During the MSc in Science Communication, which I graduated from in the summer of 2025, one of the things I was most interested in was how creative, low-resource formats could be used to tell science stories, particularly stories that don’t always get space in mainstream public narratives.
I’ve recently had the opportunity to develop a small project that grew directly out of these interests: a set of three illustrated zines telling the stories of three women scientists from the 20th century, who made significant contributions to global science but whose stories are largely unknown.
Seeing this project picked up by the Bristol-based science centre We the Curious has been a meaningful milestone, one that reflects the translation of ideas and skills developed during the MSc into a real-world project at a beloved science venue.
The zines feature three fascinating scientists:
- Dr Janaki Ammal – ethnobotanist, plant scientist and conservationist, and the first woman scientist to work at the Royal Horticultural Society
- Hisako Koyama – amateur solar observer whose incredibly detailed, hand-drawn records inform our understanding of solar activity, and lastly,
- Dr Kamal Ranadive – cancer researcher whose work exploring links between cancers and viruses was ahead of its time. Her work also contributed to the development of a leprosy vaccine.
The project is a very small attempt to help broaden public representation of scientists, scientific work, and science histories. Representation in science is discussed in terms which sometimes feel very distant, but I was interested in exploring what it might look like in a tangible, accessible and low resource format.
Why zines?
Zines felt like a great medium to do this. They are relatively inexpensive to produce, informal, and well suited to combining illustration, narrative, and information. The zines are six pages, when folded, and tell the story of each scientist in broad strokes. The reverse side folds out into a poster, encouraging readers to continue to enjoy the story beyond the initial read.
Through the MSc, I’ve come to appreciate the value of reflexivity and of embedding evaluation into projects, even those that are small or do not involve research. The zines include a QR-linked feedback form with questions that are intentionally open and exploratory (e.g. After reading this, has your idea of what scientists look like changed? Did something about the stories surprise you?). The aim, of course, is not to produce formal findings, but simply to get a sense of how people respond to the zines.
Having the zines stocked at a vibrant and bustling science centre, like We the Curious, is hugely gratifying but also means producing the zines feels less like an end point and more like the start of something that might hopefully continue to evolve.
The project – alongside my wider science communication practice – has been a reminder that my time doing the MSc has been hugely valuable – not just to get the grounding to develop my own ideas, but also the confidence to design and test creative approaches to science communication in real contexts. I’m excited to see where the stories travel next!
By Sneha Uplekar, MSc Science Communication student 2023 – 2025