Welcome to sunny ol’ Manchester. There’s no better city to find yourself attached to for the foreseeable future. At least that’s how we feel here at the Hive.

Since its inception, the Research Hive has come on leaps and bounds as the new home of the Doctoral Academy Blog. In that time, we’ve been building up an impressive collection of writers and articles about opportunities, research and ways to look after your wellbeing here at Manchester University. So far we’ve considered the importance of sleep, the interaction of art and science in Parkinson’s disease, amazing science outreach opportunities, and focused in on some brilliant PhD researchers contributing to the buzzing research environment here.

Our fabulous editors have produced excellent articles week after week and we’ve loved seeing the blog grow as a result. However, we’re far from done. We want to expand even further and need your help to do just that. There are research areas in FBMH (faculty of biology, medicine and health) for which we don’t have editors yet, and there is exciting research going on regularly which we haven’t had the chance to cover. If you’re interested in contributing check out our tips for budding writers or send one of the editors an email. You don’t need to have written anything like this before, we’re keen to get everyone involved and we’ll provide support and feedback to get you comfortable writing for a wide sci-curious audience.

Pitch us your ideas and get writing!

Also, for those veterans of sci-comm or people, like me, who just like to avoid their PhDs by looking for exciting stuff to do outside of the lab, we need you to bring attention to all the other science outreach going on in the next few months. I know from personal experience that Pint of Science will start to assemble teams soon and need keen organisers and speakers. The Manchester Science Festival kicks off the academic year with a host of events which will make any science fanatic (or even those with a passing interest) feel like a kid in a candy shop. There’s also bright club, experimental words, psychology in the pub, and many more to keep you distracted. Honestly, there is no shortage of things to get involved in and ease that transition from the summer days.

Alongside all this fabulous sci-comm and outreach, the Research Hive is helping lead the charge to greater understanding and communication of science. We want to make sure that the exciting work here in Manchester is read about and heard far and wide. We want to encourage the next generation of scientists and communicators to feel comfortable expressing their own, and others, work in engaging and accessible ways. Although there is currently considerable scepticism about the good that sci-comm can actually do to stem the tide of misinformation in society, it is naïve to think it is simply useless too. It’s through engaging audiences who don’t feel part of the conversation and communicating science in new and exciting ways that will lead to change.

So, in between taking in the new sights and sounds of your adopted city, why not think of getting involved as a science communicator. Still not convinced? You can read more about the benefits of getting involved via a recently published blog on the Hive by Dr. Katie Walwyn-Brown. Alternatively, read up tomorrow on how to get prepared for postgraduate study from the excellent members of the ‘Have You Heard?’ project.

That’s enough from us for now but we look forward to hearing from keen writers and new ideas as we enter this academic year. Don’t be shy, get involved. I can promise you won’t regret it.

Jack