyone can be celebrated as a scientist.
To see more of our work on diversity in science please visit our Education Page!
By using social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, to post educational infographics we displayed our research to the age range of between 18-30. We created surveys for our audience on social media, which ensured that people understood the message and research we were trying to present. The feedback we received allowed us to adapt to the age ranges and scientific experience of the demographic to make certain that everyone viewing our content would be able to appreciate it.
Feel free to check out our Instagram postshere!
Educational videos also allowed us to interact with students in a fun yet informative way as well as industry experts that may not have a background in science. To see an example of one of our educational videos give our Education Pagea visit! Or to see more of what we have done visit our YouTube Channel!
All Genders
As a majority female research group, we had the unique perspective of what it's like to be a woman in the world of science. With this view we were determined to not be biased in role allocations, ensuring that traditionally male/female lead jobs were assigned to both genders. All our teams are a balanced mix of both women and men which not only benefits the team members with new experiences in each of the sectors, but also presents new ideas and outlooks on the potentials of the project.
