WEBVTT

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I do a lot of things in terms
of extra responsibilities

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beyond research and teaching.

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So within the university,
I'm the Ethics Lead

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for the School of
Sciences, so I deal

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with research, and
postgraduate ethics forms

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for research proposals.

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Outside of the university, I've
been a general committee member

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for the British
Science Association

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for the past three years.

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I was also the Science
Blog Network coordinator

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for The Guardian for
four years. And I've

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done various things in the
form of public engagement roles,

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along those sorts of lines.

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In terms of benefits for
these sorts of roles,

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a lot of what I do
is public engagement.

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It's kind of
outward-facing work.

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And there's a really deep
intrinsic benefit to that.

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It's another way of
getting information

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about science and the research
that you do, out there.

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But equally, it's about
talking to other people

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that you wouldn't
normally come across,

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and trying to understand what
their take is on science.

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And people come up with
really good ideas for research

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sometimes.

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A lot of the stuff that I've
done, over the past few years,

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around the effects
of video games

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on mental health and
wellbeing, and on behaviour,

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a lot of the kind of
specific questions

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that we've tried
to interrogate have

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come from just talking to people
about the sorts of research

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that we do.

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I think in terms of challenges,
one of the big challenges

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is the tension between different
types of responsibilities

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that researchers hold.

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So public engagement
is often seen

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as an extra that should be
tacked on, whereas I see it

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as something that's fairly
fundamental to being

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a researcher.

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Part of what we do is
the science itself,

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but we need to
communicate that science.

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And we do that through
publishing papers

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with each other.

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But we should do that beyond
the academic paper itself.

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So I really see it as
a fundamental role,

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a fundamental part,
of what we do.

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But oftentimes it's seen
as something frivolous,

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or something a bit extraneous,
that is always the first thing

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to go when times get busy.

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So there's always a
tension between making sure

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that your research programs
are going in the direction

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that they need to be going,
your teaching commitments

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are being met, but also the
public engagement commitments

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are being treated as
seriously as they should be,

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and that they're
being met, as well.

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I would say that anyone
that has opportunity

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of taking additional roles to
research, should take them.

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Of course, with this balance
between their own research

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responsibilities and
these extra activities.

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But doing research is
not only about being

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in a corner in the lab
working really hard,

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or working many hours on a desk.

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It also has to do
with management

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of the institution, which
has to do with the students.

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It has to do with
other the researchers,

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and learning from others,
and sharing our knowledge

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with others.

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So all these extra activities
are excellent opportunities

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for doing that.