News from our lab Science Journalism

My internship in the Baby Sleep Lab during the pandemic

Text: Cécile Müller

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several ongoing research projects had to be readapted, and sometimes were even cancelled. I was lucky that my internship at the Baby Sleep Lab was maintained, even though it was entirely conducted at distance. 

During this internship, I created a science communication video with the content of a research article by Dr. Sarah Schoch et al., which had recently been published in the peer-reviewed journal Sensors. This research was an analytical procedure of sleep variables assessed with movement trackers (actigraphy) in infants. The multitude of sleep variables was systematically streamlined leading to a simplification into only 5 core sleep composites. After several strategic exchanges and feedback rounds with Salome and Sarah, and with the rest of the team, this is the result: https://youtu.be/AWijiHMITDI

I really enjoyed this internship, although I had been apprehensive about the fact that it was online and therefore I would feel a bit lonely behind my screen. Yet, this was not the case because I was in regular contact with members of the team, which allowed me to enjoy this period. I felt integrated by the team who supported me throughout the making of this science communication video.

I obviously would have liked to have been able to be on site and meet the whole team “in real life” but given the current situation, I feel lucky to have had a maintained internship and to have discovered a new way of putting forward an article, something I probably would not have done if the internship was not online. 

It was interesting to learn how to popularise and disseminate science, to create a video quite independently from scratch based on a written article. Transcribing this article into video made me realise that this tool is an important way to reach a wider audience and particularly those people who will directly apply and translate this research to the society. 

Cordial thanks to the whole team for the welcoming atmosphere!

Contact info: www.linkedin.com/in/cécile-müller-93aa78135

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

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