The Abstract: October 2022
Welcome back to The Abstract - your monthly round up of all the behind-the-scenes news from Youth STEM Matters, our youth-led scientific journal.
In preparation for onboarding our new team members in November, the Youth STEM Matters team was busy this month reviewing applications, carrying out interviews and planning the Team Member Skills Development Programme! But we have exciting news - team members Kavina Uthayakumaran, Madeleine Perry, Izzy Johnson and Anne-Rosa Bilal took on new roles this month! Plus, we had fun interviewing Sean Lim and have updates on the Transcribe-athon and Access-athon where project coordinators Samiksha Manoharan and Kimberly Anindo tell us about the progress they’ve made. As always look out for our volunteer of the month!
New Roles
We’re excited to announce that Kavina Uthayakumaran, Madeleine Perry and Izzy Johnson will be taking on new roles! With Kavina and Madeleine as Coordinating Research Editors and Izzy as a Research Editor! The Coordinator Research Editor positions are brand new roles that were created by the new team structure. Coordinator Research Editors will lead operations that allow the peer-review process to go forth efficiently and will include tasks like managing article assignments and team capacities for research editors and reviewers.
This is what they had to say about taking on their respective roles…
“I’m really looking forward to my new role! It felt like the natural step to take given my past involvement with the journal as a Reviewer, and then as an Editor. As a Coordinator Research Editor, I’ll be responsible for overseeing all the Life Sciences papers move along peer-review, which is something I didn’t really get to do previously but am excited to take on!
I hope to help improve efficiency within the team by making sure our reviewers are matched to papers that make the best use of their skills, that authors are given timely and quality feedback, and that papers are consistently worked on so that we can create more impact as a journal.”
“I’m excited, and a bit nervous! I have learned so much from the previous leadership of the physical sciences team, so I am cognizant of the responsibility I have in taking on this role. I’m looking forward to organizing more frequent opportunities for all of the incredible people on the team to interact and learn from one another.It’s a really exciting time for Youth STEM Matters as we’ve recently undergone some structural changes. As the team begins to operate a little differently than before, it is a priority of mine to ensure everyone (both team members and authors) have the resources and support necessary to accomplish their goals - whatever they may be!”
“I am really looking forward to taking on my new role and the challenges it will bring. I haven’t done anything like this before so it will be a completely new experience for me. I’m looking forward to communicating directly with the authors and helping them ensure that their research is the best that it can be. With this new role, I hope to improve my confidence and leadership skills. Also, I’d like to help reviewers and have more involvement in the publishing process.”
Youth STEM Matters Programme Officer
We’re also happy to announce that Youth STEM Matters has a new programme officer - Anne-Rosa Bilal! In her new role Anne-Rosa will provide support to the team, creating partnerships between the journal and other organisations, supporting the volunteer skills & community development. Overall, she'll be working on increasing the journal’s long-term sustainability and impact.
“I feel quite empowered in my new role. It’s a window for me to work specifically towards my favourite SDG 4 - education. It feels like I’m giving back to the journal I co-founded, which has given me so much experience and skills. I look forward to enhancing our community-building initiatives here and I have already started! I designed and chaired the second Youth STEM Matters Journal Devlopment Day, it was an amazing experience! I felt like we succeeded in making sure the actual event was an application of what was explored in the pre-event activities, whereas the actual event had hands-on discussion and exchange of ideas. I hope to be able to contribute significantly to further nurturing a community culture in our journal. Additionally, I hope to effectively work on sustainability-proofing of our journal by creating training programmes and further guidance for our team! All in all - to support the whole team to make strides towards achieving the goals we set our in our strategic plan.’”
Anne-Rosa is an awesome person to be taking on this role, and the team can't wait to see what she does in it!
Volunteer Voice Workshop #3 - Team Member Skills Development Programme
With new team members joining us in November, we got their Team Member Skills Development Programme organised. It is something that every Team Member will undertake when they join the team, ahead of moving on to their Specialism Specific training. Specialism Specific training is trainingthat will allow team members to gain the knowledge & skills required and apply them to be able to perform their role-specific tasks. To do this the Youth STEM Matters team held a workshop that asked: what skills do we need to develop in new Team Members to set them up for success at Youth STEM Matters, and how can we make this as engaging and fun as possible?
