How impactful is a scientific discovery if its findings don’t see the light of day?
What are the most effective strategies for scientific research reaching and supporting targeted communities?
Dr. Bridie Schultz has spent nearly a decade of her career working to answer these questions.
Before focusing on this field of work, Schultz and her sister, Dr. Kylie Hewson, spent the better part of 25 collective years in university, earning an impressive combined seven degrees and two PhDs. But once they entered professional scientific industries, they both began to notice a recurring disconnect: the science being conducted was not always reaching the people it was meant to serve.
These observations became the foundation for a series of ventures aimed at addressing the all-too-common gaps within science. This work has since expanded from helping scientists communicate, to reshaping how students learn, to engaging entire communities directly in real environmental research. Each project tackles a different layer of the same fundamental recognition that science is most effective when communities can access and contribute to it.
Soft skills lacking
Schultz and Hewson’s work reveals that the communication gap between science research and engagement is rarely the science itself. Instead, many researchers struggle with the ‘soft skills’ that allow knowledge to travel beyond the lab. These skills include clear writing, effective communication, networking, and project management. Universities often prioritize teaching the technical aspects of scientific projects, leaving professional scientists without the skillsets to communicate their work in an accessible way.
To address this gap, Schultz and Hewson founded Essential Skills for Science, a non-profit company dedicated to helping scientists develop those essential skills. Rather than completing these tasks for their clients, their goal is to equip scientists with the tools to communicate and manage their work themselves, ensuring that important research can move beyond the laboratory and into the communities it was meant to serve.
Bringing real science into the classroom
Fixing how scientists communicate is only one part of the problem, Schultz and Hewson have found. During the COVID pandemic, Schultz returned to university to earn a Masters in Education, intending to become a biology teacher. What she observed in her program revealed a second barrier, this time in the classroom.
Many of her peers were skilled educators but had limited exposure to how science actually operates in the real world. They understood pedagogy but not necessarily field research or current scientific practice. ‘We couldn’t expect teachers who are subject matter experts in teaching also to be subject matter experts in science,’ Schultz explains. The result is a curriculum that can feel disconnected from reality and teachers who don’t have the tools to answer deeper, more applied questions.
Her response was TeachSTEM, a not-for-profit that supports educators by integrating real world scientific context, data, and hands-on resources into their classroom. The goal is to help teachers make what students learn in the classroom feel relevant to the world students actually live in.
In one example, Schultz partnered with a school in a chicken farming community and pulled real industry data on feed conversion ratios to be integrated into the students' math assessment. Instead of being tested on abstract, uncontextualized numbers, students instead worked out how much feed was needed to maximise profit and how much to give each bird to produce the best yield without overfeeding. The focus was on real numbers with relevant situations.
The academic results were tremendous. The class's grade average rose from a C to an A. On top of that, Schultz says, students began bringing their findings home, sharing insights that their families could apply to their own businesses.
Science for everyone
If Essential Skills for Science addressed how scientists communicate and TeachSTEM addressed how students learn, Schultz’s third initiative addresses another fundamental question: who gets to participate in science?
Working with a school librarian who wanted to introduce science in a low-pressure, non-assessed way, Schultz helped develop what became known as the citizen science corner. These interactive library displays include books, guides, and kits that connect people to ongoing scientific projects. Visitors aren’t just passive readers, they become active data collectors for real research.
The approach has proven to be effective and popular among students and has particularly benefitted neurodivergent learners who respond well to the hands-on, low pressure format. What began in a single school has since expanded to over 170 public libraries across every Australian state and internationally.
This increased accessibility to scientific participation has been incredibly beneficial to both scientists and communities. When science is tied to local issues, such as poor water quality in a nearby river, or changes in a regional ecosystem, it stops being something that ‘happens’ to communities and becomes something communities can actively shape. ‘Instead of just sitting back watching the problem,’ Schultz explains, they (communities) can actively contribute to the solutions.’ This creates a more reciprocal relationship between scientists and the public. Scientists are able to be more responsive to community needs and have more access to community data. While community members benefit from having data connected to local environmental change and are given the power to be part of that change.
Schultz maintains, however, that the greatest barrier to citizen science remains awareness. Many people simply don’t know these opportunities exist, or that they can meaningfully participate in them. By embedding citizen science in public spaces like libraries, this initiative is one way to reduce that barrier.
Why losing a client is a good thing
Schultz's ultimate measure of success in all of her ventures is not recognition, but redundancy. She explains that losing a client is actually a good thing, ‘because they've learnt the skills and don’t need to call on us for help’. When scientists are equipped to communicate their own research, when educators have the tools to deliver relevant, real-world learning, and when communities are active participants in scientific discovery, that is when Schultz knows she has succeeded.
Schultz’s career demonstrates that the barriers between science and society are not insurmountable. They are a result of our current education structures and can be remedied. Across communication, education, and participation, her work shows what becomes possible when we work to reduce barriers between science and community. In all of these projects, the core principle is the same - knowledge is only as powerful as the number of people it reaches and the level of engagement it achieves. As Schultz explains: ‘The world that we’re setting up is where everybody has the knowledge but also the skills to do impactful science. (This is relevant) whether you are a skilled scientist, like someone with a degree, or whether you’re a citizen scientist’.
Article by Alaina Parr
Image provided by Bridie Schultz