Young Scientist Symposium: Let’s talk about scicomm

If you have ever struggled with communicating the technical details of your work to your family and friends at the dinner table, this event is for you! Hear from three scientists on the tools they use to make their research relatable, relevant, and riveting to others – whether it be through public speaking, comics, or journalism.

Also get to hear from six students on the environmental research topics they are pursuing under the Young Scientist Award.

This event is organised by the Science Communications and Outreach team at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions.

Registration for the event will begin at 1pm and the programme will commence at 1.20pm.

Speakers & Panellists:

Dr Law Yao Hua

Science & Environment journalist at

Law Yao Hua is an ecologist and journalist. Based in Malaysia, he co-founded in 2019 Macaranga, an environmental journalism portal focused on Malaysia. Yao Hua has written for Science News, Science, Mosaic and The Atlantic, and has produced radio documentaries. His awards include the One World Media Award for Print, the Sigma Award, and several Malaysian Press Institute Journalism awards. He also runs journalism workshops and seminars.

Dr Garfield Kwan (dialling in from California)

Director of and a Delta Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California Davis

Garfield is a first-generation undergraduate and graduate student, and completed his BS, MS, and PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. Garfield’s doctoral research focused on the skin, gill, and inner ear ionocytes of teleost fishes, and how they are capable of maintaining proper internal ionic and acid-base conditions despite external stressors. Garfield is currently funded by the CA Sea Grant Delta Science Fellowship to research and develop metabolic indices of Chinook Salmon smolts and juvenile Delta Smelts across the San Francisco Estuary. In addition, he will explore how environmental elements and isotopes passes through the gill and inner ear before being incorporated into the otolith structure, and determine whether otoliths can be used to deduce past hypoxic exposures. Altogether, Garfield seeks to optimized otolith-based tools for fishery management and conservation goals.

In his free time, Garfield works with fellow artists and scientists to communicate research using Squidtoons comics (www.squidtoons.com). Squidtoons has since been published as a children’s book (Andrews McMeel Publishing), incorporated into a textbook (Essentials of Oceanography, 11th edition, Pearson Publishing), and featured at aquariums (Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz, CA, USA).

Dr Neo Mei Lin

Senior Research Fellow at the in NUS

Dr Neo Mei Lin is a marine ecologist, whose research focused on the use of experimental approaches to studying the interactions of marine organisms with the marine environment. Mei Lin has been enamoured with the giant clams as her model species for the last 15 years and remains steadfast in her mission to champion for their conservation worldwide. Mei Lin is also an avid science communicator of marine conservation issues in Singapore. She believes that science needs to be accessible to the public for it to generate societal awareness and impacts. Mei Lin’s work has also appeared in the highly popular TED Talks – “The fascinating secret lives of the giant clams” has received over 1.2 million views! Most recently, she wrote a book titled "A Field Guide to Giant Clams of the Indo-Pacific" to share her love for this amazing marine megafauna.

Panellist:

Ms Chang Ai-Lien

Associate News Editor, Science and Health Editor at The Straits Times

Chang Ai-Lien is Associate News Editor of The Straits Times, and has a special interest in science, health and environment reporting.

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Host or Publisher NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions