Sarah Collins, Research Communications Manager at the University Cambridge, conducts a workshop in Singapore.
CARES recently invited Sarah Collins, Research Communications Manager at the University of Cambridge’s Office of External Affairs and Communications, to run a series of workshops training our researchers to hone their key messages for writing and presentations.
Her advice for a world flooded with news and science stories: always ask “so what?” and put yourself in the audience’s perspective to consider what matters to them.
Sarah helped researchers deconstruct the way scientists traditionally present information and explained how it needs to be reconstructed for the public, with the assurance that practice and time make the process easier.
CARES opened several workshops to other research partners in the building*, allowing scientists from multiple disciplines to discuss how they would present their work in different scenarios, such as a television interview or a secondary school classroom.
*CARES is a research partner in the CREATE programme, where the building houses co-located research centres of Berkeley, CNRS, ETH-Zurich, MIT, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, TUM, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Imperial College London.
A Cambridge expert for Cambridge CARES
Sarah’s 2-week trip to Singapore included meetings with our researchers, some at later stages of technology development or research publication looking to explore different ways of outreach.
“I’m grateful to be invited to talk about research communications with the CARES and wider CREATE team–everyone was so warm and welcoming. Getting the chance to spend time with researchers and talk about their work is the best part of my job, and I look forward to seeing how the research at CARES continues to develop!”
Building on the first communications knowledge exchange visit in 2025, Sarah shared with CARES Communications her own experience managing the media coverage for the School of Physical Sciences and Technology at the University of Cambridge; both sides found great insight into how the same task differs between Singapore and the UK.
While these workshops are a new feature on the CARES calendar, research is no stranger to repetition, and the same should be for practising and building communication skills as we continue to tell important stories of our work.
