phd comics statistics

• Reference Manager
• Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Community case study article, teaching science communication with comics for postgraduate students.

• 1 Départment de génie mécanique, Faculté de génie, Centre de Recherche Acoustique-Signal-Humain, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
• 2 Centre compétences recherche+, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
• 3 Département de biologie, Faculté des sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

Data visualization and visual storytelling are increasingly common terms when institutions and scientists want to introduce people to their research and science through stories. Yet institutions mostly teach and train their scientists in the language of science and scientific journals, whereas research dissemination calls for other forms of communication. A new university course introducing such a new form of communication is proposed to postgraduate students at Université de Sherbrooke since January 2020. Its main objective is to help students develop their general interest and skills into science communication using comics as a working medium. While following a simple path, this course has generally led to results beyond initial expectations and large engagement from students. This study describes the general context and structure of the course, analyzes feedback from participants, presents some results, and summarizes lessons learned to help the diffusion of such a cross-disciplinary course.

1 Introduction

The great majority of scientific work is generated and communicated in the form of academic studies. Their yearly number has grown by a third since the beginning of the 21st century ( Wilsdon et al., 2011 ) and reached an estimated value of 1,500,000 studies in 2015 ( Unesco, 2015 ). This data deluge combined with the use of an arcane scientific language limits the impact and awareness of scientific discoveries to a narrow and specialized audience. It also raises questions about how a scientific study is currently presented and/or written and how scientific information can be communicated to diverse users in diverse ways ( Sopinka et al., 2020 ). Increasingly, authors and publishers look to including non-traditional or additional research artifacts in publications so as to enhance interactions. The Acta Acustica journal recently launched “Audio Articles,” a type of scientific article with embedded audio files in the PDF and HTML versions of the article. Reactive and interactive diagrams are also proposed in digital publishing, and graphical abstracts are becoming ubiquitous ( Nature Chemistry, 2011 ).

In this context of a fast growing rate of science contents, the importance of science communication or research dissemination has increased for scientists and institutions to make research accessible to a wider audience but also to justify and stimulate funding ( Ross-Hellauer et al., 2020 ). As the progress in different fields of science increasingly impact our understanding of the world and the way it is governed, the scientific community faces the challenge of communicating in efficient, clear, and engaging ways findings that are ever more complex. Considering how many variables may have to be considered to give an accurate view of any given field, this is however not always readily feasible. To wit, a 2016 study evaluating successive summaries by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summaries for Policy Makers determined that this extremely important document remained of low readability despite considerable efforts ( Barkemeyer et al., 2016 ). It is in this context of having to explain in more engaging ways concepts that are ever less easy to summarize that this project was instigated.

Ideal scientists should thus surely own a scientific language to interact with peers, but they should also develop abilities to communicate their science using compelling approaches such as different ways of telling stories. Indeed, storytelling/narratives are keywords that are often seen to describe a new practice for scientists to share their messages and findings in an engaging way ( Flemming et al., 2018 ; Green et al., 2018 ; Hoffmann, 2020 ). Combining storytelling and science is sometimes discussed ( Katz, 2013 ; Nature Methods, 2013 ) but is generally strongly advised to strengthen the interface between science and practice or between science and human beings ( Krzywinski and Cairo, 2013 ; Arevalo et al., 2020 ; Jones and Crow, 2020 ; Muindi et al., 2020 ). To coin a phrase, data makes a story more credible and a story makes data less boring. Scientists can be portrayed as individuals and their motivation for research can be made relatable, and using a narrative style in an article can even positively impact its citation rate ( Hillier et al., 2016 ). As a consequence, data-driven storytelling ( Riche et al., 2018 ) is becoming a field in its own right and showcases interactive visualizations for science communication and education. Arts, educational games 1 , entertainment, imagination, and creativity are finally being included into teaching and learning approaches ( Fahnert, 2019 ; Robin and Jaouen, 2019 ).

While having been the object of various criticisms ( Wertham, 1954 ) and considered to be a subliterature for a long time, comics are now a legitimate art form, the ninth art , and an academic discipline 2 along with its specialized journals (few examples are: SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education; Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics; and The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship). The fact that comics can be recognized as a legitimate form of academic publication has been demonstrated by several authors ( Tisseron, 1975 , 2009 ; Hureau, 2019 ; Sousanis, 2015 ). Comics are also considered as a full-fledged tool for disseminating and explaining science. Since the 1940s ( Sones, 1944 ), comics have been generally seen as a valuable educational resource ( Morel et al., 2019 ; Scavone et al., 2019 ; Kirtley et al., 2020 ) and science comics are now highly common ( Schultz et al., 2009 ; Doxiadis et al., 2009 ; Hosler, 2013 ; Harder, 2015 ). Initiatives linking comics and science dissemination are mushrooming, including specialized websites 3 , cooperations 4 , and specialized meetings (Telling science–drawing science 5 ). A comic book presenting the study of ten doctoral students and drawn by professionals cartoonists has been published for the five last editions of the annual French national science fair, reaching 80,000 copies in 2019. The European research council launched the “ERCcOMICS” initiative 6 in 2014 that aims to circulate web comics promoting and explaining the achievements of 18 funded European research projects. More and more researchers advocate a larger use of comics in science ( Farinella, 2018a , b , c ; Scavone et al., 2019 ). One current trend is designated by the compound and new term “data comics” ( Zhao et al., 2015 ; Bach et al., 2017 ; Wang et al., 2019a , b ), which is praised for teaching data visualization and storytelling. Data comics can even help to humanize data for complex topics, typically related to health ( McNicol, 2016 ; Alamalhodaei et al., 2020 ). Examples of graphical abstracts taking a comic-like form are becoming common ( Caudron and Barral, 2013 ; Poisson et al., 2020 ). Creating comics is generally found to have a positive effect on students ( Scavone et al., 2019 ) and comics–science workshops are more and more being evaluated for younger people ( Tatalovic, 2009 ; Hosler and Boomer, 2011 ; Spiegel et al., 2013 ; de Hosson et al., 2018 ) or undergraduate students with a background in arts ( Wang et al., 2019a ). While guidelines or instructions for using this medium are now provided in the form of academic works ( Friesen et al., 2018 ; McDermott et al., 2018 ), concrete initiatives to train graduate and postgraduate students to the use of comics in their research project remain scarce. All these initiatives are mostly held by external facilitators ( de Hosson et al., 2018 ) and rarely by academic institutions.

While these observations show that comics are increasingly accepted as a valid, versatile, and engaging teaching resource, a significant hurdle in their widespread adoption is that relatively few people consider themselves to be sufficiently skilled artistically to consider producing their own; as with any field requiring a certain technical expertise, the first step might appear a little daunting. Here, we hypothesize that independent of a communicator’s artistic skills or prior familiarity with comics, it is possible to devise a very focused course introducing science communicators to the basics of comics’ grammar and to provide the technical skills required for even a neophyte to create comics of high quality.

