Utrecht University-NIOZ Early Career Scientist Symposium 2025

The sixth edition of the UU-NIOZ Early Career Scientist Symposium (UNECSS) took place on the 9th and 10th October at the Zuiderduin hotel, beautifully located by the beach in Egmond aan Zee. This year’s theme focused on how to navigate the intersection of scientific and public engagement, highlighting how "hot topics" in the media and global discourse can be communicated effectively and responsibly.

The programme opened with an inspiring and interactive lecture by Mark Bos, a researcher in science communication, who emphasised the importance of framing and narrative control when sharing research results, especially once they capture media attention.

The evening brought a fun pub quiz, featuring creative rounds such as guessing whether “Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans” was a genuine paper title. The mix of curiosity, and rivalry set the perfect tone for an evening of informal networking (with a few games of pool to close the night).

Friday’s scientific sessions showcased how UU and NIOZ researchers are bridging theory and practice in science communication. Laura Villanueva shared her fascinating work in marine microbiology and her collaborations with artists to transform electro-active bacteria’s energy into music. René van Westen discussed his cutting-edge climate modelling on the potential collapse of the AMOC, offering an honest look at the challenges of handling intense media attention following a high-impact publication. William Beckerson concluded the morning by presenting Zombie Ants VR, a virtual reality game that combines biology and game psychology to teach evolutionary theory in an engaging, interactive way.

In the afternoon, participants took part in one of three hands-on workshops. In “Graphic Design in Figures”, led by Ton Markus, they explored the fundamentals of figure composition and how to use Adobe Illustrator for postproduction of images made by statistical or analytical software. Meanwhile, Marieke Epping and Daan van Loon led the session “Get the Media Hot for Your Topic”, which provided practical strategies for engaging with journalists and tailoring scientific stories for different audiences. The third workshop “The power of citizen science”, organized by Anouk Spelt and Margaret Gold from CS-NL, focused on guiding participants through the process of building a citizen science project with the public. It concluded with a practical exercise, where attendees collected litter on the nearby beach as part of the Stichting de Noordzee initiative.

Overall, participants were highly engaged throughout the symposium. The event fostered lively discussions during the presentations, and hopefully a renewed sense of purpose in making science more accessible and impactful beyond academia.