“Futurum staff and editors are very responsive and professional, fully addressing researchers’ inputs and needs. The process of developing the outreach material is very streamlined and easy. All the is work is done in a very timely fashion as well!”

Dr Shiliing Pei, Associate Professor, Colorado School of Mines, USA

“Working with Karen and Futurum was a great experience. She worked with colleagues from across our topic areas in an efficient, professional manner to generate a brochure that creatively conveys the ‘big picture’ message of whole energy system analysis alongside features of the different factors and interrelations in play. The brochure looks fantastic and will help us run activities and share our work more widely.”

Kathryn Wills, IDLES Programme Manager, Imperial College London, UK

“It’s been a great experience working with the dedicated editor and staff from Futurum Careers. They have given timely responses, professional work, and most kind cooperation. I’ll be glad to work with them again in the future.”

Dr Wenya Xu, Research Assistant, Jackson State University, USA

Fulneck School in Leeds, UK, tweets about the webinar we produced for Scientix, an EU-funded programme that promotes and supports a Europe-wide collaboration among STEM teachers, education researchers and policymakers.

 

“I have worked with PR teams in the past and I found that working with Erica and Futurum was by far the easiest process I have been through. They were able to present our work in a format and in a style that will appeal to a wide audience. The internal feedback I got from the final product was extremely positive. I would highly recommend working with Futurum as a great way to get your STEM message out.”

Professor Doug Jacobson, Director Information Assurance Center, Iowa State University, USA

“This was my first time working through a public relations project like this. I did not know what to expect, but I do know that especially in the geosciences, we have got to do a better job at “getting the word out” concerning not just the importance of geoscience, but also how fun and rewarding a career in geoscience could be. Erica and the Futurum team, in my eyes, have achieved this, and they did it in a way that was very easy for me to work with. Thank you for the experience.”

Dr Glenn Dolphin, Tamaratt Teaching Professor, Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Canada

‘It was great working with Erica. She was very easy to work with and the process was seamless. I am happy that Erica and the Futurum team produced a stunning and professional brochure and activity sheet that will make our work accessible to young audiences.’

Dr Karyna Rosario, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, USA

Five-star rating from Kathy Louis on Teachers Pay Teachers, 6 September, 2020: “I like your presentation as these can easily be shared with students for their readings. Thank you!”

 

“Working with Erica and the Futurum team has been a real pleasure: competence and attention to details led us through a seamless journey from interview to brochure production. Excited to add such a compelling article to my public engagement toolbox”

Davide Bulgarelli, Principal Investigator, James Hutton Institute, University of Dundee, UK

“Creating effective, engaging materials for STEM education is often challenging for scientists. Erica and the Futurum team were a pleasure to work with, efficient, and professional. They created an exciting set of materials that captures the key aspects of my research in a way that engages students of many ages and encourages them to think of the possibilities! Not only do these materials expand their awareness of deep-sea research and its value, but they capture many of my personal motivations for doing this work, and aspects of my own journey that different students may be able to relate to. Thank you!”

Dr Virginia Edgcomb, Geology and Geophysics Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA

Five-star rating from Christen C, 25 August 2020: “Extremely satisfied. Nice resource.”

“Erica and the rest of the Futurum team have crafted a brochure that captures both the essence of my research in an accessible way and also the excitement and joy that doing science brings to me. They did a fantastic job here and working with them was efficient and fun. Futurum has a protocol that streamlines this process and, as their lead with me, Erica was terrific. We were able to iterate all aspects of the brochure’s contents in a timely and, frankly, enjoyable mutual effort.

Futurum’s professionalism and international reach are enriching STEM education by making brochures such as mine freely accessible to a wide audience. Kudos to Futurum.”

Professor Tom Bania, Astronomy Department Institute for Astrophysical research, Department of Astronomy Boston University, USA

‘Despite the lockdown, due to superb communication, great consultation and the ability to be flexible, Erica and Futurum produced an amazing brochure in a timely manner that explained our project in a highly accessible way. I am delighted with the end result and found the whole experience rewarding. I feel that the choice we made to work with Futurum offers us greater opportunities to engage young people in understanding how humanitarian engineering can make a difference in the displaced context’.

Dr Elena Gaura, Professor of Pervasive Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing, Coventry University

“It was an absolute pleasure working with Karen and the Futurum Careers team. The process was efficient and enjoyable, they made it very easy for us, and the end product was exceptionally high standard and professional.”

Dr Dan Horton, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Virology and School Research Director, University of Surrey

“Working with Futurum has been a hassle free and straightforward process. They have been really transparent about what was expected and easily contactable to add extra clarification when needed. I am very pleased with the final result and have enjoyed working with them. The final brochure is a great resource to share my research more widely.”

Dr Emily Kavanagh-Corrigan, Research Fellow in Communication Design, University of Surrey

“I found Karen and Futurum easy to work with. It was not difficult to put together the brochure. They were very good about including my students and their stories in the process, and in the brochure, which I think will make younger students relate more easily to the presentation.” 

Prof Ann Matthysse, University of North Carolina, USA

“I can’t imagine a more successful, painless, enjoyable experience than working with Karen and Brett. I’ll be honest: I was worried that our project, which involved interviews with 4 different people, was too complex to complete in the proposed time frame. My concerns were for naught; Karen kept the project on track with kindness, humor, and gentle persistence. It was an absolute pleasure to work with her. Best of all, the final product is far better than I imagined it would be!”

