UCSC researcher participates in a podcast to disseminate science

It is a multidisciplinary work that unites different professionals in the area of ​​science, communications and education, which will be disseminated through Spotify.

Jean Pierre Molina Medina, Journalist.- The advance of the fake news and the need to deliver reliable information was what motivated Dr. Valeria Palma in the idea of ​​creating a space that brings together the sometimes complex scientific research. “As a citizen, I used to complain about the ignorance that exists regarding certain issues. However, when people asked me how can I find a reliable source of information? I could only think of scientific articles (papers) which are not written to be understood by the majority of people”, stated Dr. Valeria Palma.

Thus, at the end of last year, Dr. Valeria Palma together with Professor Carlos Zamora, both belonging to the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC), participated in an instance organized by Puerto de Ideas in collaboration with ACHIPEC. At that time, they won the project that aims to bring science closer, through a conversation with a scientist telling the generation, objectives and results of some published research.

From this, at the end of April of this year, Dr. Valeria Palma traveled to Antofagasta, in an activity that intended to disseminate the importance of science communication, to Journalism students of said house of studies. “In that talk, I talked with students and professors about the importance of scientific communication, how to exercise it effectively, and about how important language is in that communication,” she stated.

After this approach, the idea arose to unite both institutions in the production of this podcast, which seeks to premiere during the first semester of 2023. “The idea is to make this podcast that explains what is written in the paper, hand in hand of its own author. Many times scientists carry out a study that is written there, but neither the population nor the businessmen who could support or require this idea are aware of it”, commented Dr. Palma.

The podcast will be carried out together with the director of the Journalism program at the Universidad Católica del Norte, María Constanza Castro, the academic from the same University Mauricio Enrique Matus Barraza and Dr. Valeria Palma, who will participate as a scientific advisor.

“We hope that the podcast will be carried out as a conversation, with guidelines included. The idea is that we scientists stop being isolated with our more technical language and that we explain how an investigation is born, the one that arises through observation ”, he added.

The collaboration will allow offering a greater diversity in terms of the topics to be discussed, in this opportunity more focused on astronomy and marine sciences, among other topics. In addition, there is the idea of ​​decentralizing knowledge and scientific dissemination, by uniting two institutions located in the north and south of Chile.

The first chapter is intended to be released in mid-June and the idea is to publish two episodes a month, until the first season is completed.

Finally, the project has a strong component linked to multidisciplinary. “I think it’s good that we have general knowledge and that we can apply it to our investigations. The reality is that one cannot be an expert in everything, and if you want to do something good, you have to open up to interdisciplinary collaboration. In the investigation and dissemination of it, we must all be colleagues, not see each other as competition”, stated Dr. Palma.