How do you find a scientist?

“It’s Dr. Evil, I didn’t spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called “mister,” thank you very much.”

Dealing with science and scientists has been an important part of my work whilst covering environmental issues over the past few years in China. Virtually every story I have investigated and covered began with reading the research of scientists working on the subject matter and/or in the location I intended to visit. Many scientists have been key to my research and without their input, much of my work wouldn’t of been possible.

I studied science at University, Zoology to be exact, so became quite familiar with many aspects of research and the scientific method. Not all of us studied science however and sometimes dealing with science and/or scientists can seem somewhat daunting. Researching the latest studies and/or news coming from scientific circles however is really one of the first things you should do, to get a thorough grounding of the current level of understanding of the topic you have decided to cover. This applies if you are covering environmental issues, medical or social.

So, to try to help you bridge that gap, here are my top 5 tips for dealing with science and scientists when researching a potential story….

1. Where to Start? So, you have a great story idea, you’ve identified some potential subjects but before you go anywhere you want to learn what the latest scientific research on the matter is. Where to start? Your first stop should be popular scientific magazines such as Nature, Science and Scientific American. These magazines are written for the educated layman and lay out all the latest happenings in the world of science. Do a quick search on their websites and see if anything comes up related to your subject matter.

2. Dig A Little Deeper – So you’ve found an article in one of the science magazines related to the subject matter you are interested in. Great! What next? Let’s dig a little deeper. Perhaps there is a specific piece of research that is quoted in the article that you’d like to know more about. Invariably that research will have come from a scientific paper. This is a document that has been produced by a scientist or group of scientists, outlining their investigation, experiments and findings. To find a specific scientific paper, go to websites such as PubMed, JournalReview.org and eMedicine. This will allow you to search for and locate the papers written by the scientists themselves.

Create a 'buzz'?!...*tumbleweed*

3. How to Read a Scientific Paper – Opening up a scientific paper for the first time can be a bit daunting. There is normally a vast amount of information. Where to start? First, it’s important to know that the average scientific paper is broken into the following parts: Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. As a rule, start with the abstract. This is normally a paragraph or two highlighting the main hypotheses, methodology and findings of the paper. It’s not like a novel where you have to wait for the end to see ‘who dunnit’. You can read the abstract and get all the main points of the ‘story’. Want to learn more? Next head to the introduction if you are a little unfamiliar with the subject matter. Want even more? Get an in-depth look into the investigation by reading the Results and Discussions. If you want to find out what sized test tubes the scientists were using, finally check the materials and methods.

4. Don’t be Scared to Get in Touch – So, you have found a paper you are interested in, or have found the name of a scientist whose research you would like to learn more about. Get in touch. Normally, it is as easy as a quick Google search. Virtually all scientists are affiliated to a University or research institute that can easily be found on the web. If you have the scientific research paper, the lead author of the paper normally has their email address listed on the paper itself. The majority of scientists I have approached have always been more than happy to talk about their work. If you should want to meet them in person, or conduct an interview, make sure you….see no. 5.

5. Do your Homework – Before you contact the scientist, make sure you do your homework. You do not have to have read every word of every paper they have ever written, but at least be familiar with the major points they have covered and the general consensus of opinion amongst their peers on the subject matter at hand. Prepare your list of questions ahead-of-time and make them relevant. Scientists won’t expect you to be an expert in the field (otherwise you wouldn’t be contacting them) but will expect you to be up to speed to a basic level.

I hope these basic pointers help. Just writing this post has made me think of many more things I’d like to share with you in order to help you when dealing with science and scientists. Watch this space for more posts on this subject matter. Feedback is of course always welcome!

<< RETURN TO THE LEARNING ZONE

It was a very sad day for the environmental movement yesterday, learning that Wangari Maathai had passed after losing her battle with cancer at the age of 71. This inspiring lady who was a Nobel Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, was one of the leading world figures in raising awareness about environmental issues.

