 My name is Amy Carroll and I'm a science enthusiast. My name is Vicky Lazar and I'm a science enthusiast. We're members of the catalyst. That's a science entertainment collective based in Switzerland. So before we jump into our talk, we want to find out who's in the room. So if you have a PhD master's in any kind of discipline, raise your hand. Okay. And if you've done work with applied improv and scientists or doctors or researchers, raise your hand. Those of you who would like to work with researchers, you're curious. Excellent. Okay, good. So we're going to talk to you today about why researchers are stressed out, why that's a problem, and how improv and you can be part of the solution. So who here has ever had a round of antibiotics? Don't tell us why. Yeah, no details. We don't want to know why. But some of you might know that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. You may not know how he went about that. So Fleming was notoriously messy. He had a really, really messy office and in August 1928, he went on a family vacation for a month and he left his messy office behind. And when he got back to his office on September 3rd, 1928, he found that one of his bacteria cultures had gotten contaminated with this fungus and everything inside of it had died. And that fungus was from the genus penicillin. He used to call it mold juice. Like branding issues, anyone? But he moved beyond that and that's the penicillin that we all know and appreciate today. But can you imagine if Fleming had been too stressed or too overworked to take that month-long vacation, we may still be without penicillin today. Wouldn't it suck if researchers quit because science was too hard or too stressful? But actually that's happening right now. We have a mental health crisis in academia today. In fact, the European Council of PhD candidates and junior researchers recently held a webinar that was called How to Stay Sane in Academia. So let's throw some numbers at you. 6% of the general population report feeling seriously stressed, depressed, anxious. That number shoots up to 41% for researchers and 50% if you're a minority. So why is it so hard to be a grad student? Maybe our entire audience could share with us. Shout out some reasons why you found it difficult or you're finding it difficult now. Expectations. Competition. Yes. Isolation. Lack of control. Criticism. Volume of work. Impostor syndrome. Funding. Time. So here's the thing. Researchers are living in a world that no longer exists. Back in the good old days, it used to be that you go into academia and you were pretty much guaranteed a position as a tenured professor. Today, only 10% of people who get a PhD go on to get a tenured professorship. The number of grad students has increased wildly. The number of positions has more or less stayed the same. So that concept of publish or perish, they take it literally. They feel like if they fail in academia, they fail in life. But as this room knows, there's loads of career options out there if you have a PhD. There's lots of things for you to do. But no one is talking about that to the people who are in the process of getting their PhDs. So here's the thing. Academic institutions have caught on. They're creating soft skills training. They're creating career coaching opportunities. They're doing some counseling. But they're big heavy machines and they take time to get started. So while these big heavy machines are getting their act together, we think it's time for a grassroots approach. And we believe improv can be part of the solution. And sequence. We want to give you some background. The catalyst, that's a science entertainment collective based in Switzerland. So in 2006, a woman by the name of Adrienne LeBouf, she was in New York here studying at Rockefeller University. And she's like, man, this PhD life, this is tough. So she decided to create improv drop-ins as a way to manage her stress and bring in more joy in her life. Fast forward, 2012 she moved to Switzerland and she creates the catalyst. A science entertainment collective based in Switzerland. That's right. And the catalyst, what we do at the catalyst is we offer, it's three goals we have. One, to create a community for scientists. Two, to help them communicate their research. And three, to, what is the third one? To create new media for the public about science. Exactly. And so we are science enthusiasts. We will be sharing some quotes from some of our scientists throughout the talk to share their perspectives. So how we do this? Well, we all know drop-in is a gateway drug. Want some drop-in? Want some drop-in. Do you want to take some drop-in? Just a little. Do you want to try it? Yeah. Because we know that people who play together stay together. And then the people get excited to be working together and they create all sorts of other grassroots initiatives. Science podcasts. Science theater. Science improv shows and museums. Science film hackathons. Science podcasts. Did we say that one? Yeah. Well, podcasts are best. Right. So lots of different initiatives. And one of our researchers, Sophia, who studies the biology of sleep, she said, it's so amazing to see serious scientists get out of their shell, express all their cooped up boundless imagination and creativity and be super silly. Now, we've looked at the benefits and we've categorized it into three sections. There's the benefit to mental health, to the research, and to the science communication. So let's talk about mental health. You all have your experiences. And we've actually have a statistic that 15% of researchers feel worthless, trapped and stuck. And by its nature, research is full of failure. Experiments fail. Articles get rejected. Funding gets denied. So that idea of publish or perish is compounded with each failure. Remember, they're all keeping their eye on that one in ten. But with improv, we create a safe space where failure can be de-dramatized. Mistakes can sometimes lead to innovation. The researchers learn resilience and improv, and they can take that with them into their work. Here's what Christian had to say. Now, he used to be a PhD at the famous CERN. Improv teaches us to accept failures, creating this mindset to explore and to play. And John, who's a postdoc studying virus biology, describes it like this. Improv is incredibly therapeutic, given the high stress environment of scientific research. It's a way to step out of the real world for a bit and to play around in whatever other world your mind can conjure up. And as we know, improv creates community. It gives researchers much-needed support. One of my favorite quotes is, I love how improv gets me out of my head. I consider it a key part of my weak and self-care program. The drop-ins are a weekly chance to be with people who love and care about each other. Enough in the mushi stuff. What can this do for science research? Okay, so scientists are trained in critical thinking. It's really important that science has solid foundations and everyone can trust it. But sometimes there's a bit too much emphasis on the proving the hypothesis, this narrowing, the getting, getting, getting down to the point. And not enough time spent in that fun first phase of the scientific method, the exploration, the discovery, coming up with the hypotheses in the first place. So what does improv do? It offers the ability for more mental flexibility, for divergent thinking and for collaboration. One of our scientists said this, I get out of roots much faster. Who's surprised? Improv enhances everyone's ability to think with greater creativity and innovation. And for scientists, it teaches them to collaborate in a very competitive environment. Enrico, who's a PhD in engineering and material science, said this, I've become much more creative in and outside of research, taking the time, patience and enthusiasm, not to turn down any ideas right away, whether they're mine or someone else's. And then I see where that leads. I try to do this in everything, research or not. So here we are at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. What happens when you've created your amazing creative research? Yeah, communicate it. So what our scientists have said, that they're able to speak more effectively, more confident, more calm, they're able to get their message across in a crisp manner. They listen better and then when things don't go right, they can adjust more easily. And not only is improv good for scientists trying to communicate their research, it's also good for audiences listening to science communication. One of my favorite anecdotes is from Patrick, who's a postdoc in chemistry. He said, I had to present my research after someone else had already sucked the last little bit of energy out of the room. Of course, not talking about any Izzy or Ruth or anyone else who spoke before it. So, back to Patrick. I decided to first pass around the clap. The principal investigators loved it and didn't want to stop. Again, it was worth giving my presentation. So here's our call to action. I think you'd all agree with us that improv supports researchers in their mental health in their research and in their communication. This translates directly into creating a more positive impact in the world we live in today and the world in our future. So we want to ask all of you to offer your services, develop communities for researchers where you live, help researchers develop their skills, encourage them to take ownership and model for them how to lead their communities mindfully. Our invitation, create inclusive improv communities in universities and research institutes around the world. Let's ensure the Flemmings of tomorrow can realize their full potential and communicate and contribute to the world today and in the future. Inside and outside of academia. We're Amy and Vicki, signing off for the catalyst. Science Entertainment Collective in Switzerland. Thank you.