Such a course has been devised as part of a global program to develop postgraduate students’ transdisciplinary skills and has been offered since January 2020 at Université de Sherbrooke (EFD919-Communication scientifique par la bande dessinée/Science communication with comics, two academic credits). The course has currently been given on four distinct semesters. Since it is offered to any faculty of school of the university, participants profiles generally include a broad range of specialties (examples are engineering, natural sciences, health studies, biology, quantum mechanics, education, management, and law). While the course only includes 12 h of traditional teaching, the involvement of students and the results obtained generally exceed all expectations. Self-assessment of participants furthermore indicate a strong confirmation of our hypothesis, as a vast majority of responders reported an important or very important progress in their science communication skills and their confidence in using comics for science communication.

So as to share this experience, this communication describes the global methodology used for the course including setup, organization, and assignments. The benefits for participants in terms of science communication are analyzed using surveys. Lessons learned and future directions of this course are finally discussed, together with the possible uses for student’s works.

2.1 Course Organization and Attendance

The EFD919 course was given during Winter 2020 (W20), Summer 2020 (S20), Winter 2021 (W21), and Summer 2021 (S21) semesters. The three objectives of the course are 1 ) to train researchers to science communication, 2 ) to help them develop transdisciplinary skills, and 3 ) to generate concrete contents for science communication. Over the four teaching sessions, 42 students followed and passed the course. Among them, 45% were women ( N = 19), 55% were men ( N = 23), and 74% were international students ( N = 31).

The two teachers have proven skills in comics and science communication and have designed the course materials and organization. It is composed of four workshops of 3 h long each, and each spaced by approximately 3 wk in order to allow sufficient time to elaborate and complete each intermediary work. The course was given in a classroom-based approach in Winter 2020 and Summer 2021 sessions and using an online teaching platform in Summer 2020 and Winter 2021 sessions given the COVID-19 pandemic. Even if this lowered the interactions level, the teachers did not notice a firm difference between classroom and online results.

For all the teaching sessions, the breakdown of the course was as follow:

• The first workshop integrates theoretical and general aspects concerning science communication, tools commonly used to disseminate content, and concrete examples of comics use within this area. The students are asked to write a summarized while popularized text concerning their research as a preliminary work (to be submitted prior the workshop, 300–400 words long). Each student introduces her/himself and has to summarize its research using popularized terms.

• The second workshop introduces the use of tools (free and open-source digital drawing software such as Krita, Medibang, or Inkscape). Comics grammar is also introduced (balloons, strips, and sketches), and examples of script breakdowns are discussed. Students briefly present their first breakdown of their scenario (popularized text transformed into a story) and then work in small groups (two to four people) to discuss/improve/elaborate their story. Teachers provide occasional interaction with groups for advices and suggestions.

• The third workshop first covers additional technical points like lettering, fonts, and balloons. Each participant presents his/her first drawn work and explains narrative choices to the group. This allows attendees to receive and provide comments and suggestions.

• The fourth workshop is fully devoted to the presentation of final works. Each comic is read publicly, and again all attendees are asked to receive and provide immediate reactions and comments.

Between workshops, the teachers provide individual feedback to all participants (concerning submitted intermediary works but also to answer to more specific questions, technical or general). To ensure inclusiveness, the workshops are systematically composed of several teaching and learning methods as well as varied educational content (lectures, multiple techniques, multimedia tools, and online videos). As pointed out in the course’s breakdown, each work is evaluated and discussed by the teachers but also by the other participants during the workshops. Joint work and group feedback provide source for emulation and sharing of ideas and help verify understanding of key messages. Completion of the course requires the submission of a final drawn work to be used in any context (article, scientific presentation, interactions with the general public, and individual development, see two examples in the Results section). The advised type of work is two-page comics to have sufficient space to describe a subject but also to limit the amount of work to be done. Two-page comics represent approximately two-thirds of final works. Depending on the chosen support and subject, other typical outputs are posters, one-page comics, or more-than-two-page comics (some students even expanded their work up to eight to nine pages).

2.2 Surveys

Data were collected from three online surveys administered through the Moodle learning management system. Attendees received an initial notification about the surveys from the course teachers, and then two recruitment emails, each 5 days apart approximately. It is precised that a generally larger number of answers was obtained for the pre-course survey, since some students that initially registered for the course did not finally attend (especially for W21 session). All answers were nevertheless kept. The pre-course survey was designed to take respondents 5 min to complete and assessed each participant expectations and background for the course using close-ended questions. This survey was only administered after the course has been taught for the first time (i.e. after W20 session), and thus three teaching sessions are considered. The two post-course surveys were designed to take respondents 10 min to complete. The first post-course survey assessed the course impacts in terms of earned experience and knowledge, using close-ended questions. The second post-course survey aimed at collecting information concerning the use of comics and its components within the frame of science communication, and from the students standpoint (how they used comics’ features and elements in their work?). The questions and possible answers for each survey and corresponding results are reported in the following section. The pretest survey return rate was 95% while the two post test surveys return rate was approximately 80% (S21 session had the lowest response rate).

3.1 Two Examples of Student Works

Figures 1 , 2 illustrate two typical work progressions as a function of the workshop number. Both students had hand sketching experience but were novices concerning comics and its design.

FIGURE 1 . First example of the course outcomes: Workshop #1: initial popularized text; Workshop #2: first graphical breakdown; Workshop #3: second graphical breakdown; Workshop #4: final colorized work (Silouane de Reboul, La simulation aéroacoustique - Aeroacoustics simulation ).

FIGURE 2 . Second example of the course outcomes: Workshop #1: initial popularized text; Workshop #2: first written scenario breakdown; Workshop #3: second scenario breakdown including sketches; Workshop #4: first page of the final black and white work, later colorized (Julie Frion, Les trésors de l’ADN poubelle - Junk DNA’s treasures ).

The compact nature of a short comic demands that the author first identify the core message that is to be carried out. This is done in a first rough script, in which elements will be considered and either retained or set aside, depending on how necessary they are, how they affect the flow of the story, and how much leeway the storytelling approach allows (see Figure 1 - Workshop # 1 and Figure 2 - Workshops # 1–3). Graphical elements can already be considered at this stage. In the second step ( Figure 1 , Workshop # 2), a rough draft allows the author to set the pace and tone of the story, determine what information can be fitted on the page, and see how it can be best integrated in the story line. This step usually leads to several alternate versions. The following steps ( Figure 1 , Workshop # 3–4, Figure 2 , Workshop # 4) actualize the ideas considered in the preceding step, with final adjustments being made to enhance the story’s pace and its readability. Fonts are adjusted, and complex words are replaced by synonyms or simpler wordings. Graphical analogies and metaphors are nearly always embedded into the work (Onomatopoeia in Figure 1 –Workshop # three to four, the Star Wars death star vs. our body cells to illustrate respective diameters and objectives in Figure 2 –Workshop # 4).

