​On 26 March, Dr Marina Joubert and Mr Martin Viljoen joined forces to present an Auxin session entitled Building your research profile: The rewards and risks of engaging with public audiences about your research and availing yourself to engage on other topical aspects

Being visible as scholar was the focus of this presentation. Martin first shared the advantages of communicating your scholarship with various public audiences using a diverse range of communication tools and platforms. He also focused on the support available in this regard at the university.

Marina then shared two journal articles on the topic of effective public engagement about our research. She encouraged responsible public science engagement across all research disciplines and focused on the importance of identifying and understanding the factors that influence researchers' behaviour as far as public communication about their work is concerned.
Both colleagues are available for consultations. Please feel free to contact them with your innovative and ground breaking research findings.
Twenty three staff members attended the session and in their feedback they indicated the value of having two speakers giving different perspectives about science communication. Participants also indicated that they will be more active in responding to pseudo-science and fake news and be careful about their own social media profiles.