Adelphi Genetics Forum
THE CHALLENGE
The Adelphi Genetics Forum is a learned society that promotes public engagement and discussions on the study of human inheritance, its history, and its social and ethical implications. Previously known as the Galton Institute, and before that the Eugenics Education Society, they have been actively working to address their problematic history, including a full renaming and rebranding in 2021.
The society runs an annual conference on a feature issue in the field of heredity, such as genome editing or the legacy of eugenics. To maximise the impact of their conferences, they asked us to produce audiovisual content that complements the events, broadens their reach to online audiences and fosters ongoing discussions beyond the conference day.
OUR APPROACH
Multimedia approach
FCTM produced a series of shorter video and longer podcast interviews of speakers from each event.
These interviews provided an overview of each speaker’s talk, offering additional context and reflections on the day’s discussions.
Fast turnaround
All interviews were recorded in person on the day of the event with our experienced broadcaster, Kat Arney, and an efficient two-person film crew.
The edited podcasts and videos were delivered within two weeks so they could be publicised quickly while the event was still fresh.
Reaching new audiences
In addition to the videos and podcasts being hosted on the Adelphi Genetics Forum’s own website, the podcasts were released and promoted through Genetics Unzipped, a podcast we produce for the Genetics Society. Genetics Unzipped boasts a well-established audience of thousands of monthly listeners, significantly widening the conference’s reach to a broad listenership with shared interests in genetics and inheritance.
The videos were released on YouTube and have gathered ~8,000 views since their publication.
Handling Sensitive Topics
Using our broadcasting experience, we sensitively handled the communication of controversial and potentially triggering topics, including personal experiences of coerced sterilisation and racist ideologies within the field of genetics.
In particular, the 2022 Annual Conference focused on the Adelphi Genetic Forum’s rebranding and confronting their eugenics past. Through our interviews, we helped provide context and convey the rationale behind this name change.
WHAT THEY SAID
“Well worth watching.”
“One of my Year 12s is doing her EPQ about the history of Eugenics so it was great to be able to recommend the @AdelphiGenetics podcasts and conference videos!”
“@GeneticsUnzip has recently done a great series with @AdelphiGenetics where they discuss the eugenicist past of human genetics and how to face it and avoid repeating it going forward.”
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