It can be precised that even if all works start with a popularized text and end with a piece of comic-based work, the followed path between these two points can vary between participants. This heavily depends on the creative part of the process, and the main idea of the story can be either found very soon or might take a longer time to be identified. It is not unusual that students do not present a first breakdown for the second workshop because they did not find their starting point. Presentations from other students and group works in Worshop # 2 usually help triggering this process.

3.2 Pre-course Survey

The results from this survey are provided in Table 1 . The general knowledge level concerning science communication, evaluated in Question 1, is nearly normally distributed around the median answer, with 54 % of answers. It appears from the results of Question 2 that the great majority of attendants consider that they have an overall very low or low level of knowledge concerning the use of comics for science communication (46 % “Very low” and 46 % “Low”). Nevertheless, the answer to Question 3 reveal that this is not necessary linked to a lack of confidence, with 68 % of the students reporting a “High” or “Very high” confidence level. Overall, the distribution of answers (from “Very low” to “Very high”) concerning knowledge and confidence are nearly opposite. According to Question 4, 68 % of the attendants think that science communication using comics is not common, and 20 % even report having never thought of it before. This shows that even if the use of comics is strongly developing as pointed out in the Introduction section, this use is not well known by postgraduate students. Finally, the results of Question 5 concerning students’ prior skills for this course show that a little more than half of students (57 % ) could be considered for beginners. From the students point-of-view, comic-based science communication is thus perceived as unknown as its tools and methods, but it nevertheless gives them confidence into its use.

TABLE 1 . Results of the pre-course survey over three teaching sessions.

3.3 First Post-course Survey

This survey’s results are provided in Table 2 . According to the results of this survey, the progression of general knowledge of science communication is mostly considered “Important” with 59 % of the answers. Nearly all students estimate that their knowledge level concerning science communication has largely improved (65% and 32% for “Important” and “Very important” progressions, respectively). Compared with the reported low level at the beginning of the course, this indicator illustrates a large impact on this considered criterion. Another interesting point is that even if the confidence level was already high before following the course, the respondents report that they nevertheless have a large progression concerning this point. Finally, a global increase in terms of knowledge in arts and media is noted, with only 21 % answers reporting a bare improvement in this domain. These results indicate that two of the objectives of such course are achieved, that is, developing transdisciplinary skills and training researchers to science communication. Several students underlined that they had large interest in arts before starting higher education (and being involved into more specialized and intensive teachings) and valued the possibility of combining their interests in different domains.

TABLE 2 . Results of the post-course survey over four teaching sessions.

3.4 Second Post-course Survey

This survey aimed at analyzing from the student’s standpoint on how they used comics’ features and elements in their work and how they foresee the use of this work. The corresponding results are provided in Table 3 . The results obtained for Question 1 show that the students choice of a character directly linked to their research or of a character that would be a simple speaker to describe their research is nearly split half. The analysis of students work by the teachers reveals that the choice of a human-like or non-human character was also nearly parted in half. It is as much the object of science as the person doing this science that are thus used to illustrate a research. Answers to Questions 2 and 3 provide interesting information concerning science and its storytelling. The scientific information was deemed clearly transcribed in their work by 67 % of the students, and the remaining 33 % had to modify it to convey their message. The “Storytelling” term for the use of comics in science communication seems appropriate with only 12 % of works being considered a precise description of a research, but not a story ( see Question 3). The answer to Question 4 indicates the general public as the mostly contemplated audience for the work made during the course, with an orientation towards adults. The research area seems not firmly influential on potential university-level readers. Nevertheless, these numbers are weighted by their answer’s occurrence since multiple choices were accepted so that they might be biased.

TABLE 3 . Results of the post-course survey over four teaching sessions.

When students were asked if they intended to reuse the work they did during the course and if yes, “In which context?“, the answer was unanimous: 100% of the 33 respondents were willing to reuse this work. The answers to the open-ended question “In which context?” were as follows (ordered in decreasing order of number of occurrences): in a conference presentation, for science communication opportunities or projects, during my PhD defense, in my thesis, to explain my thesis subject to relatives, as a poster for visitors in my lab, for a journal study (supplementary material or graphical abstract), knowledge transfer with partners of a project. This corresponds to the validation of the third objective of the course, that is, to generate concrete contents for science communication. Another open-ended question asked the attendees to provide an adjective to qualify the general tone of their work. The three most cited adjectives were (in decreasing order): humorous, didactic, and documentary. Finally, the last open-ended question was the following: “Would you recommend this course to doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows? If yes, provide a reason why.” The answer was positive for all the respondents, and five reasons why are reported below:

• “Because it allows you to take another look at your doctoral work and to better explain complex notions to people not initiated in the subject. The exchange with other doctoral students is also very beneficial,”

• “This course allows science popularization to be seen in a whole new light,”

• “Because it progresses from an idea to popularize until its complete production,”

• “We think outside the box and the teachers, as well as the exchange with other students, open our horizons. The course has implications for our communication skills beyond the comics-based style,”

• “I would strongly recommend this training to anyone interested in science communication, because it allows you to approach and understand science from another point of view, surely fun but also effective in conveying a message.”

4 Conclusion and Perspectives

This study described a university course which main objective is to help postgraduate students develop their general interest and skills into science communication using comics as a working medium. All testimonies and survey results confirm the interest of such a science communication course that encompasses several domains. The discovery of other research areas and non-specialist point of views were highly appreciated and stimulated motivation in the course. It appears that comic-based science communication is not well known, but accessible. Within a teaching session, it is possible to obtain high quality works that can be used for various purposes. The participants can appreciate a complete science communication process, from an in-depth work to transform a scientific language to an adapted language until a concrete and tangible achievement. Even if science communication and its outcomes remain difficult to evaluate, as pointed out by Fischhoff (2019 ), the significant engagement that is promoted by this course allows us to reach effective and concrete results.

One of the stumbling blocks most often mentioned by participants was their initial self-appraised lack of artistic skills or lack of familiarity with traditional or computerized graphic tools, something that is reflected by the data in Table 1 . Although proper training with classical tools like pencil, pen, and brush would require an extended period, it is quite feasible to guide students through the use of computer-based techniques, including the use of programs especially conceived to draw comics, even with no artistic prior training whatsoever- in just a few hours. This conclusion is shared by Scavone et al. (2019) that point out that it is not only experienced illustrators who can make comic strips, concept cartoons, or even short comic books. The same authors underline that “Even if one does not know how to draw, this should not be a barrier to communicate (…) through the creation of comics.” This is indeed the case in practice according to the presented results and surveys. It is nevertheless underlined that overcoming beliefs of students (and educators) regarding the role of informal reading materials in science education should be systematically considered, since it was identified as a challenge that participants encountered in using comics in Matuk et al. (2021 ).