Here’s what attendees had to say about the workshop and the impact they hope it has on the new team members…
“My favourite part of the workshop was being able to share my thoughts about what skills would be most beneficial for everyone to develop and being able to discuss these with other members of the team. I think being able to have an input on what is included in training is important because the training is for us, so it should be something that we’re interested in and which will actually help us within the team and in the wider world. I think that one of the most important skills to learn about is how to research and reference as not only would these help within the journal, but also in any academic or further education. I also think that some awareness on copyright and how to keep projects inclusive and accessible would be beneficial, as it isn’t always something you learn in school.’”
“My favourite part of the workshop was getting involved in collaborative thinking. I think it is important because YSM is a diverse community(in terms of culture, intelligence, expertise) so being able to share thoughts that harmonise or complement another team member’s is a great feeling and I’m hoping the skills implemented are team building, problem solving and creativity because they create a well-rounded community of game-changers.”
“My favourite part of the Team Member Skills Workshop was being able to work collaboratively with other team members through breakout rooms to discuss key skills Team Member Training should develop. I think it is important because it ensures the Team Member Training is as helpful as it can be for new and current members and allows them to get the most out of their time as part of the Volunteer Team. Overall, I’m hoping teamwork and communication skills are implemented as they are really useful when working on group projects.”
“My favourite part of the workshop was when we discussed building team members connections.Youth stem matters grows because of everyone, and the impact and change we bring to the world is collective. The volunteer voice workshop is important to help us to stay on course collectively and inclusively as we steer the vision of YSM and build each other. I’m hoping to see much more of creativity, resilience and team spirit.’”
“My favorite part about the workshop was getting to interact with other members of YSM and brainstorm ideas on how to make an impact on young people globally. The importance of these workshops lies in the creation of a platform for ideation and collaborative problem solving, two key elements that are central to developing world changing solutions that really make impact. The skills that I hope to see implemented revolve around team work and being able to work together contributing pieces of a much bigger and more powerful puzzle. Alone, we cannot accomplish much, but together we can change the world.”
Volunteer Applications and Interviews
Applications to join the team as a Team Member, and for several leadership roles including the new Executive Team opened and lots of Team Members were able to participate in the application review process for the first time! The application review process and interviews involved several members from across the Youth STEM Matters team, here are their thoughts on what it was like…
“I was involved in reviewing application answers, describing what aspects were done well and what could be done better, as well as assessing overall potential. I found that I was really able to develop my feedback skills when doing this! I learned a lot about what makes a good answer and what characteristics are desirable for the person reading an application. I really enjoyed the process and I’d enjoy doing it again! I’ll also be able to apply this new knowledge to my own applications in the future so I found it a very useful and rewarding experience.”
“I reviewed written applications and interviewed candidates about their background, skills, and motivation to join the team. I absolutely loved meeting new people and getting to know the candidates, and it was lovely to read and hear all about their passions for science and change making. I learned a lot from the experience - being on the interviewer side during the process definitely taught me about the importance of communicating your thoughts and opinions in a concise but engaging manner, and about how to sell yourself and your skills as a candidate. The experience was an overwhelmingly positive one. It was a very special opportunity to be able to welcome in new members of the team, and watch them grow from their interviews into what I’m sure will be an inspiring new batch of team members. I was honoured to do it and I would love to again!”
“I really enjoyed interviewing the new team member applicants, I learnt the importance of asking open questions, giving people the time and space to answer but also managing the exchange so that we could stick to the allowed time. I’d be really interested in being on an interview panel again, selecting new colleagues for Youth STEM Matters is really important and I value the skills that being an interviewer has given me to be a better interviewee!’”
