In April 2020, a group of passionate scientists from our University launched LIVE with Scientists, a non-profit initiative with one mission, to make science accessible to everyone.

They address the critical need for equality, diversity and inclusion in science communication by delivering content through a variety of methods to engage diverse groups in the wonder of science. They hope to reach out to audiences regardless of time, space, commitments and circumstances.

Since their launch, LIVE with Scientists have established their own successful website; released six hands-on activities for families and primary school children; published 20 blog posts; created over 75 bite-sized scientific messages and 20 videos featuring talks with scientists, which have had more than 2,000 views. They are particularly proud of their co-produced resources addressing the experiences of autistic individuals which have been picked up by Axia ASD (a service provider for adults and children with Autism).

Their successes haven’t come without challenges. Ayse Latif director of LIVE with Scientists said: “One of the biggest challenges was drawing in engagement through social media. Our first survey post reached only a handful of people, over the age of 40. To overcome this we created a presence on Instagram, Twitter and Youtube and have learnt to customise our material according to the specific platform. We’ve now gained more followers and are engaging a much wider range of people as a result.”

“We’re also making sure we embrace equality and inclusion throughout our programme. Whether it be giving PhD students the opportunity to talk about their research; working on panels with Autism@Manchester; or establishing collaborations with inclusive networks such as ScienceGrrl, 1 Million women in STEM, Black in Cancer…we want to ensure that we are representing all types of people in science.”

To mark their one year anniversary this April, LIVE with Scientists will be celebrating their main motto “Science is for everyone”. They’ll be hosting a series of online events during the month focussing on the impact that the public has and continues to have on research and highlighting citizen science projects that everyone can participate in!

As part of the online events, LIVE with Scientists are challenging researchers to get creative and get involved by describing their research by using Emojis via Twitter using the hashtag #LwSEmoji (between the 5-9 April).

Check out their website for more information on how to get involved.