A series of short videos detailing and demonstrating such resources is already used in the class, and it would doubtless be beneficial to add a few more, particularly ones focusing on technical problems encountered by students of the class’s first cohorts. From the teacher’s point of view, this course concept can be easily adapted to teach other levels like senior undergraduates provided educators have sufficient knowledge concerning comics and science to answer (quite) miscellaneous questions and support students. A growing number of articles or reports underline the positive effect that creating comics have on student learning and teaching, with examples in various domains like engineering ( Barros et al., 2017 ), management ( Barbosa et al., 2017 ), or operations research ( Zamora et al., 2021 ). Some resources that provide step-by-step instructions for the conceptualization and design of comics that are based on scientific publications are readily available ( Friesen et al., 2018 ; McDermott et al., 2018 ).

One point that could be also included in future works is cross-cultural communication. Indeed, all participants could be here considered of the same or close culture so that chosen comic images and language will generally increase communication, which could be further studied if the course was taught in various contexts and for various communities including indigenous ones. Nevertheless, a combination of text and images carrying information (or telling a story) is an approach that was developed by several cultures independently and observed as early as 13th century BCE (Egypt’s Book of the Dead), ancient versions of the Persian epic poem Shahnameh ( see the 14th century Demotte Shahnameh, for example), or 11th century Europe (the Bayeux tapestry). The drive to represent reality in a graphic format seems to be a cross-cultural phenomenon, and widespread enough to have a nearly global appeal.

In the coming courses, starting in Winter 2022 session, new surveys will be also designed to refine assessment of fostered qualities and support continuous improvement of the course. Following the two first sessions, a series of workshops has been opened to a larger community (undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professors) thanks to a science communication grant. One of the most exciting perspectives is the current setup of a book gathering a series of comic-based works. This book will include works conducted within the enlarged community workshops, some of the works produced during the EFD919 course and comics made by professional comics writers on the basis of winning texts from the science popularization contest at Université de Sherbrooke. This book will serve as a unique medium to disseminate science and for science teaching (secondary schools and colleges are especially targeted). Indeed, the question of how produced comics can be further used to support teaching at various levels and the evaluation of their impact will be also considered in future works. Matuk et al. (2021 ) observed “how the use of a comic book series enabled educators to incorporate multiple literacies and disciplinary lenses into their lessons.” They noted that the use of comics helps to increase the diversity of students likely to engage with science, to bridge science and students personal experience, and finally promote engagement, equity, and diversity. The work carried out during all workshops will thus be valued with an effective transfer of scientific knowledge to the university community and the general public.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation was not required for this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

Author Contributions

OR wrote the original draft of this article, setup the surveys, and extracted corresponding data. OR and BL equally implemented the course contents and taught the course. ND supported the course setup as an initial pilot course. All authors equally contributed to the review and editing of the submitted version of this article and approved it.

The printing of a book that will include some works arising from this course is made possible through a Science Communication Skills grant. The extension of the presented workshops to undergraduate students, MSc students, and professors was also achieved through this grant. We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Nous remercions le Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG) de son soutien. The financial support of Université de Sherbrooke through the Centre compétences recherche + is also acknowledged.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors, and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

Silouane de Reboul and Julie Frion are thanked for sharing their intermediate and final works that are given in Figures 1 , 2 , respectively. Fatima Bousadra is acknowledged for her helpful suggestions concerning the surveys.

1 https://explorabl.es/

2 https://uqo.ca/emi , https://www.dundee.ac.uk/subjects/comics , https://humanitiesliberalstudies.sfsu.edu/minor-comics-studies

3 www.cartoonscience.org , https://www.datacomics.net/ , https://www.graphicmedicine.org/

4 https://www.stimuli-asso.com/

5 https://sarabandes2016.sciencesconf.org/ , https://tsds2019.sciencesconf.org/

6 https://www.erccomics.com/

Alamalhodaei, A., Alberda, A., and Feigenbaum, A. (2020). “Humanizing Data Through ‘Data Comics’: An Introduction to Graphic Medicine and Graphic Social Science,” in Data Visualization in Society . Editors M. Engebretsen, and H. Kennedy (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press ), 201–213. doi:10.5117/9789463722902_ch21

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Arevalo, V. J. C., Verbrugge, L., Sools, A., Brugnach, M., Wolterink, R., van Denderen, R. P., et al. (2020). Storylines for Practice: A Visual Storytelling Approach to Strengthen the Science-Practice Interface. Sustain. Sci. 10, 1013. doi:10.1007/s11625-020-00793-y

Bach, B., Riche, N. H., Carpendale, S., and Pfister, H. (2017). The Emerging Genre of Data Comics. IEEE Comput. Grap. Appl. 37, 6–13. doi:10.1109/mcg.2017.33

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Barbosa, A., Tavares, G., and Kruta, A. (2017). The Comics as Teaching Strategy in Learning of Students in an Undergraduate Management Program. RAM Rev. Adm. Mackenzie 18, 40–65. doi:10.1590/1678-69712017/administracao.v18n6p224-224

Barkemeyer, R., Dessai, S., Monge-Sanz, B., Renzi, B. G., and Napolitano, G. (2016). Linguistic Analysis of Ipcc Summaries for Policymakers and Associated Coverage. Nat. Clim Change 6, 311–316. doi:10.1038/nclimate2824

Barros, D. M. R., Begosso, L. R., Fabri, J. A., and L'Erario, A. (2017). “The Use of Comic Strips in the Teaching of Software Engineering,” in 2017 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) , Indianapolis, IN , December 14, 2017 ( IEEE ), 1–8. doi:10.1109/FIE.2017.8190537

Caudron, F., and Barral, Y. (2013). A Super-assembly of Whi3 Encodes Memory of Deceptive Encounters by Single Cells during Yeast Courtship. Cell 155, 1244–1257. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.046

de Hosson, C., Bordenave, L., Daures, P.-L., Décamp, N., Hache, C., Guediri, N., et al. (2018). Communicating Science Through the Comics Science Workshops: the Sarabandes Research Project. JCOM 17, 10127–10134. doi:10.22323/2.17020203

Doxiadis, A., Papadimitriou, C., Papadatos, A., and Donna, A. D. (2009). Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth . New York: Bloomsbury Publishing .

Google Scholar

Fahnert, B. (2019). Be Prepared - Learning for the Future. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 366, fnz200. doi:10.1093/femsle/fnz200

Farinella, M. (2018a). Of Microscopes and Metaphors: Visual Analogy as a Scientific Tool. The comics grid: J. comics scholarship 8, 1–16. doi:10.16995/cg.130

Farinella, M. (2018b). The Potential of Comics in Science Communication. JCOM 17, 1–17. doi:10.22323/2.17010401

Farinella, M. (2018c). Science Comics' Super Powers. Amer. Scientist 106, 218. doi:10.1511/2018.106.4.218

Fischhoff, B. (2019). Evaluating Science Communication. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 7670–7675. doi:10.1073/pnas.1805863115

Flemming, D., Cress, U., Kimmig, S., Brandt, M., and Kimmerle, J. (2018). Emotionalization in Science Communication: The Impact of Narratives and Visual Representation on Knowledge Gain and Risk Perception. Front. Comm. 3, 1–9. doi:10.3389/fcomm.2018.00003

Friesen, J., Van Stan, J., and Elleuche, S. (2018). Communicating Science Through Comics: A Method. Publications 6, 38–10. doi:10.3390/publications6030038

Green, S. J., Grorud-Colvert, K., and Mannix, H. (2018). Uniting Science and Stories: Perspectives on the Value of Storytelling for Communicating Science. FACETS 3, 164–173. doi:10.1139/facets-2016-0079

Harder, J. (2015). Alpha . London: Knockabout .

