The guide offers clear practical tips with an added focus on how to deal with social media harassment and malicious comments on online forums. It is launched by the independent press office for high profile, controversial scientific issues, the Science Media Centre, in collaboration with academic publishers Taylor & Francis.
The updated free resource aims to give experts increased confidence to communicate their research to the public.
“Academics are increasingly using social media to share their work and engage in healthy debates with the public and, for the vast majority of researchers, these are useful and positive experiences. Some researchers – in particular those working on contentious and highly politicised areas of science – may experience harassment from people with extreme views about their work,” Freya Robb, from the Science Media Centre said, explaining the need for a re-launch of the guide, first put out in 2013.
“We know from the scientists we work with that experiencing harassment through abusive emails, libellous comments on social media, complaints to your institution or bombardment with FOIs can feel overwhelming. But it has never been more important for the public to hear from experts who can guide people to where the best evidence lies on contested issues like vaping, statins, anti-depressants and climate change. We hope this leaflet will help support and encourage experts to enter the media fray.”
The tips offered in the guide include:
- how to carefully assess the situation and focus on those you want to communicate to;
- how to tackle online abuse on social media;
- where to find support networks.
Jennifer McMillan, Director of Marketing: Content & Communications, Taylor & Francis, added: “We are absolutely delighted to have worked with the Science Media Centre to launch this guide, something which we feel is a vital issue, and which many researchers are facing on a day-to-day basis. We are very proud to be involved in an initiative which supports researchers to be better equipped to communicate their research.”
FURTHER INFORMATION
For a copy of the guide, please contact:
Simon Wesson, Press & Media Relations Executive
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7017 4311
Follow us on Twitter: @tandfnewsroom
About Taylor & Francis Group
Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine.
From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Cape Town, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues.