The above video is a perfect message for all of us who try to figure out what we can do, as individuals, to contribute to protecting our planet. Please spread the word…

Thanks to Elizabeth Conley for posting this link on Facebook

British Council Talk

Last week I visited two Chinese cities, Shenyang and Chongqing, for the British Council as part of their Smart Talk series. We had a great turnout in both cities, with over 500 people turning out altogether.

One of the highlights for me as a photographer is to connect with my audience and be able to talk about my motivations and reasoning for carrying out my work. I feel many photographers often close themselves off and retreat from interaction with their audience. I embrace it. I feel it’s part of my responsibility to communicate  these issues further though dialogue. These environmental issues are vitally important for us all to understand.

I recorded the second of the talks, at Chongqing University’s Film school, so that you can listen in. I broke the audio up into different parts, so that you can dive straight into the part that interests you the most, or just pick and choose which you listen to.

I have also uploaded the presentation (above) so that you can scroll through and follow what I was showing on-screen to those in attendance.

Intro

Deserts

Wetlands

Forests

Biodiversity

Conclusions

Q&A

If you have any questions, or follow-up thoughts from the presentation, feel free to post them below!

Chongqing University | Shenyang University

Earlier this year, I was invited by the British Council to take part in a series of talks in China, presenting my work on documenting the country’s environmental issues to over 300 students at Shanghai’s prestigious Tongji University. I was honored to be part of this series promoting the work of British figures, as previous speakers have included people such as entrepreneur Richard Branson and actor Patrick Stewart.

Next week, I go back on the road again to take part in the same series of talks, this time visiting the cities of Shenyang and Chongqing. It will be an exciting opportunity to speak to new audiences in new cities and bring the message of environmental awareness through photography and multimedia.

If you happen to be in those cities next week, I shall be speaking in Shenyang on Wednesday 21st September and in Chongqing on Thursday 22nd September. You can book your place here.

In light of my recent travels for the Pulitzer Center and new multimedia, I’ll have a new presentation to give, however here is a video of my first presentation in Shanghai earlier this year, to give you an idea of the things that I’ll be talking about.

Live broadcast by Ustream

“24 Events…24 Time Zones…24 Hours of Reality
Droughts, floods, heat waves, insect outbreaks, wildfires, sea level rise – we are encountering the reality of our changing climate every day. Five years after the theatrical release of An Inconvenient Truth, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore will host an international event that brings the world together in a critical moment of global consciousness to deliver the message: The climate crisis is real, and it’s already happening.”

Whichever time zone you are in, please tune in to this 24-hour broadcast and listen to the incredibly important lectures outlining the impacts of climate change on our world.

Get the evidence. Accept the reality of our changing climate. Take action.

The Climate Reality Project

Regular readers here and followers of my work will know that the main focus of my photography is on environmental issues. In recent years, notably on access and availability of water in Asia, specifically China. I came across this short video on the National Geographic website that I wanted to share here with you. It tackles the question, “Why Care about Water?”

“If you took all the water in the world and put it into a gallon jug, less than one teaspoon of it would be available to us.” – Alexandra Cousteau – National Geographic Emerging Explorer

We have precious little usable freshwater to play with in the world. With our global population skyrocketing and demand for water increasing everyday, access and availability to water is going to be one of the most crucial factors determining how our future develops.

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Very excited to announce here on the blog the launch of a new partnership with tour agency Tibetan Connections, offering photography workshops and tours in western China on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Tibetan Connections, a small grass-roots company, have been based on the plateau for a number of years and are actively involved in encouraging responsible tourism in the region. Their ethos is to work with and hire local Tibetan people and visit communities to help support the people of the region through ethical tourism. They will be our logistical partners on the trip, looking after travel, guides and accommodation for us.

Our first collaboration begins in June with a 5-day tour from June 10-14, around the Eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, focusing on the monastic lifestyle and rituals in this region. I visited this region in November of last year and it really is a stunning part of the country, relatively unexplored compared to many other regions in China.

Below is an outline of the June tour. Be sure to check out the Tibetan Connections website for more information and to confirm your place on this trip.