Hillier, A., Kelly, R. P., and Klinger, T. (2016). Narrative Style Influences Citation Frequency in Climate Change Science. PLos One 11, e0167983. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167983

Hoffmann, R. (2020). The Tensions of Scientific Storytelling. Am. scientist 102, 250–253.

Hosler, J., and Boomer, K. B. (2011). Are Comic Books an Effective Way to Engage Nonmajors in Learning and Appreciating Science?1. Life Sci. Educ. 10, 309–317. doi:10.1187/cbe.10-07-0090

Hosler, J. (2013). Clan Apis . Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform .

Hureau, M. (2019). La Bande Dessinée Comme Forme Académique. belphegor 17, 1–24. doi:10.4000/belphegor.1882

Jones, M. D., and Crow, D. A. (2017). How Can We Use the 'Science of Stories' to Produce Persuasive Scientific Stories? Palgrave Commun. 3, 1–9. doi:10.1057/s41599-017-0047-7

Katz, Y. (2013). Against Storytelling of Scientific Results. Nat. Methods 10, 1045. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2699

Krzywinski, M., and Cairo, A. (2013). Storytelling. Nat. Methods 10, 687. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2571

Matuk, C., Hurwich, T., Spiegel, A., and Diamond, J. (2021). How Do Teachers Use Comics to Promote Engagement, Equity, and Diversity in Science Classrooms? Res. Sci. Educ. 51, 685–732. doi:10.1007/s11165-018-9814-8

McDermott, J. E., Partridge, M., and Bromberg, Y. (2018). Ten Simple Rules for Drawing Scientific Comics. Plos Comput. Biol. 14, e1005845. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005845

McNicol, S. (2016). The Potential of Educational Comics as a Health Information Medium. Health Inf. Libraries J. 34, 20–31. doi:10.1111/hir.12145

Morel, M., Peruzzo, N., Rodriguez Juele, A., and Amarelle, V. (2019). Comics as an Educational Resource to Teach Microbiology in the Classroom. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 20, 1–4. doi:10.1128/jmbe.v20i1.1681

Muindi, F. J., Ramachandran, L., and Tsai, J. W. (2020). Human Narratives in Science: The Power of Storytelling. Trends Molecular Medicine 26, 249–251. doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2019.12.001

Nature Chemistry (2011). The Art of Abstracts. Nat. Chem. 3, 571. doi:10.1038/nchem.1109

Nature Methods (2013). Should Scientists Tell Stories? Nat. Methods 10, 1037. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2726

N. H. Riche, C. Hurter, N. Diakopoulos, and S. Carpendale (Editors) (2018). Data-Driven Storytelling (New York: A K Peters/CRC Press ). doi:10.1201/9781315281575

Poisson, Y., Fiesta-Bianchet, M., and Pelletier, F. (2020). Testing the Importance of Harvest Refuges for Phenotypic rescue of Trophy-Hunted Populations. J. Appl. Ecol. 57, 526–535. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13562

Robin, O., and Jaouen, L. (2019). “Teaching/learning Acoustics through Entertainment?,” in 26th International Congress on Sound and Vibration , Montreal , July 7–11, 2019 , 1–8.

Ross-Hellauer, T., Tennant, J. P., Banelytė, V., Gorogh, E., Luzi, D., Kraker, P., et al. (2020). Ten Simple Rules for Innovative Dissemination of Research. Plos Comput. Biol. 16, e1007704. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007704

Scavone, P., Carrasco, V., Umpiérrez, A., Morel, M., Arredondo, D., and Amarelle, V. (2019). Microbiology Can Be Comic. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 366, fnz171. doi:10.1093/femsle/fnz171

Schultz, M., Cannon, Z., and Cannon, K. (2009). The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA . 1st Edn. New York: Hill and Wang .

PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

S. Kirtley, A. Garcia, and P. Carlson (Editors) (2020). Woth Great Power Comes Great Pedagogy - Teaching, Learning and Comics . (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi ).

Sones, W. D. (1944). The Comics and Instructional Method. J. Educ. Sociol. 18, 232–240. doi:10.2307/2262696

Sopinka, N., Coristine, L., DeRosa, M., Rochman, C., Owens, B., and Cooke, S. (2020). Envisioning the Scientific Paper of the Future. FACETS 5, 1–16. doi:10.1139/facets-2019-0012

Sousanis, N. (2015). Unflattening . Cambridge: Harvard University Press .

Spiegel, A. N., McQuillan, J., Halpin, P., Matuk, C., and Diamond, J. (2013). Engaging Teenagers with Science Through Comics. Res. Sci. Educ. 43, 2309–2326. doi:10.1007/s11165-013-9358-x

Tatalovic, M. (2009). Science Comics as Tools for Science Education and Communication: A Brief, Exploratory Study. JCOM 8, 1–17. doi:10.22323/2.08040202

Tisseron, S. (1975). Contribution à l’utilisation de la bande-dessinée comme instrument pédagogique : une tentative graphique sur l’histoire de la psychiatrie. PhD thesis. 1–88.

Tisseron, S. (2009). Passer sa thèse en bandes dessinées. c’est possible et c’est nécessaire ! [defending a doctoral thesis using comics. possible and needed !]. Sociétés 106, 9–13. doi:10.3917/soc.106.0009

Unesco (2015). UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) . Paris: UNESCO Publishing .

Wang, Z., Dingwall, H., and Bach, B. (2019a). “Teaching Data Visualization and Storytelling with Data Comic Workshops,” in CHI 2019 , May 4–9, 2019 ( Glasgow, UK ), 1–9. doi:10.1145/3290607.3299043

Wang, Z., Wang, S., Farinella, M., Murray-Rust, D., Riche, N., and Bach, B. (2019b). “Comparing Effectiveness and Engagement of Data Comics and Infographics,” in CHI 2019 , May 4–9, 2019 ( Glasgow, UK ). doi:10.1145/3290605.3300483

Wertham, F. (1954). Seduction of the Innocent . New York: Rinehart Company .

The Royal Society (2011). Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century . London: The Royal Society . .

Zamora, L. P., Bravo, S. S., and Padilla, A. G. (2021). Production of Comics in Powtoon as a Teaching-Learning Strategy in an Operations Research Course. Eur. J. Contemp. Educ. 10, 137–147. doi:10.13187/ejced.2021.1.137

Zhao, Z., Marr, R., and Elmqvist, N. (2015). “Data Comics: Sequential Art for Data-Driven Storytelling,” in HCIL Technical Report HCIL-2015-15 (College Park: University of Maryland ), 1–12.

