The Only Human project is for anyone who communicates anything about genetics to anyone. It exists to serve the public.
There is much written, audio and film communication about genetics – patient leaflets on genetic testing, websites from pharma on gene therapies, participant info sheets for genetic research, and advertising for direct-to-consumer tests.
The narrative arc tends to start with what genetics is (e.g. ‘we all have 20,000 genes, DNA is made up of a code of letters’) and what the benefits are (e.g. ‘we study genetics to understand what causes cancer’). And yet….between all of us writing such text, have we thought about the impact of our messages on collective public audiences? Probably not. Do we know what public audiences think and feel when they read such texts? Have we asked?
We are seeking to build a consortia of partners who want to learn and build the communications evidence-base together. You might be a genetic counsellor working in the NHS, you might be a scientist working in public engagement, you might sit on the board of a pharmaceutical company, you might sit on the board of a genetics research non-profit – but between you all, you want to understand how to gently nudge awareness about what genetics is and what it can offer, to broad public audiences.