Workshop Aims:

Monastic Life

The aim of this tour is to introduce you to the people and cultures of this unique part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We will focus on learning how to photograph in areas where religion is very evident, demanding a respectful and sensitive approach to your photography. We will guide you through the different approaches to adopt in these situations and offer help and guidance along the way.

At the same time, we will aim to build up a portfolio of work from each participant that represents your vision of the underlying themes of Tibetan buddhism, monastic life and spectacular scenery that we will have the opportunity to document throughout our trip. No matter what your level of photography, Sean will help establish individual goals for each participant in order to improve your level by the end of the trip.

Day 1 Meet in morning for a portfolio review. In the afternoon take a trip to Kumbum monastery.

Day 2 Depart Xining and drive to Rebgong (Tongren). Stop in Jenzha for lunch and continue through great landscapes arriving in Rebgong in early afternoon. Once in Rebgong visit the thangka artists village and Upper Wutan Monastery.

Nomad Woman | Qinghai-Tibet

Day 3 Visit Rongwu Monastery after breakfast. Depart Rebgong and drive to Labrang (Xiahe) traveling through the Ganjia grassland stopping to visit local Tibetan Nomads.

Day 4 Spend the whole day in Labrang catching the morning and evening light. Labrang is a very famous monastic center in Amdo Tibet.

Day 5 drive back to Xining with great views of the Yellow River. That evening enjoy a party and slideshow of the trips photos.

National Geographic have just released a series of very interesting articles in their latest issue, on the status of humanity’s population. As part of their interactive features, they released the video above titled ‘the face of 7 billion’, depicting what is the most common face on the planet. Do you have it?

It seems that there have been a few of these kinds of graphic’s coming out recently, most notably one which was going around the internet a few weeks ago of composite images of women from different countries in the world. It’s quite an interesting technique.

The National Geographic series of articles on population are up to the very high standards you would expect from them. They have some fascinating graphics which break down the current statistics surrounding our global population. It’s well worth taking time to explore.

<<Return to the Learning Zone Last weekend, I was invited by Beijing based eco-group Greening the Beige to give a workshop at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. We had a great turnout, with many students and photography enthusiasts all keen to see images from my environmental work in China over the past few years and learn about some of the thought processes that go into tackling these realtively large issues. We had such a great discussion, so I thought I would post my presentation here on my blog and highlight/elaborate on a couple of the key talking points. I hope this might prove useful for anyone who wasn’t able to make the event.

The aim of the workshop was to help people understand how I approach taking on large scale subjects, aiming this message at many of the students, from both the fields of photography and journalism, who were in attendance. The first question we tackled was: How do you find story ideas?

Take a look at slide 6 and then come back. It says it all really. I remember asking the question above to one of the senior members of staff when I was interning at Magnum Photos during 2004-2005, and the word on that slide was the answer they gave to me. I follow it religiously now.

Courtesy of (c) Lap Li

I like being informed. I think most photographers/journalists do. They are naturally inquisitve people. An important note though, which I emphasised to the workshop participants, was that it is so important to read not just a diverse mix of western press but also be familiar what the press is saying in the country you are reporting on, in our case China. It’s no secret that the media stance between the west and from within China can be very different sometimes. Whichever side you lean towards, you still have to very aware what the other side is saying. Only then can you take a step back from everything and start to try and filter what is truth, what is not, what is skewed, what isn’t etc. etc.

For those who were thinking of taking on environmental issues, I also emphasized the importance of being familiar with the scientific literature on the subject. I am lucky in that I come from a science background, so am comfortable reading scientific papers which can be daunting to those not familiar with them. Magazines such as Nature and Science are aimed at the educated layman and are very accessible. It’s absolutely key to get to grips with what the scientists are saying about your issue.

Simplify the Issue (Slide 7)

When I take on large-scale subjects such as desertification or wetland disappearance, simplifying the issue is crucial. I can’t visit every single desert or wetland in China. I could, but it would be pointless when instead I can try to isolate key areas that represent the core issues. I normally break the issue down into its most important isuues and then try to find the best places to go to to (visually) illustrate those points.