Keywords: science communication, comics, postgraduate course, research dissemination, survey

Citation: Robin O, Leblanc B and Dumais N (2021) Teaching Science Communication with Comics for Postgraduate Students. Front. Commun. 6:758198. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.758198

Received: 13 August 2021; Accepted: 17 September 2021; Published: 27 October 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Robin, Leblanc and Dumais. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Olivier Robin, [email protected]

Comics: More Than Words

Between 2021 and 2023, this research group established a bridge among people working on comics from different disciplines. It gathered artists, scholars, and comic fans and conducted research on comics from a transnational, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary perspective. By looking at the world from the academically peripheral standpoints of graphic narratives, popular culture, fandom, visual studies, and superheroes; this group offered a uniquely critical insight into modern societies. During its existence, Comics: More than Words organized events around six different topics at the core of recent scholarly endeavors:

-Post-Colonial and De-Colonial Edition -Feminist Edition -Super-Heroines and Super-Heroes Edition -Manga Edition -Computer Science Edition -Comic Theory Edition

This group explored comics through a transnational, transcultural and transdisciplinary perspective. Presentations and discussions could touch on a variety of subjects such as 1940’s African American comics, Indian 1970s political comics and cartoons, recent Japanese Anime and Manga, the history of comics in Colombia, or Ukrainian memes. Working with comics from different areas of the world heightened the interest of the entire Stanford community and brought together a very diverse group of participants. The group also encouraged undergraduate and graduate students to present their original work and/or lead and organize reading and discussion sessions.

Undergraduate and graduate students who participated in this group came from over 30 different disciplines across Stanford. Some of these academic programs were: African and African American Studies; Art Practice; Business Administration (MBA); Classics; Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity; Computer Science; East Asian Studies; Economics; Education; English; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Film and Media Studies; History; Human Biology; International Policy; International Relations; Japanese; Mathematics; Political Science; Philosophy; Sociology; Symbolic Systems and several Engineering programs.

Testimonials:

"[This group] helped me understand that comics are a unique form of visual storytelling that encourages experimentation, pushes the boundaries of creativity, and provides an escape from reality." 

~Estefania Acuña Lacarieri, undergraduate student in Political Science and Communication

"Attending the group's talks has expanded my understanding of the potential of comics and graphic novels as vehicles for storytelling and academic exploration." 

~Andrea Brown, Events Coordinator and Media Administrator at the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (DLCL)

"As a presenter, I got the chance to share the adventure and process behind an endeavor near and dear to my heart—a CS educational comic—in front of a crowd and moderators that were engaged and curious. […] I think that lots of other Stanford students can derive great value out of this experience, whether it is realizing the creative potential and impact of comics or viewing them in a new light." 

~Ecy King, undergraduate student in Symbolic Systems and master’s in computer science

"It's no secret that the popularity of comics, including manga, is on the rise, but academia still lacks many places and communities where we can discuss them. However, this research group provides us with opportunities to learn, share, and discuss comics."

~Ryo Nomura, PhD student in Japanese

"The Comics course was the best Humanities course I was lucky enough to attend. […] I will always remember how it felt to be part of a multidisciplinary group and contribute my own experiences to the larger whole."

~Frieda Rong, PhD student in Computer Science

"The quality that sets Comics: More than Words apart is the way it validates comics as an artform worthy of academic inquiry. It taught more about the historical and cultural importance of its subject matter in only three meetings, where other courses took ten."

~Lillian Wolfe, PhD student in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences (DAPS)

For more information on our group, activities, and comics around Stanford, visit  ComicsAtStanford.com

Founding Members

Cristian Felipe Soler Reyes

Cynthia Laura Vialle-Giancotti

Faculty pis.

Héctor Hoyos

Krystal Ramirez

Ximena Briceño

Scott Bukatman

Fatoumata Seck

Past events.

Comics More Than Words: Nick Sousanis

Comics More Than Words: Frederick Aldama

Comics More Than Words: Pablo Guerra

Comics More Than Words: Zach Weinersmith

Comics More Than Words: SUCHO Ukranian Meme Database

Comics More Than Words: "Bit by Bit" by Ecy King

Comics more than words: ryo nomura.

Comics More Than Words: Mia Lewis

Comics More Than Words: Daniel Stein

Comics More Than Words: Scott Bukatman

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

• Backchannel
• Newsletters
• WIRED Insider
• WIRED Consulting

Julia Powles

PHD comics' Jorge Cham on misery, hope and academia

Jorge Cham, creator of the cult comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper , or PHD, is probably the most gut-achingly funny/tragic counsellor you could recommend to a PhD student -- or to any confounded friend, lover, or parent trying to understand what he terms, with some flourish, the "global misery phenomenon" of graduate school.

Cham is a full-time cartoonist, but the deep scars wrought by a PhD programme (in robotic engineering) remain his constant muse.

His webcomic has been running since he started grad school in 1997, is syndicated worldwide, and attracts a loyal following among that peculiar breed of poorly-paid, slightly masochistic overachievers, bravely hunting the frontiers of knowledge, free food, most random societies on campus, and unrequited supervisor approval.

PHD follows the travails of four main characters in grad school: the nameless, hapless hero that bears considerable resemblance to Jorge; Cecilia, the reluctant geek constantly frustrated by undergraduates; Tajel, the free-living social sciences student always willing to rally for a cause; and Mike Slackenerny, that person -- every research group has one -- who has been there longer than anyone can remember. The students' harried encounters with the demanding, loveless Professor Smith and absent-minded Professor Jones form the foundation for many priceless recurring gags, poking fun at the lows of grad student life.

Recently, Jorge was in the UK on an academic world tour , talking about 'The power of procrastination'. His thesis has something for all of us -- grad students and otherwise.

The power of procrastination

"The first thing to note", says Cham, "is that procrastination is not the same thing as laziness. Laziness is when you don't want to do anything. Procrastination, its close but distinct cousin, is when you don't want to do the one thing you really ought to be doing, right now. It's not that you don't want to do it, it's just that you find doing everything else possible, from some completely obscure hobby to categorising the entire internet, like the Yahoo dudes did when their supervisor was on summer break, more appealing."

How much time do you spend on a given comic?

I doodle and brainstorm on a notebook I always carry with me. It can take anywhere from five minutes to eight hours to work out a comic. Drawing it on the computer (using a Cintiq) usually only takes one hour.

Simon Singh has written a whole book about mathematics and The Simpsons . Have you got some examples of deep-coded nerd gags in your comics?

I always try to generalise things because my audience spans so many disciplines, but I do have a running gag that pi/2 is always the answer, and I've lost count how many times I've hidden 1.57 into my comics over the years.

Can you give away anything about your characters?

