IntroductionScience is an essential tool for the development of a healthy， informed， sustainable，and balanced society。 It is also a tool that has an unfortunate history of being usedto ostracise， alienate， and exclude; a weapon of choice for those who wish to main-tain the status quo of a western， patriarchal hegemony of thought [1–3]。 Sciencecommunication provides a way through which to open up science to a more diverseaudience， helping us to move beyond the wrongful exclusion of others from sc IntroductionScience is an essential tool for the development of a healthy， informed， sustainable，and balanced society。 It is also a tool that has an unfortunate history of being usedto ostracise， alienate， and exclude; a weapon of choice for those who wish to main-tain the status quo of a western， patriarchal hegemony of thought [1–3]。 Sciencecommunication provides a way through which to open up science to a more diverseaudience， helping us to move beyond the wrongful exclusion of others from scien-tific discourse。 Not simply because science should be seen as a right rather than aprivilege， but because truly diversifying science is the only way to facilitate originalsolutions to the global interdisciplinary problems that science itself is committed tosolving。I have written elsewhere about the need for inward-facing and outward-facingscience communication。 That there is a need for science to be communicated toother scientists via peer-reviewed research articles， conference presentations， andacademic monographs （inward-facing）。 How there is also a need for science to becommunicated to non-scientists via policy documents， science festivals， and collab-orative workshops （outward-facing）。 This outward-facing side of science commu-nication exists on a spectrum， with dissemination （unidirectional from scientists tonon-scientists） at one end， and dialogue （multidirectional between scientists andnon-scientists） at the other。I have deliberately chosen the term dissemination to describe the one-way transferof information from scientists to non-scientists， rather than ‘deficit model’， in whichscientists are perceived to fill the knowledge ‘deficit’ of non-scientists。 This termholds negative implications about both the intellectual capacity of an audience andthe potential motivations of scientists [5]， and as such I instead choose to focuson dissemination as a necessary mode of communication which provides reliableinformation in an accessible way， and which is itself often an essential prerequisitefor dialogue。This book aims to explore how we might communicate science effectively bothto and with non-scientific audiences across this spectrum of science communication，from dissemination to dialogue， via the medium of poetry。 At this point I imagine that you have two burning questions that you would like me to address。 Firstly: is the best way to diversify science and stop it from ostracising， excluding， and alienating to use a medium which is perceived by many to be similarly ostracising， excluding， and alienating？ And secondly: who exactly is Sam Illingworth to be telling me how to use poetry to help communicate science？Well， to answer the second of these questions first: who exactly am I？ A scientist？A poet？ Both？ Neither？ In all honesty， these are questions that I have struggled withthroughout my academic career， in part because I don’t think that I am necessarilythe person to make such judgements， and in part because I dislike labels， and findthem to be constricting。 If I write a poem and keep it in a journal where only I cansee it does that make me any less of a poet than if I win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry？Similarly， if I spend a long summer weekend making detailed observations of all theinsects in my garden does that make me any less of a scientist than a recipient of theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine？So rather than tell you about what I am and what I am not， let me instead tell youa little bit about my academic journey， and how I came to be in a position where Iam writing this book on how to communicate science via the medium of poetry。After a Master of Physics in Physics with Space Science & Technology I embarkedupon a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences （both at the University of Leicester in the UK），investigating how satellites could be used to make detailed observations of green-house gases at the Earth’s surface [see e。g。 7–9]。 During my PhD I was involved in alarge amount of outreach and public engagement [10] mainly driven by my interestin theatre （I was also the President of the University of Leicester’s Theatre Society），and after graduating I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation to investigate the relationship between science and theatre inJapan。 During this scholarship I continued to develop my expertise in science commu-nication and realised that I was perhaps best placed to do so from within academia，and so I returned to the UK to take up a postdoctoral research position， followedby a Lectureship in Science Communication。 Shortly after becoming a Lecturer Istarted writing poetry as a way to try and bring scientific research to new audiencesvia a blog （see Chap。 2）， which I continue to update on a weekly basis。 