Hello!

Almost as a follow-up to the previous post, in this post, I would like to focus on storytelling. Recently, I have been facing the realisation that being able to create stories from the highly complex data produced during research is genuinely one of the final superpowers to develop during doctoral studies. I believe this transcends the ability to execute at the highest level to generate new results at the frontier of existing knowledge and becomes an essential skill to communicate any topic clearly. Crucially, this ability also likely translates to an acute intuition of the direction future research should focus on to advance the original story. Indeed, from a career perspective, this becomes paramount for those considering an academic path, where post-doc positions and professorships are absolutely required to have a clearer vision of their research direction and future goals. A recent article also discussed a similar question, providing suggestions on how to pick a scientific problem, which also highlighted how this is often an under-discussed topic and skill in academia yet expected or taken for granted.

Focusing again on storytelling, I believe it is a concept that runs very closely to (and, perhaps, depends on) good communication practices but intrinsically includes the scientific question in focus. In other words, not only do we aim to have an audience interested, captivated and intrigued by our presentation, but we also need a meaningful and powerful flow of ideas starting from a research question and heading towards a solution and a scientific breakthrough. It is a delicate balance that relies on knowledge-based creativity and makes up an understandable and exciting narrative. On this note, I have been particularly excited about meeting with my supervisor. He has an admiringly well-developed ability to devise stories from data, grounded on the immense exposure to different scientific works he has seen over his career and complemented by his passion for cinema and theatre. He has often shared how the intersection of these two areas of his life has helped him intuitively understand effective ways to compose a message to present during his scientific presentations. Building on this skill, he challenges my colleagues and me to develop the ability to develop narratives to navigate our dense figure panels of results, ultimately becoming the basis for scientific publications we are expected to produce as doctoral students. In practice, this translates to several meetings of “table tennis talks” where we pitch progressively more refined stories, he queries any specific details (which often also reveal aspects that need further improvements), and he acts as a benchmark for us to understand when our stories have matured enough to hopefully stand firmly after being submitted as articles and made available to the scientific community.

On this note, I also believe that developing this skill often follows some periodicity, alternating between periods of self-reflection and others of peer discussion. While individually, one can think deeply about their work, especially being the person with knowledge about all the small details, together with peers it is possible to test the story with like-minded colleagues who can critically follow it and provide feedback. Occasionally, the simple act of formulating our story for another person can lead us to new insights or highlight which sections are more difficult to digest and require further thought. These discussions can arise organically in the office or in slightly more formal settings, like group meetings. Regardless, I believe this iterative process can be truly rewarding. It is a journey of growth and learning, and when we finally converge on a refined, compelling story, there’s a sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with it, knowing that we’ve created something truly impactful.

Finally, after we have converged on our story, the focus progressively shifts towards the practical aspects of science communication. We discuss figure panels, the best structure for each type of data, and the visualisations or renderings that can help to convey a specific point, all accounting for any space or structure criteria required by a publisher or presentation format. I am particularly excited about presentations where I feel there is more freedom to produce visual content that (to me) drastically helps the storytelling aspect. Often, these ideas may not necessarily be required to present data, yet I believe they help to get people excited. As long as they are achievable with reasonable effort, this has been a topic where I enjoy spending some time when preparing for talks.

Conclusion

It has been a tremendous experience to reflect on how to turn an exciting scientific project into a great story that can make the community equally interested in the work. I have been enjoying reflecting on these aspects during my research work and, particularly, acquiring as much inspiration as possible from more experienced professionals such as my own supervisor or any researcher whose talk I am able to attend. Reflecting on their work is informative and deeply inspiring, fueling my excitement for storytelling in research. Overall, I am looking forward to continue devising new stories about my work and coming up with captivating ways to share them.

Please feel free to share your thoughts about your storytelling experiences!

Have a great day!