Naoki Namba

The importance of science communicators has long been recognized, as science is done for the benefit of society and must be developed with the understanding and support of society. The reason why communicators are necessary is that professional communicators can convey information more effectively and efficiently than scientists themselves can communicate to the general public by mediating between the two.

On the other hand, understanding of the work is not as widespread, and it can be said that professionals themselves do not have a complete picture of what kind of people do what kind of work and what kind of organisations they can develop their careers in.

The participants (registrants) for this forum include not only science communication practitioners, but also a number of doctoral students and early career scientists. This panel discussion demonstrates the possibilities for these people to continue to be involved in science communication, and to create an atmosphere in which everyone can work together to improve the status of science communicators. In the discussion, the speakers share their own career paths, daily tasks (past and current), challenges, future goals, and advice for those passionate about science communication.

Expected outcomes:

• Participants will understand the many possibilities of science communication in different environments and gain perspective on their own future careers.
• Participants will confirm the importance of science communicators and work together to enforce SciCom industry.

Naoki has been a science communicator since 2002, and has worked with a medical publisher and a research institution before joining Hokkaido University where he now leads the international public relations team. His primary interest is content creation.