Damitha Gunathilake
Damitha writes and reviews science articles on Let’s Talk Science’s websites. She enjoys making complicated science topics easy to understand.
Time volunteering with Let’s Talk Science: 2 years
Area of study: Ph.D. Candidate (Molecular Biology), University of Calgary
Inspirational Moment: The opportunity to interact with the CurioCity editing and reviewing team is one of the greatest experiences I have had becoming a good science communicator. I became an online volunteer with Let’s Talk Science because I wanted to serve the public by sharing my knowledge of science. As a communicator, we always have to understand the audience. The biggest challenge is explaining science accurately while maintaining simplicity to ensure our audiences understand the concept. A quote from Albert Einstein that motivated me when writing for CurioCity’s audiences was, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it at all.”
When I started working with the CurioCity team, I learned so much about how to appeal to a group of people with no deep insight into science. They helped my writing be simple, clear and accurate.
Receiving notifications and links to my published articles was the most satisfying moment of volunteering! It inspired me to carry on my work as a science communicator.
Favourite Let’s Talk Science volunteering activity: The article I wrote about bacteriophages, under the name of “Bacteriophages Vs Antibiotics” was my favorite as I work with bacteriophages in my research.
Why do you volunteer with Let’s Talk Science? I want to share my knowledge and enthusiasm for science with the public. We hear many stories about great scientists who make ground-breaking discoveries, but we don’t know much about the thousands of scientists who spend their lives adding bits and bits of knowledge to the great mesh of science knowledge every day. I’m not interested in being a scientist who does something completely alien to everyone.
Fun fact: I am not a professional artist but I enjoy drawing and painting. I spend my spare time trying to improve my drawing and painting skills through YouTube videos.