Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), recently hosted Mr. Hashem Al-Ghaili to share his journey with science communication and how he has helped millions of non-scientists better understand scientific subject matter such as climate change, neuroscience, cancer, genetic engineering, and many more topics. 

The Yemeni-born biotechnologist, TEDx speaker, and science communicator is known for his skilled use of infographics and videos to document major scientific breakthroughs and technological achievements. His “ScienceNaturePage” on Facebook has more than 32 million followers and reaches around 400 million users per week while his videos have garnered nearly 16 billion views. 

During the QBRI webinar talk, My Journey in Science Communication, which was held as part of the Career Development in Science webinars series, Mr. Al-Ghaili discussed the key skills required in effectively communicating science. In recent years, science communication - the practice of informing, educating, and raising awareness of science and scientific research to non-expert audiences - has gained immense popularity as a lucrative career direction for many science graduates. 

While he took an interest in the natural sciences from an early age, Mr. Al-Ghaili highlighted the role of higher education in opening opportunities for him to pursue his passion. He earned his master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from Jacobs University, an English-language university in Bremen, Germany, which gave him access to the latest technologies and laboratory equipment. Given the choice of pursuing his PhD, Mr. Al-Ghaili instead went on to become a full-time science communicator and he continues to find new ways to share his knowledge. 

Commenting after the lecture, Dr. Adviti Naik, a postdoctoral researcher at QBRI and the moderator of the session, said: “Hashem Al-Ghaili’s passion for science communication has an incredible impact on millions around the world. His efforts are helping to highlight the importance of research and enabling scientific findings to be accessible to a wider audience in easy to understand visual formats. Through his videos, Hashem continues to inspire individuals wishing to pursue science as a career, and that is firmly in line with our goals at QBRI, to build capacity and develop a new generation of scientists.”

Mr. Al-Ghaili believes that, in the near future, 80 percent of Internet content will constitute multimedia. Speaking about the objectives of his platforms, he said: “The main goal is not to feed people information, but to feed them the process of finding information and questioning everything. There are thousands of discoveries being published every day and people need to understand the process of getting abstract knowledge and how they can apply it to their own ways of communication.”

For more information about QBRI’s state-of-the-art research facilities and centers focusing on research related to diabetes, cancer, immunity, and neurological disorders, please visit qbri.hbku.edu.qa