Bridging the Gap: Challenges and Innovations in Science Communication and Research Advancement

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Nishchay Shah, Chief Technology Officer, CACTUS

1. What kind of challenges are faced by researchers and scientists in India and globally?

1. • Lack of Funding: India has a widespread problem, especially in terms of low allocation of funding for scientific research and development compared to many developed nations.
   • Limited Access to Resources: Due to lack of sufficient funding, India faces the challenge of limited access for researchers to cutting-edge equipment, databases, and recent publications.
   • Publishing Pressure: The pressure to publish or perish often results in a focus on quantity over quality, leading to unethical practices such as data and image manipulation and salami slicing. This can detract from research that has the potential to make real impact.
   • Collaboration Challenges: Interdisciplinary research and geographical collaboration are the need of the hour but can be hard to facilitate due to disciplinary silos and geo-political restrictions.

2. How is the advent of new-age technology in Science Communication such as generative AI helping to bridge the gap in science and research?

1. • Generative AI can take complex scientific ideas and research and summarize or explain them in more understandable ways for general audiences. This makes scientific knowledge more accessible.
   • AI can generate natural language content from data and research findings. This automates some science communication tasks and allows faster translation of science into digestible content.
   • AI chatbots and virtual assistants are being used to explain scientific concepts, answer questions, and guide people through complex information. This provides customized explanations.
   • Automated translation allows scientific research to be shared globally in many languages. This breaks down language barriers to science communication.
   • Personalized learning through AI allows science content to be tailored to an individual’s knowledge gaps, interests, and learning style. This makes scientific topics more relatable.
   • Interactive AI simulations and visualizations help explain scientific processes and ideas more intuitively and engagingly. This brings abstract concepts to life.
   • Sentiment analysis AI can help scientists get real-time feedback on how audiences are reacting to their communications. This allows tuning for better engagement.

3. How can AI-powered research tools support researchers in the times ahead?

• • AI-powered research writing tools: Tools like Paperpal, which combine the best machine learning algorithms built especially for academia, can help authors in drafting their literature faster by removing barriers to writing.
  • Automated Literature Review and Ease of Access and Understanding: By using tools like Paperpal and RDiscovery, researchers can access information that would previously have been difficult to find. RDiscovery scans and ingests thousands of articles daily to identify relevant research, greatly reducing the time taken for a literature search. Technologies such as AI summaries, audio summaries, and abstract translation that R Discovery provides can convert complex research into layman’s terms, enhancing accessibility.
  • Improved Dissemination: Machine learning algorithms can identify and target the most suitable audience for a specific piece of research. Tools like Mindthegraph leverage the power of machine learning to transform lengthy text into visually appealing infographics, which facilitate the dissemination of information to a broader audience, including non-academic groups.
  • Predictive Analysis: AI can identify patterns and trends in data, helping researchers form or validate their hypotheses.
  • Real-time Collaboration: Cloud-based AI tools facilitate real-time collaboration, speeding up the research process.

4. What are the other emerging trends that have the potential to advance Science Communication in India and will amplify the growth of the sector?

• • • Open Access Movement: The Open Access Movement aims to change the paywall model by advocating that research, particularly research funded by public money, should be freely available to anyone who wants to read it. Open access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
    • Launch of National Research Foundation (NRF): In July 2023, the Union Cabinet approved the introduction of the NRF Bill, 2023, and allocated ₹50,000 crore to set up an apex body that will “seed, grow and promote” research and development (R&D) throughout India’s universities, colleges, research institutions, and R&D laboratories over the next five years.
    • Physical and Digital Media: The use of social media and blogs for research dissemination is becoming more common, bringing science to the public in engaging ways. Translation of scientific literature and media in regional languages helps make science communication more inclusive and accessible to non-English speaking populations. The growth of online science communication through YouTube channels, science podcasts, and social media makes scientific content more accessible to the broader public.
    • Visual Communication Tools: Infographics, animations, and virtual reality can make scientific findings more understandable and interesting.