Peers’n’Pubs
Welcome to Peers'n'Pubs, taste of science's newest adventure in science accessibility! Our webinar series connects scientists and their discoveries with viewers like you, and teaches you a bit about scientific publishing along the way. Each webinar features a scientist [Expert] presenting some research [Scientific Paper] to a friend [Guest]. We're making complex science simple to understand, one scientific paper at a time.
Acknowledgements: We would not have gotten this project off the ground without the inspiration of our friends at RockEDU and their D4P project. Definitely go check their work out too!
Our next round of peer review: watch this space for upcoming events
Introduction: Our Origin Story…
Figure 1. Our Logo! A bubbling beaker pictured alongside a stimulating scientific paper. We’ll help you “digest” complicated topics, one bite at a time.
A bunch of scientists and science-lovers get together. We think, “Oh! A journal club for everyone!”
Then we do it. With you. Thought there’d be a punchline, eh?
We chose this name because peers are people who relate to each other, or it can mean to look closely at something.
Pubs can represent many things: scientific publications, the public, a pub… heh.
You see, we, me, you, scientists, anyone & everyone, are peers and part of the public. All of us should have access to scientific publications but they tend to be really hard to read...for all of us.
So… Welcome to Peers’n’Pubs! We can help you with that. And, you can help us with this.
Why should you care?
Figure 2. Carey expressing the complicated feelings around reading papers.
Listen, we know that sometimes science can come across as elitist, inaccessible and boring. But, science is for all of us. It improves our lives, advances the knowledge we need to improve our lives and, inevitably, will impact our lives and those around us.
Big stuff. Even though science is so ingrained in our lives, it isn’t very accessible. Even for scientists and experts, the jargon can be hard to get through, so they came up with journal clubs to help dissect scientific publications. Borrowing on that logic, we’ve done the same for you so you can be engaged and be involved.
Figure 3. A video to explain the basic process of scientific publishing. Animation by Ankita Patil, narration by Kristina Wright and PNP logo by Ben Prueitt.
Methods:
Take at least 1 scientist presenter, 1 stunning guest and 1 sparkling host. Control presentations were carried out to make sure all information is clear and understandable. For the event, mix host, expert and guest, then leave for 45 minutes until presentation is clearly observed. Add 5 minutes of trivia, followed by 30 minutes of audience questions. The event is complete once our presenter shares their happy/sad story about scientific publishing.
Figure 4. Schematic of a Peers’n’Pubs virtual event. Each event features an inquisitive Guest (left), an Expert presenting a scientific paper (center) and our Host (right).
Materials: Meet the team!
Figure 5. Portraits of the team and some of the papers they read. Featuring: Kristina, Parmvir & Danielle (top row) and Carey, Eric & Laura (bottom row).
Results: Enjoy Our Previous Events!
Discussion: Get in touch!
Would you like to present a paper for us? Do you have suggestions for our events?
Whatever the case, fill out the form below. We’d love to hear from you!