Drink X Forest Foundation Creative Science Communication Panel Highlights Success Through Collaboration

January 28, 2021 marked the culmination of the researcher-designer collaboration project between Drink Sustainability Communications and the Forest Foundation Philippines. On that day, a learning session was held to discuss science communication, how the collaboration between designers and researchers played out, and how science communication can impact the field of forest and biodiversity conservation.

Drink X Forest Foundation three-fold collaboration

The science communication collaboration between Drink and Forest Foundation involved three components:

• Creative communication materials from select research materials based on Drink team’s understanding alone;
• The collaboration between the researchers and the Drink creative team; and
• A publicly available learning session on the collaboration.

The creative communication materials for the first and second components will soon be available on the Foundation website.

The learning session

Titled Creative Science Communication in Forest and Biodiversity Conservation, the learning session opened with an overview by Dr. Hermilea (Mia) Castillo about science communication in the Philippines. Dr. Mia Castillo is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Science Communication, College of Development Communication, at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Right after was the discussion between Drink creatives and their partner researchers, namely:

• Dr. Denise Matias of the Institute for Social-Ecological Research X Joane (JC) Legaspi and Louie Cartagena of Drink

• Mr. Adriane Tobias of Pro-Seeds Development Association Inc X Eli Gagelonia, Sydney Lagos, and Mia Pangilinan of Drink

• Mr. John Michael (JM) Galindon of the National Museum of the Philippines X Denise Ramallosa and Toni Antiporda of Drink

There were quite a number of notable points during the event. Crucially, constant and varied communication was repeatedly cited as the key to successful editorial and design development that includes all necessary information. This close collaboration also helped in choosing the best format for the intended audience of the research. Overall, the discussion highlighted how science communication can be understandable, relevant, and engaging. A lot more was discussed during the learning session that is available as video on demand on the Foundation Facebook page here.