Dr. Victoria Glynn creates art to communicate science
Authors: Ava Craig, Camille Taggart, Raphaelle Reyes
"Art is like a common language that draws people in, regardless of their background." - Dr. Victoria Glynn
Dr. Victoria Marie Glynn completed her PhD at McGill University investigating coral reef response to climate change in Panama’s Tropical Eastern Pacific, a region of the Pacific Ocean that spans from Mexico to Ecuador. Dr. Glynn is also an accomplished artist and science communicator with extensive pedagogical training and experience developing programming for the Redpath Museum and the Punta Culebra Nature Center. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Melissa Pespeni’s lab at the University of Vermont, working on how the copepod microbiome impacts these types of crustacean's resistance to thermal stress. She is luckily able to continue working on science communication initiatives by leading students in a large, introductory genetics course in creating infographics exploring the connections between genetics and society.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Glynn about her journey in science education, the benefits of incorporating art into science communication, and disrupting traditional communication models to engage diverse audiences and center community perspectives.
Ava: How did you start integrating art into your scientific work?
Victoria: I earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences, an interdisciplinary field where I studied environmental economics, ethics, and molecular biology. While pursuing my degree, I began volunteering as an English literacy tutor and discovered a passion for teaching. This experience inspired me to pursue a minor in science education, which helped me recognize the shortfalls in how science is communicated — particularly how it often excludes specific populations.
As part of my science education minor, I was placed in a school that primarily served refugees and children who had recently arrived in the U.S. In this role, I saw firsthand how language barriers could prevent engagement with science content. To overcome this, I drew on culturally relevant pedagogy, which emphasizes using familiar and relatable examples to make lessons more meaningful. When examples do not resonate, students often spend more time trying to understand the context than the lesson’s content.
Keeping this in mind, during my teacher training, I co-taught a plant anatomy class and used plants I collected from around the school each morning. These plants were more familiar to my students and made the lesson more tangible and engaging. That experience sparked my interest in the importance of visuals in teaching. If bringing in physical artifacts made the lesson more real and compelling, could this same principle apply to the visuals — such as pictures and figures — I used in class?
This insight carried over into my PhD. My research focused on dynamics at the microbial and molecular scale within a field that primarily addressed macro-scale concepts. I quickly realized that it was difficult for people to visualize the dynamics I was studying. Recognizing this gap, I began creating illustrations to make my research more accessible and engaging. 0
Camille: How have your scientific illustrations and photographs helped you communicate your research?
Victoria: It can feel like art and science are speaking different languages, but they aren’t. I think many people have forgotten that both art and science are grounded in observation. When I apply an artistic lens, I find myself being more critical of the assumptions in my work. In fields with decades of research, certain narratives become tropes. As a result, the figures in textbooks or publications often share the same underlying assumptions. Art has given me more autonomy to shape the narrative I want to tell and has pushed me to question what I think is important. For instance, microbiome research often focuses on “good” versus “evil” microorganisms, and I have seen hundreds of figures portraying this battle. But calling an organism pathogenic is an oversimplification. Breaking away from those established narratives, by creating my own scientific illustrations, has helped me have more nuanced conversations about what my data is saying, even with myself.
Raphaelle: Have you noticed any changes in how people engage with your science when you're including these artistic methods versus the more traditional ones?
Victoria: A great example is when I presented at a conference this summer. I was one of the last presenters to speak. Before my talk, I had seen all these excellent presentations, but it stood out to me that only two included their own hand-drawn graphics. When I showed mine, I could feel the audience tune in more closely. There was a noticeable shift in engagement. I think art feels more familiar, and at a conference with such varied topics, from Alzheimer’s disease to weather-resilient crops, art seemed to connect with everyone. Art is like a common language that draws people in, regardless of their background.
Ava: How have your illustrations increased the accessibility of your science?
Victoria: I believe whoever is looking at my science has insight into my thoughts. Sometimes, it would be easier to include a Nature article figure. But by taking the time and being deliberate with what I’m showcasing in my illustrations, I'm making value judgments. For general and academic audiences, it gives them a sense of what I think is important, which may differ from what they believe is important. This creates more fruitful conversations and a more open and equitable line of communication.
Camille: How do you tailor your art for different audiences, such as scientists, students, or the general public?
Victoria: It isn't about creating different illustration pieces for different audiences, but instead thinking about the story I choose to tell with my illustrations. Let’s say in a talk I want to highlight that microorganisms interact with coral reefs and are important for their health. This topic is accessible to all audiences, but I tailor how the audience receives it. If I was talking to school children, from my original illustration I may remove the microorganisms and ask them if there are any organisms missing from the illustration. Then, I would include on the next slide the same illustration with the microorganisms included and ask them what they know about them. If I were showing the same illustration in a talk to other scientists, I would instead show it in its entirety to highlight the macro and microscopic interactions present in a reef as an introduction to my research question.
Raphaelle: You've had a large variety of science communication experiences worldwide. How do you ensure you're centering the community's perspectives and voices? 
Victoria: I believe good science communication should do this on first principle. A big component is meeting your audience halfway and being very careful not to preach – your audience has rich lived experiences that should be invoked, not challenged. Much of my work in Panama involved talking to local collaborators, friends, and colleagues and asking about their own concerns and curiosities. For example, if there were a lot of concerns surrounding overfishing, I would start the discussion by focusing on how coral reefs serve as a nursery for many commercially and ecologically important fish species. Meeting your audience also involves avoiding assumptions about the knowledge they may or may not have. When I worked with kids in Panama, even though we were close to the ocean, not everyone had seen a coral reef. I would ask questions about what they had seen in the ocean instead of insisting that they should know what a reef is. It is important to have someone you trust look over your work to check if you are unduly making any assumptions about your audience.
Ava: You’ve reflected a lot on what messages you want to get across. How do you evaluate that those objectives are being met?
Victoria: That's a very important question. I don’t know if I would describe it only as “what I want to get across” or rather “what new avenues of thought are being sparked?” When I am interacting with the general public, if the only thing they take away from the presentation is that we can have a negative impact on our environment, then my goal has been met. I hope through my work that people become more conscientious of their role and relationship with our surrounding environment.
Camille: What sort of challenges have you experienced in your science communication and how do you address them?
Victoria: Often, we want to share more than the audience can chew, maybe because we're really excited about the topic. This has taken a lot of practice, but when I look at my slides, I say to myself, "in one sentence, what is the goal of this slide?" And if it takes me more than one sentence to articulate the goal, then I know I have too much information on the slide. Sometimes, less is more. I think visuals are key to connecting ideas together. The more you can break down what things mean and why you're assuming certain things, the better you can communicate your work.
Raphaelle: How do you hope science communication will change in the future?
Victoria: I think we're seeing this a little bit now - pushing for more interactive activities that are not limited to museum spaces. If you’re in a museum, you have all these specimens. You can manipulate them and look at them closer, and that’s great. But I think bringing that same playfulness into the classroom and community space is really important. I would like to see more activities that involve guided walks in nature, or activities that allow the public to get in our “lab coats” so to speak, by looking at specimens under the microscope and having discussions on what observations people are making. Of course, this takes a lot more planning, but I think this is a cogent way to highlight the work scientists do and allow more people to feel they can belong and thrive in scientific spaces.