How do I become more visible as a scientist with my research? What strategies can I use to master critical interviews with confidence? And: What are the do's and don'ts for dealing with journalists? The compact WissKomm crash course of the BMFTR project "WIM - Women Scientists in the Media" answers questions like these.
For almost three years, the team led by Prof Dr Judith Ackermann has been researching the role of women scientists in the media in the research and application project at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences. The starting point for this was initially an analysis of the current state of the underrepresentation of female researchers in the media. The result was that female scientists represent only 28 per cent of the experts visible in the media in the study.

This was followed by an interview study with media professionals and female scientists on challenges in the collaboration between the media and science. This disproves the clich¨¦ that female scientists are more reserved than their male colleagues and shows the structural and individual challenges that female researchers face in their science communication.

An eye-tracking study with journalists and media professionals shows that both professional groups use different sources to find experts and that the findability of female scientific experts does not automatically lead to a gender effect in the final selection. A further work package identified digital narratives for the self-presentation of female scientists in social media and shows how gender shapes digital self-narratives. For example, men use the self-description "expert" much more frequently than their female colleagues.
The project makes the results of these studies accessible through this compact crash course on science communication. There will be a new short clip on the project's social media channels every Tuesday and Thursday until the end of the project.

"Our aim was to create a low-threshold format that would enable a sustainable transfer of knowledge beyond our publications. That's why we created this series with WIM-WissKomm-Tipps," says project manager Prof. Dr Judith Ackermann. She and the two academic staff members Anna-Sophie Barbutev and Anne-Kathrin Gerlieb designed and implemented the format.

To the crash course:
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