Spotlight on FMIers: Marco Pregnolato

Spotlight on FMIers showcases the lives, work and passions of the institute's researchers and support staff. This time, PhD candidate Marco Pregnolato tells us about his efforts to communicate science to the public and his dream of making a short film about climate change. With more than 4,000 followers across different social media platforms, Marco Pregnolato is quickly becoming a 'science influencer'. On his channels, Marco shares knowledge on emerging coronavirus variants, COVID-19 jabs and other science-related topics, and breaks down complicated concepts into engaging, bite-sized content. He's on Twitter , Instagram , YouTube and Facebook , and also writes about tech and science for a student-led blog called AlterThink (only available in Italian). Hundreds of people follow you on social media to read and watch your content. How did your venture into science communication start? I always wanted to communicate science to the public, but I never had the time to do it. Last year, as the Swiss government imposed a lockdown amid the first coronavirus surge, I said, "now that I have to stay at home, I can record some videos." I decided to go on YouTube because it allowed me to upload long videos where I could explain stuff well. My main goal was to reach people who don't really know much about science, so I used an easy language and simple animations. After a while, I discovered Twitter, where now I have more than 2,000 followers: some of them are very curious, always asking questions about science — that's really what I was looking for. Being on Twitter also allowed me to get noticed by the editors of AlterThink, who were looking for someone to start the science section of the blog. Which social media channels do you use the most?