Scientific communication has always been important to me, and I believe it is the foundation for our sustainable future, where people from every background can access and digest science. Our role as scientists is to make sure our findings are accessible to a wide audience.
In May 2020, I created Whale Scientists with my friend Naomi Mathew. Whale Scientists is a platform where early-career scientists can share their marine mammal knowledge with a broad international audience. The posts we publish are always fun, educational, and accessible to the public. We write articles about anything from marine mammal conservation to fun facts or stories featuring marine mammals. On top of science communication pieces, Whale Scientists publishes advice posts for aspiring marine mammalogists. Our posts explain how to find research internships, find a good master’s program, etc. Lastly, Whale Scientists features many early career marine mammalogists from various backgrounds to celebrate early-career scientists, inspire future researchers, and show them how multiple paths can lead to a career focusing on whales and dolphins.
Whale Scientists is my baby and one of my proudest accomplishments. I spend countless nights and weekends working on the platform: I am the chief editor, primary writer, and infographic designer of Whale Scientists. I also manage a team of about 25 early-career writers, all volunteers, and all from different countries. Within two years, Whale Scientists has become a reference in the marine mammal science communication world. We’ve received more than 500K visits from May 2020 until now, and our loyal followers can access new content once a week and find out a thing or two about marine mammals. Whale Scientists is proudly sponsored by the Quebec Fonds de Recherche.
You can find my latest posts for Whale Scientists here:
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Banned contaminants are still affecting whales in Eastern Canada
Published on 2024-10-14
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Can Whales Eat and Swallow Humans?
Published on 2024-08-08
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Russian ship played classical music to rescue entrapped belugas
Published on 2024-05-19
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Why are baby whales and dolphins born with whiskers?
Published on 2023-12-07
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Toxic Menus: Contaminants Threaten the Health of North Atlantic Killer Whales
Published on 2023-10-11
If you wish to read more posts, you may click on this link that will redirect you to Whale Scientists where you will find all the posts I personally wrote.
Science Communication outside of Whale Scientists
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The Whale Museum's 2024 Global Orca Workshop: North Atlantic killer whales: not just black or white!
August 2024 — Join me and a team of world experts on killer whales! This workshop’s theme will be: Understanding orca eco-types around the world; Who are they and what are they facing in today’s changing ocean environments?
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Social media video to explain whale research to the McGill community
June 2024 — Crafted a Reel for McGill's social to take viewers on a trip to Iceland with me (virtually) to sample killer whales and follow the sample from the sea to the lab.
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Workshop in science communication and graphic presentation of science, Icelandic Ecological Society meeting 2024
April 2024 — I gave a workshop to the student participants at the Icelandic Ecological Society meeting 2024 on the importance of effective science communication through the creation of graphic abstracts, collecting visually appealing research materials.
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The Whale Museum's 2024 Virtual Gear Up Workshop for Marine Naturalists
April 2024 — I gave a seminar for The Whale Museum on contaminants in North Atlantic killer whales and a comparison to North Pacific killer whales
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Winner of McGill's 2024 President’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media
March 2024 — Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows category.
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Les baleines au Canada: où sont-elles et comment vont-elles?
January 2024 – Visiting secondary schools in Quebec through McGill’s “Hot Science, Cool Talks” program, I shared insights about our Canadian whales, sparking conversations on the importance of their protection among the next generation.
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Interview for radio show “Je vote pour la Science”
November 2023 – I got interviewed by Agence Science Presse in French to discuss the impact of Climate change on our Canadian whales, and the implications for the COP28 meeting.
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Interview for Les Années Lumières by Radio Canada: “Les épaulards de l'Atlantique, éponges à contaminants”
November 2023 — I discussed (in french) my research on killer whales, and the impact of chemical pollution on our Canadian orcas
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Invited by Bob McDonald for the CBC quirks and quarks show “Killer whale blubber is telling a sad story about pollution”
November 2023 — I discussed my research on killer whales, and the impact of chemical pollution on our Canadian orcas
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TED talk: A Silent Threat: Orcas Under Attack
October 2023 – I was invited to deliver a TED talk at TEDx Cape May, NJ, 2023. The talk should be uploaded by TED toward the end of January 2024.
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National Geographic: “You are what you eat, and for orcas, that’s bad news"
October 2023 — I pitched the story to senior editorial manager of NatGeo.
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Wrote for The Conversation : « Toxic diets: Canadian orcas face high risks of pollution-related health effects”
October 2023 — (bilingual article)
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Team leader for the EarthWatch citizen science program at the Icelandic Orca Project
August 2023 – I trained, taught and supervised a team of EarthWatch citizen scientists on killer whale conservation. Our diverse team of citizen scientists, spanning every continent and background, became agents of impactful marine conservation, embodying Earthwatch's commitment to creating global citizen stewards for a sustainable ocean.
