The 1st Science Communication Webinar
This is a report/summary of the 1st Science Communication Webinar hosted by CDSFR. (Not every content is included). It was our first ever event, however, it was a great success thanks to everyone who attended. We would like to thank Dr. Zaima for supporting starting this project and being a guest speaker for this event, high schools that displayed our posters, and everyone who participated in our webinar.
Founder and host for the 1st SCW
Ayane Miura
2021/04/17(Sat)
Timetable
3:00PM
Webinar starts
3:00PM-3:05PM
Opening
3:05PM-3:20PM
Professor Zaima's speech about his research
3:20PM-3:45PM
Discussion - what's it like to be a researcher
3:45PM-3:55PM
Questions from participants
3:55PM-4:00PM
Closing and announcements
Professor at Kindai University,
Faculty of Agriculture
Dr. Nobuhiro Zaima
Event Report
After the participants briefly introduced themselves, Professor Zaima talked about how enjoyable and rewardable experience being a researcher with humor. The key word for today's event was "curiosity", and how he conducted a lot of research in whatever he found "interesting." In the survey collected after the event, we've got messages from the participants - "it was so inspirational and clear, I wanted to become a scientist too!"
Clips from the Discussion
This summary of the discussion was made by Ayane Miura
Why did you decide to become a scientist?
Becoming a researcher was never part of my plan.
When I was little, I played games whenever I had the time. My grandmother told me that I should be the creator of the game, instead of just a player. Researchers are the creators of textbooks. In retrospect, I might have thought that it'd be fun making textbook instead of just learning from it.
Do you have any struggles doing research?
Research is my favorite thing. So I always find it enjoyable to deal with struggles. But, If I were to mention one thing, it'd be getting research funds. We need to go out and get that much for ourselves, and we have to tell excellent stories to convince companies and foundations that our research is worth the cost. It's not so easy getting one - there's always a competition.
What's a pro of doing research?
The pro is that you can do your favorite thing as a job. On top of that, scientists can travel all around the world to see interesting people through research projects. As science requires truths, we usually don't get involved in conflicts between different perspectives. If you're doing something interesting, someone in the other parts of the world might contact you asking if they can participate in your research project. I've been to South Africa, Thailand, Spain, the United States, and many many more.
How is research conducted?
The basics of conducting research is to first make a hypothesis, and prove it through experiments. As scientists are specialized in specific fields, we usually collaborate with researchers from other fields of study. For example, we might ask someone else to CAT scans, and we might ask some companies to produce medicines and market them.
Is there any fun stereotypes for researchers?
There are many, but my favorite is that many scientists don't like it when they're told not to work as much. We like doing research so much, we don't even consider it as work. So unfortunately, sometimes laws that are supposed to protect us from overworking get in our way. We just want to do what we love! Looking from another dimension, research is not worth anything if you're not the first to do it. As there are rivals all around the globe, all the efforts might become for nothing if somebody else gets the results first while you're asleep. Quite often, I lose track of time doing research.
What's it like to be a researcher?
If you want to work as a professional researcher, you almost always have to get a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, which usually take you about 9 years in total. So you will probably still be in college at the age of 30. A college professor is such a great job, basically doing research in whatever you're interested in. However, you might risk your job if you procrastinate sharing your research with other people around you. If you fail to do so, people don't understand what on earth you're doing. So it'd be crucial that you acquire a certain level of communication skills. In addition, you will have to think about how you can contribute to the society with your research. So you young people might want to start working on it at an early stage - you'll get more opportunities later and your world will be wider.”