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Neurotalk: improving the communication of neuroscience research

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 11, pages 61–69 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

There is increasing pressure for neuroscientists to communicate their research and the societal implications of their findings to the public. Communicating science is challenging, and the transformation of communication by digital and interactive media increases the complexity of the challenge. To facilitate dialogue with the public in this new media landscape, we suggest three courses of action for the neuroscience community: a cultural shift that explicitly recognizes and rewards public outreach, the identification and development of neuroscience communication experts, and ongoing empirical research on the public communication of neuroscience.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is based on NeuroTalk: Communication for Senior Scientists, a workshop held at The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada, 19–22 March, 2009 (co-chairs J. Ingram and J. Illes.). The support of Imperial Oil (to J. Ingram and M.A.M), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) CNE #85117 (to J. Illes), NIH/NIMH 9R01MH84282-04A1 (to J. Illes), CIHR and Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (to E.R.), and CIHR, CTV and a Globemedia Fellowship (to K.D.S.) is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank S. Lombera for research assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Judy Illes and Kevin D. Sauvé are at the National Core for Neuroethics, The University of British Columbia, 2211 Wesbrook Mall, Koerner S124, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2B5, Canada.,

    Judy Illes & Kevin D. Sauvé

  2. Mary Anne Moser is at the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, Northwest Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.,

    Mary Anne Moser

  3. Jennifer B. McCormick is at the Departments of Medicine and Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic and College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.,

    Jennifer B. McCormick

  4. Eric Racine is at the Neuroethics Research Unit, IRCM,110 Avenue des Pins Ouest, Montréal, Quebec H2W 1R7, Canada.,

    Eric Racine

  5. Sandra Blakeslee is a freelance journalist working from Santa Fe, New Mexico 87506, USA.,

    Sandra Blakeslee

  6. Arthur L. Caplan is at the Centre for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Market Street, Suite 320, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.,

    Arthur Caplan

  7. Erika Check Hayden is at Nature, 225 Bush Street, Suite 1453, San Francisco, California 94104, USA.,

    Erika Check Hayden

  8. Jay Ingram can be contacted through CTV at Daily Planet, Discovery Channel, 9 Channel Nine Court, Scarborough, Ontario M1S 4B5, Canada.,

    Jay Ingram

  9. Tiffany Lohwater is at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1200 New York Avenue, Northwest Washington DC 20005, USA.,

    Tiffany Lohwater

  10. Peter McKnight is at Vancouver Sun, Suite 1, 200 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3N3, Canada.,

    Peter McKnight

  11. Christie Nicholson is at Scientific American, 292 DeKalb Avenue, 3 Brooklyn, New York 11205, USA.,

    Christie Nicholson

  12. Anthony Phillips is at the Institute on Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), 2255 Westbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A1, Canada.,

    Anthony Phillips

  13. Elaine Snell is at the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, Snell Communications Ltd, Science, Medicine and Health, PO BOX 10461, London SW11 6ZJ, UK.,

    Elaine Snell

  14. Samuel Weiss is at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Health Research Innovation Centre – Room 1A10, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive, Northwest Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada.,

    Samuel Weiss

Authors
  1. Judy Illes
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  2. Mary Anne Moser
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  3. Jennifer B. McCormick
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  4. Eric Racine
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  5. Sandra Blakeslee
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  6. Arthur Caplan
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  7. Erika Check Hayden
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  8. Jay Ingram
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  9. Tiffany Lohwater
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  10. Peter McKnight
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  11. Christie Nicholson
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  12. Anthony Phillips
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  13. Kevin D. Sauvé
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  14. Elaine Snell
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  15. Samuel Weiss
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Judy Illes.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

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DATABASES

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Alzheimer's disease

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Judy Illes' homepage

The AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program

Data sets from Pew Internet and American Life Project

Demographics of Internet Users, Pew Internet and American Life Project

FASEB Washington Update

Internet Activities, Pew Internet and American Life Project

Society for Neuroscience Science Educator Award

The Brain from Top to Bottom

Twitter and status updating, Pew Internet and American Life Project

Wellcome Trust Broadcast Development Awards

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Illes, J., Moser, M., McCormick, J. et al. Neurotalk: improving the communication of neuroscience research. Nat Rev Neurosci 11, 61–69 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2773

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