ME and VYT: Raising awareness for myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (Tina Katsaros)
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| Image supplied by Tina Katsaros |
From the very start of my PhD, I had a strong desire to raise awareness for ME/CFS and to help fight for the millions out there who can’t; for the #MillionsMissing. And what better day to share this post about my experience with VYT than on ME/CFS Awareness Day.
How was your day? The importance of research communication
Through my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I worked as a waitress in a restaurant. Whenever I would come home, I would sit down with my family and tell them about my day, things that frustrated me or customers being Karens. A totally normal experience, working and coming home and telling everyone about your day. But, when I started my postgraduate studies, I found it almost impossible to answer when family and friends asked: “How was work?” This wasn’t because of short-term memory loss; I just had no idea how to explain my work to people without a background in science. I would try my best to explain things, and they would try their best to understand, but most of the time I got blank stares.
These experiences made me acutely aware of how important it is to be able to effectively communicate your research and how difficult it is to reach non-specialised audiences. Communicating your research is hard enough but having to think of new and creative ways to explain it, in language that everyone will understand – well, that felt like going against everything I’d been taught to do for years. Instead of using complicated jargon, I had to find ways to explain things in basic terms and, when you’re dealing with complex biological systems and pathways, that becomes tricky.
But I didn’t have to figure it out all on my own. I’m extremely fortunate to be at a university where the research communication is recognised as an essential skill and there are various ways that it’s encouraged. These include things like the 3MT competition, where I came first place, and the VYT competition, where I won runner up and people’s choice vote.
My experience of VYT and 3MT
My first experience in these competitions was the 3MT. Not only do you have to condense your research into a three-minute speech, but you also only get one static slide as a visual. The result was me hand-drawing four cartoon figures (representing proteins or pathways in the cell) in a line-up at a police station with a “whodunnit” themed monologue. I had such fun, from brainstorming novel and interesting ways to present my research, to figuring out how I was going to represent (and draw!) different aspects of cell biology as human figures.
As much as I enjoyed the 3MT experience, I still felt as though I wanted to challenge myself further and wanted to have a bigger focus on ME/CFS, specifically, rather than the biological systems I was researching. I wanted to raise awareness of not only what I do as a researcher but why I do it.
Then my supervisor told me about VYT. I absolutely loved the idea of creating a video that challenged me to explain my research in only a minute. Talk about the ultimate elevator pitch! So, I began brainstorming ideas on how to explain my research in a mere 60 seconds. At first, I felt like there was no way it was possible. Saying an eleven-syllable disease name alone takes up a big chunk of time! But I realised the message had to be stripped back and I needed to figure out what I most wanted to get across. The next question was how I would do it.
I was determined to come up with a really powerful way of explaining the disease and I wanted equally powerful visuals to accompany it. At first, I started searching for stock clips to use and all I found were these perfectly makeup-done girls looking tired in their bedrooms. That didn’t really give what I needed it to give. And that’s when I had a lightbulb moment: “Who better to show what living with ME/CFS is like than people with ME/CFS?”. So, I turned to social media and asked for short clips of what life looks like living with ME/CFS. I felt so privileged to be able to include these in my VYT entry and raise awareness, providing a little window into the lived reality of ME/CFS.
As an added bonus, I was still able to add in some of my quirky little doodles toward the second half of the minute, but I thought the clips from people with ME/CFS had an incredible impact, and clearly a lot of people agreed.
Participating in VYT was an amazing experience and it forced me to think about my research in the most basic of ways: the “what”, “why” and “how” of it all. It further solidified how impactful research communication can be and why it’s so crucial to have these skills as a researcher and to constantly challenge yourself and adapt the way that you present your work to the world.
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She is also interested in calcium signalling and its role in neurological disorders having investigated calcium signalling in Parkinson’s disease during her honours degree.
Beyond the lab, Tina has a strong interest in science communication and making research accessible to all. She has organised various workshops aimed at improving oral and written science communications skills as well as participating and succeeding in various science communication competitions.
You can find Tina on X/Twitter, Bluesky and LinkedIn