“I reviewed written applications. I really enjoyed it; I’ve completed applications before but never been on the other to review them, so it was exciting to try something new and also very useful. I was able to see what made an application stand out and the common mistakes people make - such as not being clear enough, not explaining enough, not being specific enough and not answering the question asked. I developed my written communication skills and will be able to use this knowledge to improve my own applications in the future. My overall takeaway from the experience was that it was very valuable. I’d definitely want to take part again in the future to learn and develop some further skills.”
Decisions have been announced so look out for the new team members in the next edition of The Abstract!
Transcribe-athon and Access-athon Projects Update
Over the past month, volunteers at Youth STEM Matters participated in the Transcribe-athon and Access-athon. Transcribe-athon members added captions to the Youth STEM Matters videos on YouTube, making them accessible to deaf or hard of hearing people, this can also increase accessibility for some neurodivergent people or people who have English as an additional language. Transcribe-athon has completed over 20 video transcriptions for the recent Research Conference and Summit and they are now up on YouTube to watch!
Meanwhile, Access-athon involved writing alternative text for the science communication articles published on our website. Before taking part in this Access-athon all members of the team took part in an interactive skills development session which covered things like how to write alternative text at an introductory level as well as the benefits of writing the alternative text to the accessibility and discoverability of the articles published.
“As a project coordinator of the Access-athon, I am happy to have worked with an amazing and supportive team that has made great progress in successfully writing alternative text for around 75% of the science communication articles published. That said, the team and I hope to finish writing alternative text for the rest of the articles which can help increase the accessibility of all of the published articles.”
“As project coordinator of Transcribe-athon, it has been a month long and ongoing journey to make our videos accessible to deaf and hard of hearing youth. I have enjoyed working with my team to continue making Youth STEM Matters accessible to youth globally, whilst continuing to uphold our value for inclusivity.”
The projects involved several members from across the Youth STEM Matters team, here are there thoughts on the projects and what it has been like so far…
“I really have enjoyed writing alt-text for the articles! It hasn’t been much work but it has been rewarding and I feel like I am genuinely helping people by doing so. I’ve learned a lot about how to make alt-text descriptive but not overly so, and that has been really interesting!”
“I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the project team. It was daunting at first the number of videos we had to transcribe, but with lots of teamwork we’re progressing well! I really enjoyed watching talks I hadn’t been able to attend - particularly one about how data is used to inform public health policies.”
Sean Lim Interview
This month we had the pleasure of interviewing Sean Lim, who has a BSc in chemistry from the University of Melbourne and an MSc in chemistry/physics from the National University of Singapore. His career spans 6 years working as a chemist at Merck, consultant, and now an associate lecturer at La Trobe University's Singapore campus, where he teachs undergraduates chemistry and pharmacology.
In 2017, Sean started a website where he could publish articles that gave an insight into the beauty of our natural world, stating he simply wanted to share things that he found fascinating with others. Sean wanted to give back by sharing some of his experiences with the team through an interview, covering topics including being a science communicator, how we should be training our youth to be better critical thinkers, as well as sharing advice on science writing!
“It is a really great experience to lead the interview, so I would definitely recommend it! It allowed me to develop communication and leadership skills, not only through the interview but organising the questions and getting it transcribed afterwards. Sean mentioned about how science communication makes scientific discoveries more accessible to the public, so I would also recommend that young people have a go at writing a science communication article - Sean gives some really good advice for people who are thinking of writing an article in the interview too!”
Volunteer of the Month
Congratulations to Adriane Thompson for being the October Volunteer of the Month!
With the new restructure, Adriane has really embraced the opportunity to get re-involved with all aspects of the team, playing an active role in team-wide projects such as access-athon and transcribe-athon, sharing a really insightful review over in #social-tv-movies, as well as reviewing a paper through her specialism as a Research Reviewer! It's been great to see you getting involved in all the journal has to offer, and we're really glad to be recognising that progress this month!
Congratulations Adriane and keep up the great work!
“It feels really exciting! I have been with this program for quite some time and I am so appreciative that my contributions have made a difference to the incredible people I work with. I would say just go for it! Everyone is so welcoming and any amount of contribution is deeply appreciated. I would especially like to thank Anne-Rosa, she has always pushed me to do my best and supported me when I am stressed and feeling overwhelmed.”
