About ten years ago, at Gubbi Labs, we started Research Media Services to bridge the gap between the science that’s within the shackles of research institutes in the country, and the general public who pay for these scientific activities and are beneficiaries of the same. The larger goal of this initiative was to raise the bar of scientific literacy across the country. For a start, we started working with a few research institutions, helping them disseminate their published research as accessible news stories. We also set up the Science Media Center at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) that ran for about four years.
In 2016, we launched Research Matters to cover important and newsworthy research from leading institutions across India. Soon, we expanded to cover current affairs in Indian science, interviews of pioneering, award-winning scientists, a series of podcasts called 'Research Bytes', snippets of scientific concepts named SciQs and cartoon-based communication of science under Sci-toons. In 2018, we launched our ambitious initiative of disseminating science in Indian regional languages, starting with Kannada. Today, we are proud to be perhaps the only science communication portal that has its content in more than five regional languages, including Assamese, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. In essence, our stories can reach about 60% of India’s native language speakers, apart from English.
Throughout this journey, we have ensured that our articles are not only engaging but also accurate. We do this through our stringent vetting process, where the concerned researchers or experts verify most of our stories for factual correctness before publishing them.
Going forward, we plan to diversify our offerings further.
We are very proud of our team at Research Matters that comprises of dedicated science communicators, who have a sound background in science. Unlike most other initiatives, all our team of editors and writers are trained scientists with an education level of post-graduation and PhDs, which helps us build accurate science content that is not misleading or exaggerated. They are also trained to be science writers and journalists, having won accolades for their work, nationally and internationally.
In our mission to raise the bar of scientific literacy across the country, we solicit your support in any of the possible ways:
Become a Hoopoe Patron: With a monthly commitment of Rs 30,000.