Put a face to the issue. Tell stories through the individuals, families and communities being affected. (Slide 8/9)

This is one of the key points, especially with environmental issues. Sometimes, these issues can be complex, diverse and hard to visualise. By finding people who are being affected by the issue, you can put a human face to the issue and as a result help your audience/viewers better connect with the subject matter at hand. Your audience will have a much better connection towards your subject if you are able to show the way in which other human beings are being affected.

What would be the aims of your project? Why are you really interested in it? Do you REALLY care? (Slide 20)

By presenting these questions to the participants, I wanted to emphasise the importance of finding an issue that you are genuinely passionate about and determined to cover. I warned of the dangers of choosing a subject, motivated by the reasoning that others in (and maybe outside of) your profession would take you seriously as a photographer/reporter just because you chose that particular subject matter. That’s a dangerous path to follow. Finding a subject that you have a connection to, a subject you are passionate about, a subject that only you would spent long periods of time on when others may give up, is key.

Courtesy of (c) Lap Li

How do you fund your story? (Slide 21)

The two major options I gave were either getting a grant or my pairing up with an NGO. There are of course other ways, from personal savings, private investments and commissions from news outlets however for me personally, grants and partnerships with NGOs have been my most successful. They have also allowed be to spent long periods of time on these issues. If it’s a complex issue, you will need time to work on it and do it justice. Grants and working with NGOs allow you to do this.

How do you distribute your story? (Slide 29)

I believe we are in a really exciting time at the moment in terms of the new ways in which we can distribute our work. Yes, old outlets have shrunk drastically but there are many new ways to get our stories out to new audiences. There are more opportunities now than ever before.

Embracing social media is one way of reaching new audiences, as is producing work that is deliverable in a variety of mediums i.e. having the ability to produce still images, video, multimedia, audio and writing. Each has its place and possible outlets. Most can be combined. If you have the ability to do a number of these, then to possibilities for distribution are wide. You can still try traditional distribution such as magazine publication, print exhibitions, maybe a book but you can also embrace online videos and multimedia, viral marketing of those pieces through a unique website and blog, online photo galleries, multimedia installations. A combination of some, or all of the above!

At the end of the workshop, we had an open Q&A session. One of the questions was; “Why do you do what you do i.e. covering these issues? What are you aims and how do you hope your images affect people?” It’s a question I have been asked by others, and asked of myself, a number of times. I thought would be useful to try to answer it here too.

I am a photographer and videographer. My skill (and that of other visual professionals) lies in my ability to visualise the world in a way most people do not normally do. My educational background focused on the sciences, especially in the biological sciences, so I have a natural interest in these issues. Many of these issues, I know, are difficult for many people to understand and visualise. I really hope that my photographic and video work can act as a bridge between some of the complex issues surrounding the environment and global climate change to help people understand them better. I hope the images can inspire contemplation, deeper understanding and maybe action depending on the social group and age of the people that sees them. I am just one photographer trying to raise visual awareness of these issues. Change will not just come from me. It will come from the worlds of science, government, business, media and everyday people acting together. If my images can help people visualise the seriousness of the environmental issues we currently face and I am able to help them contextualize them too, through various visual media and educational speaking engagements, then I am playing my small part in trying to effect positive change in society.

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That’s a quick summary of the major talking points of the presentation. I really hope that it was useful to the participants who were able to make it on the day. I also hope that it has been useful to you as you read this now, wherever in the world you may be. As ever, if you have any thoughts or feedback on the above points please feel free to post them below.

<<Return to the Learning Zone

TEDx Canton

Next week sees the arrival of TEDx on the Guangzhou Science Center, in southern China. I feel very flattered and honoured to have been invited to be one of the speakers at the event, talking about my recent work over the past couple of years for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. For those of you who are free on Saturday 4th September, click the picture above to get info about how you can get hold of some of the last remaining tickets that are available. I am sure that it is going to be an amazing day, with great talks and attended by a lot of very interesting people.

If you see me there, please come and say hi!