You have to see it to be it - how to show your community’s stories to inspire the next generation
Helen Johnson (she/her), Communications and Marketing Manager at Imperial College London
The portraits that we adorn our walls with across our campuses do not always represent everyone in our community - and as a result they don’t make everyone feel like they belong. I set out to update our imagery so that anyone could look at the portraits and see themselves. Everyone should feel welcome in science and at Imperial College London.
In this session I will give an overview of how I went from this initial idea to ten new portraits that represent the breadth of our staff and students, but also how I ensured these spoke about more than just the scientist in the lab with the pipette.
Takeaways:
How do we really show who we are?
Why is this important at work?
And how do you convince others that EDI is a worthy investment?
Bio
Having studied Zoology, Helen went to live in the Kalahari Desert for a year to watch meerkats as part of a research project. This amazing experience sparked her desire to go into science communication where she has now been working for nearly 20 years.
Her communication journey so far has included radio, television, print and exhibitions, finally coming to rest in HE communicating medicine at Imperial. It's been a diverse journey from sitting outside people's houses waiting to film their cats, to designing exhibits for kids about the 'science of spying', but she's learnt from all the media she worked across and it's always been about passionately telling others about science.
