The world of academia can feel like a somewhat inaccessible one. When you enter as an undergraduate student it can take a while to wrap your head around it all. The world of research is undoubtedly important. Knowledge is fascinating, and changes how we think and act in our world. It\u2019s important to make this knowledge interesting and accessible to all if it\u2019s ever going to make a difference.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all aware of clickbait titles and wild articles that perhaps don\u2019t give us the best information about what\u2019s actually going on in the academic world. Most of us who have the opportunity to experience higher education quickly become aware of how much more complex research can be. This is why it\u2019s so important for us to share our research so it can be known and understood better.<\/p>\n
One of the skills you have to learn quickly in academia is how to communicate potentially complicated research to those who aren\u2019t experts in the field. From your first undergraduate year, you\u2019ll be tasked with reading journal articles and rewriting that information as 200-word pieces that explain them to those who don\u2019t spend hours dedicated to understanding your topic. In your honours years, you\u2019ll start to spend more and more time rolling your eyes at articles on the internet. I can only imagine this gets even worse as you begin to do more of your own research.<\/p>\n
While you might not dwell on it on those few seconds spent clicking through news articles online, it really shows us how important it is that we as a university, and as researchers, take initiative to share our research.<\/p>\n
Our blogs, twitter, and little news pieces on our site are coming from people who directly know and understand the research. Those writing up fun pieces about our research centres achievements have done this kind of work themselves, and know the people doing it. We want to grab your attention and share the amazing work our university is doing, but we also want you to understand it. The research we do here is amazing and fascinating, and there\u2019s no need to exaggerate it or mislead people to show that!<\/p>\n
Beyond just taking the lead in publicising and sharing our own work, news about research is important in a more general sense. Researchers don\u2019t dedicate years of their lives to projects that they don\u2019t think will be important. Without research, we would know so little. Proving or disproving ideas about ourselves and our world has such exciting implications. Knowing and understanding what research discovers can change the way we do things for the better at individual, community, and institutional levels.<\/p>\n
If we don\u2019t write news, write blogs, or even write tweets about what we\u2019re discovering, how can we expect it to change the minds or lives of those who haven\u2019t studied what we\u2019ve studied?<\/p>\n
Finally, there are those who actually really are interested in what you\u2019ve studied, what you\u2019ve found, and HOW you\u2019ve found it. But because they\u2019re not part of an institution like yours, they don\u2019t have automatic access to it. Knowledge should be accessible and shared widely. For many people, the best way to learn is to see what\u2019s been shared online. Social media is where to find the most easily accessible information. Why wouldn\u2019t you want thousands of people to access and learn about amazing work that\u2019s being done?<\/p>\n
Research is essential. Research is fascinating. It is so important that we can communicate all our research well, and reach out to wider communities. These studies can change the world, but if we don\u2019t learn to communicate and engage with it, we\u2019re missing out on incredible opportunities.<\/p>\n
Allie McGregor<\/a>\u00a0is a third-year student in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Read more student blogs from Allie and her peers on our PPLS student blogs site<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The world of academia can feel like a somewhat inaccessible one. When you enter as an undergraduate student it can take a while to wrap your head around it all. The world of research is undoubtedly important. Knowledge is fascinating, … Continue reading