By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies senior program manager
New work led by graduate student Audrey Arner of the Lea Lab looks at how best to communicate jargon-riddled scientific results with Indigenous communities, who often have limited access to formal education or previous exposure to academic research. Arner and her coauthors developed communication materials to explain ongoing genetics work, using an iterative, collaborative approach centered on feedback from community members. Genetics research can be especially difficult to communicate outside of academic settings due to the complexity of the topics, the fact that genetics cannot easily be observed by eye, and the large amount of discipline-specific terminology. However, researchers must find ways to present genetics concepts in ways that are meaningful and accessible to the communities participating in the research.
That’s where Arner’s recent paper, “Development and Assessment of Tailored Illustrations to Enhance Community Understandings of Genetics Topics” published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology begins to make progress. The team includes fellow Vanderbilt graduate student Tobias McCabe and assistant professor Amanda Lea, as well as collaborators from around the world.
The researchers used an iterative process with Turkana and Orang Asli community members in Kenya and Malaysia, respectively, to design, develop, and disseminate images that were paired with a short presentation to explain genetics concepts. These concepts are related to ongoing, community-engaged biomedical and evolutionary research that Arner, Lea, and their coauthors conduct with these same groups.
According to McCabe, “although biologists are comfortable navigating layers of complexity in their own research, describing these concepts to people without a similar background entails sacrificing nuance for the sake of clarity. Illustrations are a powerful tool to communicate biological concepts because visual depictions help translate complex concepts into relatable stories while maintaining some layers of nuance. Unlike traditional scientific diagrams in research papers, illustrative storytelling can help make the obscure and intangible fit into the tangible realities of everyday life.”
Arner explained, “many technical terms in the field of genetics (DNA, chromosome, gene) are borrowed from English and do not have equivalents or foundations in other languages. For example, even the word ‘genetics’ does not have an equivalent and is ‘genetik’ in Malay and ‘jenetiki’ in Swahili. These concepts are also not always easily observed in the natural world. This can make it challenging to explain not just the vocabulary, but the underlying concepts in ways that are meaningful and accessible.”
The team originally wanted to create graphics that could be used across diverse populations to broadly aid researchers in anthropological genetics. However, Arner explained that her team found that communities preferred visuals that were specific to their own lived experiences, making it difficult to develop a single set of illustrations that would work equally well across populations. Therefore, the team switched to focus on developing visuals specific to the Orang Asli, the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. Members of the research team have longstanding relationships with Orang Asli communities, which allowed them to incorporate examples and imagery that were easily recognizable and meaningful to participants. While it may not have been the team’s original goal, it is an important result: there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to communicating genetics across communities.
All in all, the paper also found that participants were highly interested in learning about genetics. Nearly all participants engaged with the communication materials, and 92% reported wanting to know more about genetics research. Participants also reported learning from the illustrations, though some concepts were still confusing or challenging and generated requests for additional information.
McCabe continued, “an illustration has as many interpretations as it does viewers, so designing graphics that stay true to the core biological message is challenging. But when created with intention and feedback, visually compelling illustrations are more likely to be interpretable and engaging, and hopefully more likely to stay with the viewer afterward.”
“Participants already understood that lifestyle and environmental change interact with our biology to affect health,” Arner added, “and these illustrations helped show that genetics is another piece of that puzzle.”
Arner believes this experience will also help her personally.
“Communicating our science in ways that can be understood by anyone is a critical skill for researchers, and working on this project helped strengthen that skill for me,” she said. “It reinforced the importance of explaining complex ideas in clear, accessible ways that I hope make me a better collaborator not only with Orang Asli and Turkana, but also when communicating science with the broader public, as well as with family and friends.”
Citation: Arner, A.M., McCabe, T.C., Seyler, A., Zamri, S.N., A/P Tan Boon Huat, T.B.T., Tam, K.L., Kinyua, P., John, E., Njeru, S.N., Lim, Y.A., Gurven, M., Nicholas, C., Ayroles, J., Venkataraman, V.V., Kraft, T.S., Wallace, I.J., Lea, A.J. 2026. Development and assessment of tailored illustrations to enhance community understandings of genetics topics. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 190(3): p.e70314.
Funding statement: Arner was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (1937963 and 2444112) and Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2419584), as well as a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, Leakey Foundation Research Grant, and a Vanderbilt Award for Doctoral Discovery. We also thank the Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative for their financial support. Lea, Watowich., and Kraft were supported by the National Science Foundation (Biological Anthropology 2142090).