Summary for the General Public

Summary for the General Public

All teams are to submit a short and engaging summary of their research that can be easily understood by a non-scientific audience. Your summary will be shared on our website and featured on social media, helping more people connect to your work, including future collaborators, students, funders, or potential employers. 

Tips for a great public summary

  • Use analogies or a metaphor: Help bring abstract ideas to life by using relatable things e.g. a journey, a puzzle, an airport, a recipe.
  • Imagine a specific reader: How would you explain your project to a family member? Simplify or explain any technical terms. Ask someone to look at your summary and tell you what they don’t understand so you can simplify it further. 
  • Start with the “why”: Explain why people should care, what’s at stake, or where this research could lead to or what could change.

Format

You are welcome to submit a text summary or choose a more creative format (such as visuals, videos, comics, poems, songs) to communicate your research findings. Whatever format you choose, the key is to make your message clear, engaging, and accessible to someone with no science background.
Need some inspiration? Explore how others communicate science creatively:
  •  Dance your PhD 
  •  Cartoonists tackling climate change through webcomics 
  •  Rajan lab comics 

Text Summaries

  • Under 150 words
  • Use plain language (no jargon, acronyms, scientific terms)
  • Use a free, online readability checker
  • Submit as a Word or Google document or PDF

Visuals (comics, infographics, illustrations)

  • Use minimal text
  • Think visually: what can you show rather than describing?
  • Avoid overly detailed charts or technical figures
  • Submit as .png or .jpeg files

Videos (explainer, animation, performance)

  • Under 2 minutes
  • Captions or subtitles are best for accessibility
  • Use engaging visuals and avoid lots of text
  • Submit as .mp4 

Submission Form

All teams are required to submit a summary for the general public by the 27th April 2026 using  this form .