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Featured in a comic about my PhD research, by Juliette Pierre
September 2023 – Juliette created this beautiful comic featuring my life as a PhD candidate, and my research on North Atlantic killer whales.
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Winner of the ECOTOQ science communication contest
June 2023 – Video category, first prize.
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Created and delivered a workshop in French to early-career scientists at the Beluga Symposium
May 2023 – I was invited by Prof. Jonathan Verrault from UQAM to create a deliver a workshop to help early-career beluga scientists capture the public’s attention in Quebec.
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Interview by Al Jazeera for The Stream
June 2023 – I Gave Al Jazeera my opinion about the public's interest in the so-called "orca uprising" in Spain/Portugal, and why I think it is important not to see these endangered animals as villains because they need all the conservation efforts they can get.
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Organized and hosted the season 3 of Cetacean Sessions with Bay Cetology
April - June 2023 – I organized 6 webinars to present impactful research conducted by early-career researchers. The webinars were free and available to the public.
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Wrote for The Conversation: Analyzing the fat of killer whales reveals what they eat
April 2023 - I wrote my first The Conversation article to discuss my research on North Atlantic killer whales' diets.
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Created my first youtube video explaining the diets of North Atlantic killer whales
April 2023 - I created this video abstract on Premiere Pro to recap the findings of the third chapter of my doctoral thesis. The title of the video is: What do killer whales eat in the North Atlantic? Fat’s the question!
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Invited speaker for the 24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals science communication panel
August 2022 – I participated in the panel with four other science communication experts. My presentation title was: Communicate your findings to the general public for early-career scientists.
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Invited speaker for the Breaching Extinction podcast
June 2022 – I was invited by Erica Wirth to discuss my work on killer whales and Whale Scientists.
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First prize for the "présente ta recherche en écotox" competition by ECOTOQ
June 2022 – I won first prize for the infographics I made on our research with Icelandic killer whales
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Multiple interviews by Radio Canada and CBC (TV and radio) about the two minke whales in Montreal
May 2022 – I was interviewed as a whale expert multiple times (CBC Montreal, Radio Canada) about the two minke whales that came to Montreal and the threats whales face around Canada.
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McGill's Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement Through Media Runner-up
April 2022 – I was the runner-up in the Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows category. Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier created the Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media to recognize outstanding achievements among individuals who share their knowledge with the public and the media.
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Workshop: Communicate your findings to the general public for early-career scientists
April 2022 – I created and delivered this workshop at the European Cetacean Society 2022 conference (online) to help my fellow early-career colleagues turn their research into posts aimed toward the public. Through this intensive training, early-career scientists received all the tools necessary to start their science communication journey, including how to pitch their stories to magazine editors.
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Writer for Baleines en Direct - Whales Online, Quebec lead marine mammal magazine
March 2022 – I write articles for Baleines en Direct in French and English about my research and marine mammals in general.
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Interviewed by "Let's talk Science"
December 2021 – I described what my work consists of and how I became a whale researcher for a young public.
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Featured on McGill University's front page
McGill wrote a story about me, my research and my science communication work with Whale Scientists.
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Communications chair for ComSciCon QC
September 2020 to October 2021 – COMSCICON is a scientific communication conference initiated by Harvard. We train the next generation of scientific communicators.
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Invited speaker for Cetacean Sessions by Bay Cetology
June 2021 – Cetacean Sessions is an outreach webinar organized by Bay Cetology (British Columbia). The webinar name was “You are what you eat: PCBs in North Atlantic killer whales” and I spoke with my colleague Clare Andvik from the University of Oslo.
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Invited speaker for « 24 Heures de Science du Québec » with Sciences à la Carte on Twitch
May 2021 – Panel "Voyage avec les Baleines" in collaboration with the Groupe de Recherche de d'Éducation sur les Mammifères Marins (GREMM).
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Received the Quebec Fonds de Recherche Grant to pursue Science Communication
March 2021 – Was selected by the Fonds de Recherche to receive a 5000 CAD grant to promote Whale Scientists and help kickstart my own science communication journey.
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Invited speaker for the “Super Spécialiste” Podcast in Quebec on killer whales
March 2021 – Interviewed for a french scientific podcastabout my work on killer whales.
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Published my first French science communication piece in Québec Science
June 2020 – The piece explained how whales carcasses can feed an entire abyssal ecosystem for a century.
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Zoom seminar for young aspiring marine biologists
April 2020 – Invited by ORCA Ireland to interact with school students about my work on killer whales and contaminants.
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Interview on TV for "Cabine de Recherche" by Savoir Média
February 2020 – Invited by Savoir Média to discuss my scientific journey and my PhD research. Interview in French.
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Won two first prizes in the Quebec and then International “My Nordic Project” competition
May and October 2019 – The competition format was a "my thesis in five minutes" on a Nordic topic. The first competition was in french, the second in English (in Reykjavík, Iceland)