Increasing the ratio of female professors is a big topic I hope to address in the future. The nameless grad student was given a name in The PHD Movie (the film adaptation of the comics), but it's not clear yet whether that's canon or not.

The comics will eventually follow the characters to the completion of their time in grad school. One graduated several years ago (and is now a Post-doc), and I think another will graduate in the next year or two.

By Aarian Marshall

By Carlton Reid

By Justin Pot

You mentioned The PHD Movie . I've heard there's a sequel in the pipeline. Tell us about it.

Yes, we're trying to make a sequel to The PHD Movie ! A few years ago we made what I think is the first independent movie adaptation of a webcomic, and it was a great success in the academic world. It screened at over 500 universities and research centres worldwide (including Antarctica) and got great reviews.

Recently, I've gotten a lot of inquiries whether we're going to make a follow-up so I decided to give the fans a chance to make it happen by launching a Kickstarter . What's different about these movies is that they involve real scientists, researchers and staff members at a real top university (Caltech) in the acting and producing roles.

Part of the message we want to convey is that people in academia are not robots, that they have different passions, talents and even a sense of humour. So, the movie is in the hands of the internet to make it a reality.

Do you have a favourite PHD series?

I started listing out some of my favourite series, but then I realised another reason it's great to be a creator online is that it sort of doesn't matter how many people appreciate any particular piece of work you do. As long as you create something that has meaning to you, you will most likely find others who also connect with it, and the connection will probably be deeper than if you tried to create something that you think everyone would like. It's also easier to take risks because if people didn't particularly like something you did, you have your whole archive there for people to also sample and find something they like.

Is there one comic that stands out as particularly special to you?

One particular comic I've done that comes to mind is a version of Alice in Wonderland where Cecilia gets pulled through her monitor into Thesisland, as a metaphor for her feeling lost on her research. It's a series of comics I feel that works on different levels (character, arc, story, artwork, punch-lines). I also wrote and drew them during the first few weeks my son was born, so it's special also because I was somewhat inspired by that. It's not one I'm particularly famous for, but every once in a while someone will come up to me to say it's their favourite too.

You can see the 11 part series online, starting here and ending here .

The PHD Movie is available to watch for free all this month . You can fund the sequel through this Kickstarter campaign

This article was originally published by WIRED UK

Angela Watercutter

Jennifer M. Wood

Jason Parham

Exclusive: 'PhD Comics' arrives on Tapastic

Jorge Cham's PhD Comics takes a wry look at the vagaries of life in academia, mostly from the point of view of a handful of long-suffering graduate students. He also has a feature, "Two Minute Thesis," in which he summarizes real research in a comic or video; it's sort of the comics equivalent of a TED Talk. It has built quite a following over the years (as a former grad student, and the wife, daughter and sister of college professors, I find it irresistible), so it's big news that Cham is bringing PhD Comics to the webcomics site Tapastic . Or, part of it: PhD Comics will continue to run on its regular schedule on its original site , and Tapastic will carry a curated selection of Cham's strips. I talked to Cham about PhD Comics, and the Tapastic move, and he drew a special cartoon just for us as well!

Robot 6: How long have you been drawing PhD Comics, and how did you get started with it?

Jorge Cham: I've been drawing PhD now for almost 16 years (!). It started as a hobby at first, as a way to procrastinate from my studies. I saw an ad in the student newspaper at Stanford University, where I was going for grad school, calling for submissions for their comics page. My brother suggested there should be a comic about grad school because they are usually ignored on campus, so on a lark I sent in some samples. At the time, I had a full course load and was working two jobs teaching and doing research, but it really seemed like something that needed to be done. Grad school had been a really intense, often bizarre, ego-crushing experience for me, and I had found it really useful to learn that others were going through the same thing, so it seemed important to record it and share it with the world.

Sometimes you write about the general travails of student life, but you also are up to date on things like the decline in research funding. How do you stay current with what’s going on in academia?

Well, I joke that if I wrote a comic strip for every day that I worked in academia, I'm still only halfway done. But generally, I think it was clear to me from the beginning that these comics were more than just about me, that it was kind of a community effort and I was just the conduit that put it in comic form. So a lot of the ideas and stories come from the people I knew there, from the people that email me, and from the people I meet when I tour campuses.

I really enjoy your “Two Minute Thesis” pieces (comics and videos) and your other works that break out of the four-panel gag format. What led you to start doing that kind of comic? It’s a very different type of comic, turning factual information into visual form; how do you approach it?

Thanks, I'm really glad you like them! I think after about a year into the comics, I started to realize that my job was not to draw a comic, but to fill a space with something interesting. It could be a comic, or a graph, or a flowchart or eventually videos and animation.

When I started touring a lot of campuses, I drew a journal series about the people I met on the road, mostly other grad students, and about their research, which I found interesting. After a while I would even record our conversations as a way to keep notes. On one occasion, during a commissioned piece, I was inspired by some online videos, and I proposed doing an animation set to the edited interview and it was a big hit. After making The PhD Movie , I still wanted to work with the people who helped me make it, and we started PhD TV as a home for all the animation and videos.

I guess what I try to bring to the table is the story telling. I usually ask the researchers a lot of questions until I fully understand it myself, and I think visually, so by the end I usually know what image I'm going to use. Then it's a matter of putting the comics hat on and making it visually surprising and fun to read.

What sort of reaction do you get from folks in academia? I realize that’s a broad question, but maybe you can pick out one or two high or low points?

The most common reaction is probably "Is his name pronounced 'George' or 'Hor-hey' or 'Yor-geh'?" Kidding aside, I've been lucky that it's almost a 100 percent positive reaction in academia. I think people appreciate that I went through the experience myself, and that it comes from a place of respect and truthfulness. My favorite quote about comic strips is something Bill Watterson wrote in the introduction of one of his books. He wrote, "Surprise is the essence of humor, and nothing is more surprising than the truth."

A common satisfying reaction I get is to hear from people that they feel less alone when they read my comics, or that the comics helped them get through a difficult time in their journey of going through grad school. Some people even tell me the comics inspired them to go to grad school, because it made it seem more accessible and human.

I love the comics about your 3-year-old. How has being a father changed your work?

I don't think the work itself has changed much, but it's definitely changed the rest of my life a whole lot. I sleep and work a lot less than I used to.

Why are you moving the comic to Tapastic? Will you continue to have it on your own site as well? If so, how will the two be different?

I'm not technically moving the comic to Tapastic. We're posting a curated feed of some of the best PhD strips and storylines from the 16 year archive, as well as maybe some new exclusive content. There's sort of no easy way for new people to discover the best of what the strip has to offer, so this is a great way for new audiences to get introduced to it. A lot of people have tried to create webcomic hubs over the years, but I think Tapastic has done a lot of right things with their interface and terms with artists.

Do you make a living from your comic? And if so, how do you monetize it?

I do make a comfortable living, but I also think I've been lucky to have a supportive fan base and to have found additional sources of revenue besides books and merchandise that match well with my general audience, like the speaking tours and The PhD Movie and the animations.

