10 Reasons to Promote Your Research Through Videos

Research projects aim to improve people’s lives, which is why we need to communicate with the public about them. And today we are living in a fast-paced digital world that allows us to publicize and promote our research at lightning speed.

You can deliver your message in different ways. You can write about it in a journal or start a podcast or video channel. Any of those options is a great choice to diffuse your work, depending on your skills and what you feel most comfortable with.

However, you are reading this. So deep down you know that video communication is probably a means that you would or should consider choosing. Let us tell you why it is a good choice.

No. 1: You will strengthen your impact. Several factors are important in an academic career, and one is impact. We all want to change the world through our discoveries and make it a better place. But as Shane Huntington said in a recent video interview on the platform we founded, STEMcognito, “Research is irrelevant if we can’t communicate it.” Now is the time to increase your scientific impact and promote your work. Video communication allows you to leverage at the same time all three types of media—written, sound and visual—to strengthen your message.

No. 2: You will increase your citations. Research has found that scholarly papers accompanied by video abstracts have approximately 20 percent higher citation scores in comparison to written publications. As the H-index and citations are some of the metrics—albeit not necessarily the best—of academic impact, it is up to us to share information about our discoveries. Not all of us are fast readers or have time to go through all the publications. That’s one of the reasons that pre-COVID we used to attend conferences: they delivered science in a friendly atmosphere in an easily digestible format. But with current travel restrictions, conferences have migrated online. That means that your talk, usually delivered to a limited number of conference guests, can just as well be distributed to thousands of people on an online platform like STEMcognito.

No. 3: You will heighten your chances of receiving funding. Securing academic funding is one milestone on the way to obtaining the career you want and gaining independence in your research. But with limited resources and thousands of fantastic researchers competing with one another, it can be extremely challenging and demanding. Discussing the impact of your research in a video and attaching it as a hyperlink to your application can help your work stand out. And don’t forget that grant makers like their contributions to your career to be clearly communicated, as well. They invest in you and expect certain returns on that investment. Accessible videos with clear metrics can increase the impact and recognition of both you and your funding body—and are a clear way to say thank you to funders.

The most successful funding recipients often use video abstracts to emphasize their research. A striking example is Justin Chalker, a professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University in Australia. He’s garnered numerous awards, accolades and grants, and he regularly engages in science outreach through videos and television appearances.

No. 4: You will show who you really are to prospective employers. Hiring managers may spend only a few seconds scanning your résumé. Additionally, the number of words you can use to introduce yourself is often limited. But there’s nothing wrong with creating a video to present your research, skills and achievements and then attaching it to your written documents as a hyperlink. Don’t waste a chance to talk about what you do. You are more than just a few words on a piece of paper, and the people who know how to promote their work effectively are more likely to be hired.

No. 5: You will engage the public. Research funding comes from generous individuals and decision makers in various organizations and governments. To increase people’s appreciation of research and encourage them to increase their support, we need to ensure they understand why it is important. A well-done video can help them see how vital—and tremendously expensive—research is and how much we appreciate the public’s contribution. Government officials also need to understand why a higher portion of public funds should be devoted to science. They are very busy, but it’s more likely they will watch your five-minute video than read your Nature paper.

No. 6: You will practice your communication skills. Such skills are important in every aspect of your life and can be leveraged anytime and anywhere. Communicating your research via video will strengthen those skills. As STEM professionals, we are often focused on our fields, forgetting that there are people out there whose lives we want to change. We should instead think about why our work is important and explain it to those outside our fields. Hearing someone’s voice gives a message a personal touch; it fosters trust and is a powerful foundation to build on. Your voice, guiding people through your discipline via a video, can help them see the human side of research. And by practicing this way, you will find it easier to talk about your research in almost any situation.

No. 7: You will find new collaborators. The world is a global village and means of digital communications are escalating, especially in this worldwide pandemic. Conferences will most likely turn into hybrid forums, which means that seeking and finding new collaborators will occur mostly online. By showing your profile, you give potential collaborators a chance to notice you and decide if you are a person they’d like to work with. A video format provides various little paraverbal aspects of personal communication that are hard to deliver in a written text, which is one reason why it is fast becoming a new norm of scientific engagement. As Alvina Lai, associate professor at University College London, has discussed in Nature, investing time in science videos results in tens of thousands of impressions and people contacting you for advice.

No. 8: You will gain the recognition you deserve. You need to recognize the value of your research first before others will. When you realize that simple truth, you’ll be ready to prepare a video that will highlight your work. Sometimes, due to geographical limitations, we communicate our findings in scientific meetings with our colleagues in our institutions. By recording and posting a video, you are giving thousands of people a chance to see it, recognize your contributions and notice you as a scholar. What’s more, video recording is free from time and place limitations, and people can access it on demand. So you’ll not only be seen as an expert in your field but also as a supporter of STEM accessibility.

No. 9: You take your career in your own hands. In the academic environment, we often think that recognition will come to us if we carry out good experiments and publish high-quality papers. That perspective is outdated. You must put yourself out there, push through a flood of digital information and stand out. You have a voice, and you should use it. Taking your career into your own hands by preparing a video presentation will boost your confidence, increase your connections and give any impostor syndrome you may have a well-deserved kick in the gluteus maximus. As founders of STEMcognito, we personally experienced an increase in confidence when preparing and posting videos we made. Any self-doubt we had at the beginning was completely gone after few recordings. We also use links to those videos when seeking new career opportunities and have had very positive feedback.

No. 10: You will fight miscommunication and fake news. How many times have you clicked on a news article announcing a big scientific “advance” only to find while reading it that the results were very preliminary and even questionable? We can’t leave science communication solely to media outlets, or people’s trust will be lost. People need to know the real facts about our research and that it is hard and time-consuming.

In short, please consider these personal and professional reasons for promoting your research via video when starting your next science project. You know your stuff already. And you will talk about it at the next lab meeting. So why not take 20 minutes of your time and record a video so everyone else can hear about the work you’ve been doing? Why not get started now?