Since thenmy poetry has appeared in several poetry journals and anthologies， I have performedin spoken word events and venues across the world （from Google’s HQ in SiliconValley to the Green Man Music Festival in Wales）， published my research on the rela-tionship between science and poetry in high-impact， peer-reviewed journals [see e。g。11–13] and edited several collections of poetry and spoken word。 I am now an Asso-ciate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University， where my research involves usingpoetry to develop dialogue between different communities。 I will return to some ofmy current and previous research throughout this book， as both exemplars and aslearning opportunities from my many mistakes。 For now though， I hope that this briefbiography serves to illustrate that I am someone for whom poetry has proven to bean effective medium through which to communicate science。So， that’s me。 Now to return to the other question: why use poetry to help commu-nicate and diversify science when poetry itself has also been associated with a lackof open communication and diversity？One of the most common experiences that I encounter when running poetry work-shops is when the participants say: ‘poetry isn’t for me。’ When asked to expand onthis statement， they usually reveal that this attitude stems from encountering a specifictype of poetry while they were at school， which they did not enjoy， and the mislednotion that all other poetry must be similar。 At this point I like to draw on an analogy。I enjoy many different varieties and genres of music; however， I am really not a fanof Finnish death metal （sorry Finnish death metal fans）。 I imagine that if I had onlyever heard Finnish death metal， I would likely be under the impression that I did notlike music。It is the same with poetry。 For many people， they often feel alienated， or excluded，or just plain bored by the poetry that they encounter in their early formative years （Iknow that this is not true for everyone）， and so part of the challenge is in working withthese audiences to identify poetry that they do like， and which they feel speaks bothto and for them。 Doing so helps to reinforce the importance of their own knowledge，expertise， and lived experiences， which in turn helps to ensure agency during thedevelopment of subsequent dialogues。 By listening to the needs of an audience andworking with them to read， analyse， write， share， and perform poetry that they enjoy，it therefore becomes possible to use this as medium through which to open-up andexplore science in an engaging， accessible， and stimulating manner。Another question that I often get asked is: ‘Why poetry？ Couldn’t you just usevisual arts， or comedy， or music， or dance to communicate science instead？’ Well yes，you could。 And there are many great examples of people who do just that [14–17]。However， aside from the fact that I lack any real expertise in any of these disciplines（and am thus ill-suited to write a book extolling the specifics of their various sciencecommunication virtues）， I believe that poetry offers a unique way to help critique，interrogate， and diversify science。 As Salman Rushdie tells us in The Satanic Verses[18， p。 97]:‘A poet’s work [is] to name the unnameable， to point at frauds， to take sides， start arguments，shape the world and stop it from going to sleep。’Poetry has the capacity to hold a mirror to science， capturing its reflection wartsand all。 It is a powerful tool through which to explore the times when science usesthe wrong words and ideals， and what we can do to change that。 Poetry is also anextremely flexible， adaptable， and accessible medium for communication， providingthat it is introduced and framed as such。 Throughout this book I will present a largevariety of ways in which poetry can be used to give voice to different audiences， themajority of which can be done with nothing more than a pen， a paper， and an openmind。Individually， science and poetry both present a set of complementary methodsthat together can help us to better comprehend the world and our place in it， whilealso diversifying knowledge and understanding。 In writing this book I hope to layout a roadmap for how others might use poetry across the spectrum of sciencecommunication， from dissemination to dialogue， with a variety of different audiences。----Science &/vs PoetryOne of the reasons why science and poetry are seen by many people to be exclu-sive and ‘not for them’ is because they have encountered situations in whichthey have been made to feel excluded。 Think of a time when you have beenmade to feel excluded from something （it doesn’t have to be science or poetry）and reflect on how this made you feel at the time。 Was your exclusion delib-erate？ What could have been done differently？ Has this had a lasting impacton your engagement with the thing from which you were being excluded？How might you use your own experiences of being excluded to help ensurethat a non-scientific audience can be made to feel included and empowered byscience？ Likewise， are there specific steps that you can take， based on yourown exclusion（s） to make sure that this audience are encouraged and enabledthrough your use of poetry？© The Author（s）， under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022S。 Illingworth， Science Communication Through Poetry。 。。。more