If you weren’t drawing this webcomic, what would you be doing instead?

I'm pretty sure I'd be a stressed-out professor in some university somewhere, living the life of one of my comic-strip characters.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• News Q&A
• Published: 16 September 2011

PhD comics hits the big screen

• Zoë Corbyn  

Nature ( 2011 ) Cite this article

241 Accesses

83 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Science in culture

Movie makes stars out of real-life scientists.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

185,98 € per year

only 3,65 € per issue

Buy this article

• Purchase on Springer Link
• Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Related links

Related links in nature research.

Nature's Future of the PhD special

Related external links

The PhD Movie (including latest screening schedule)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Corbyn, Z. PhD comics hits the big screen. Nature (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2011.542

Download citation

Published : 16 September 2011

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2011.542

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Current PhD Research – Comics Research Hub

Current phd research, gareth brookes.

My practice based PhD focuses on materiality in comics, specifically material processes that challenge the page as representative surface. My aim is draw from the methods and theory of artist books and craft based practices to open up alternative sequential structures in comics.

Barbara Chamberlin

Barbara is a part-time doctoral student at Central Saint Martins, supervised by Roger Sabin and Ian Horton. Her research is situated in Comics Studies, and is about representations of folkloric or historical British witches and folk horror, using walking and psychogeography to create an anthology of short comics. The creative practice-based part of her work is done through collaboration with an artist, thus enabling each story to be a negotiated construction that fuses multiple responses to the witch narratives and the walking experiences that frame them.

Thomas Gebhart

My PhD research will primarily take a qualitative approach to develop a critical, empirical study that will explore the potential for UK digital comics to take advantage of digital technologies and the digital environment to foster inclusivity and diversity. On top of embracing technological change, digital comics have the potential to reflect, embrace and contribute to social and cultural change in the UK. Digital comics not only present new ways of telling stories, but whose story is told. My thesis will explore whether the ways UK digital comics are published and consumed means that they can foreground marginal voices. Comics scholarship has focused on the technological aspects of digital comics, meaning their potentially significant contribution reflecting and embracing social and cultural change in the UK has not been explored. I will establish whether the fact digital comics can circumvent traditional gatekeepers means they provide space to foreground marginal voices. I will also explore the challenges and opportunities digital comics might present for legal deposit collection development policy.

Comics And Transmedia: Doctor Doom In The Marvel Age

Mark hibbett.

My research seeks to show that the shared universe of Marvel comics in the period 1961-1987 was an early example of the shared-world multiple author storytelling which has become the source material for the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe of the 21st century, and that Doctor Doom’s largely unsupervised transmedial and transtextual wandering through this storyworld make him an early example of what Jan-Noel Thon has described as a “Global Transmedia Character Network” – a linkage of all versions of a character collected from single and serial works across media types.

Paul Jackson

My PhD project explores the creation of an interface that sits between forms of narrative drawing and theoretical approaches to world making. Principally, it will question what an interface is in relation to the experiential and intertextual framing of worlds, with a theoretical approach grounded in storyworld and narrative discourse. The interface itself will be explored and created through drawing practice. My working hypothesis is that interface theory offers a new way of framing the process of image- and world-making in drawing practice.

The Third Hand in Creating Comics: A Practice-Based Study of Writer-Artist Collaboration

Ahmed mauroof jameel.

My PhD project, titled ‘The Third Hand in Creating Comics: A Practice-Based Study of Writer-Artist Collaboration’, investigates whether collaboration in comics effectuates renegotiations of artistic identity, and is an intervention to deeply ingrained auteurist views and practices in comics cultures. I explore the social reasons behind the prevalence of auteurism and relate this to the politics of avant-garde art movements through modernism and postmodernism. Avant-garde collaborative experiments in artistic identity crystallised in results and behaviour incongruous to the rest of the individual artists’ oeuvres and histories, conceptualised as a ‘Third Hand’ in these creative relationships. After identifying where the ontological boundaries and affects of creative partnership are occluded enough to facilitate ‘the Third Hand’s’ occurrence, I use autoethnography to examine collaborative experience from within to illuminate this area and generate insight into the possibilities of meta-authorship.

Comics in the age of mechanical colour separation

A text-based thesis, looking at the emergence of the US comic strip as a new mass medium (1890s), the creation of the comic book (1930s), and its mid-1950s decline; focused on printing and colour separation technologies. Comics printing during this time has been understood as the continuation of a uniform practice; four-colour letterpress printing on newsprint paper. I demonstrate that it can be divided into three periods, when different colour separation methods were predominantly used: Ben Day (1890s-1930s), Craftint (1930s-1950s) and acetate (1950s-1980s). I use diagrammatic reconstructions to explicate these ‘lost’ technologies in detail. Examples from the archive demonstrate their distinctive contributions to the appearance of the printed image. Whether this technology was incidental to the development of comics, or of more fundamental importance, is considered using cultural sociologist Richard A. Peterson’s ‘production of culture perspective’.

Memoirs of my Vulva: An exploration of female genitalia as characters within autobiographical graphic narratives

My practice-based research is focused around two aims: 1. To use the vulva as the main character in graphic narratives to investigate perceptions of female genitalia. 2. To create new insights by applying female genitalia to characters in graphic narratives and challenge both the erotic and taboo stereotypes of vulvas in graphic images. This research contributes to challenge the stereotype of the vulva’s historical, symbolic representation in graphic images and awaken the consciousness of female self-acceptance through directly visualising the vulva character. The relevant comics of my PhD project include: Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s autobiographical comic ‘Goldie: A Neurotic Woman (1972)’ is an example of such work and represents her own experiences of sex giving me an initial understanding of feminist graphic narratives ‘Fun Thing to Do with The Little Girl (1987)’ by Phoebe Glockner depicts her experiences of being raped by her mother’s boyfriend (Figure 7), graphically representing the girl’s body and her precarity Julie Doucet’s autobiographical dairy comics “365 Days” which records Doucet’s daily life with full of insecurities, to-do lists, doodles, accounts of dreams, bad news, etc. I will also use the UAL archives Comic Book Collections to explore the following categories: narratives method, graphical characters, comics aesthetics and the application of symbols in feminist comics, by examining existing graphic narrative works.

Tobias J. Yu-Kiener

Tobias J. Yu-Kiener’s PhD research is concerned with the current boom in biographical graphic novels about iconic visual artists, their supporting national, international and transnational networks, and their connections to established art museums. In drawing from Art History, Comics Studies, and Cultural Studies, and looking at theories of political economy, (trans)national identity, museology, and (museum) branding and marketing, the project aims to determine where museum-backed graphic novels about iconic painters are to be located between serious artists’ biographies, comic books, history books, merchandise products, public relations and marketing strategies, and state, city and museum branding. The main methods of the project include semi-structured interviews, archival research, textual and visual analysis based on the close reading of a carefully chosen corpus of graphic novels.