Dr Lyndele von Schill, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA

“Karen and her team were great to work with and we are very pleased with the product. They were able to communicate the complex phenomena we study in a way that is accessible for kids. I think Futurum is a unique outlet that communicates a broad variety of career paths – something I will share with the teachers I work with – so they can share with their students.”

Dr Erin Peters-Burton, Director, Center for Social Equity Through Science Education, George Mason University, USA

“I really enjoyed working with the Futurum team – the process was straightforward and from my interview answers an excellent article was created. The final product looks fantastic and is proving so useful to share my work more widely.”

Helen Bridle, Associate Professor, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Number of downloads of our research articles on TES in March

583

“This has been a great experience, I am not one who enjoys being interviewed but the folks at futurum have made it easy and enjoyable, I am thankful for the opportunity to work with them!”

Dr Dan Flippo, Associate professor, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, USA

“Karen and Brett were great to work with. They made the whole process straightforward with clear, manageable deadlines and great communication along the way. Karen grasped the project really easily and created some brilliant resources to accompany the text we wrote. The end product is amazing and the publicity has been excellent.”

10 July 2020: “I’m really impressed with the reach of our article. We included details of our citizen science project in our activity sheet, which was picked up as far away as Australia – definitely a world-wide distribution!”

Dr Alan Goddard, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, Aston Membrane Proteins and Lipids (AMPL), Aston University, UK

“Working with Brett and Karen was simple and straightforward. They have a set formula for their product, into which it was easy to slot my story. Karen and her team showed obvious enthusiasm for the topic of the article, which also helped. I had an idea in my head, and the Futurum site provided a great outlet for it. I am very happy with the outcome, both the look and tenor of the article. If I was still a kid (OK, my wife says I am still!) I’d be excited and interested to read about this career possibility (with or without the protective clothing of a volcanologist!).”

Prof Steve Self, Volcanologist, Faculty of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, USA

“Karen and the Futurum team were professional, prompt, and easy to work with.  Futurum created engaging and richly-detailed materials to inspire young people to pursue careers in field science and education.”

Stacy McNulty
Current President of the Organization of Biological Field Stations, USA

“The team are very happy with the end product and the journey was not as tough or time consuming as I thought it might be. We are happy that Futurum have captured the essence of our science and the journey of a scientist/researcher in the modern era. I look forward to sharing with family/friends and the children affected by the diseases we work on as this resource will be educational on many levels for them and others who chose to interact with it. Job done. I have already recommended Futurum to a colleague to help with public engagement.”

Dr Kevin Marchbank, Reader in Complement Biology, Newcastle University, UK

“Working with Futurum was a great pleasure from the beginning to the end. They were very patient with many of our requests and questions, and very professional in producing the final article and activity sheet. Their business model based on a Creative Commons License is brilliant, which allows us to freely use and edit the final article and the activity sheet for our own purposes. We will definitely work with them again in future on our outreaching activities of the KirCCS and the to-be-established Institute of Advanced Studies in Cyber Security and Conflict (SoCyETAL) at the University of Kent.”

Prof Shujun Li
Director of Kent Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Cyber Security (KirCCS) and Professor of Cyber Security at the School of Computing, University of Kent

‘Making ill health a thing of the past’: Reviewed by Nitcha Kalerante on Teachers Pay Teachers, January 2020.

“I enjoyed working with Karen on the brochure, article and activity sheet. Her professionalism and patience were key at all steps in the production process.”

Prof Sayantan Ghosal
Dean of Interdisciplinary and Impact, Social Sciences; Professor in Economics, University of Glasgow, Scotland

“Working with Karen and Futurum was extremely easy. I was impressed with the team’s rapid response time, and their patience and understanding of the demands of our academic roles which meant that we could not always reciprocate! We are delighted with the professional product produced that explains our work on mineral resources in a highly accessible way. The brochure is an excellent way for us to enhance the outreach and impact of our work as required by our funders.”

Prof Jamie Wilkinson
Research Leader in Mineral Deposits, Natural History Museum; Professor of Geology, Imperial College London, UK

“Working with Futurum Careers has been a very positive experience. They have been highly professional throughout the process, clearly outlining the steps at different phases of the project and always responding quickly and efficiently. They have shown a high degree of flexibility and patience, accepting delays on my side but at the same time providing polite reminders to keep the process going. I’m quite happy with the final outcome, which combines the need to represent the scientific content with as little distortion as possible with an accessible, engaging presentation. I strongly recommend Futurum Careers to any academic interested in reaching out to a young audience.”

Dr Fabio Costa
School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Australia

“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Karen and Futurum and I am delighted with the final product. I was amazed at how quickly Karen grasped the aims of our research and the methods we use, the whole process was very streamlined. The Futurum team have produced a really attractive booklet that accurately describes my teams research but does it in a way which will appeal to young people. Thank you Futurum team!”

Dr Rebecca Bell
Earth Scientist, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, UK

Reviewed by Jessica C. on Teachers Pay Teachers, in January, 2020

Reviewed by mariann998 on TES in December 2019

“Working with Karen went just as smoothly as Brett promised. My team couldn’t be more happy with their professionalism, responsiveness and patience. Futurum excels at portraying scientists and the work they do in a way that is highly relatable to young people.”

Dr Julie Smith
Research Associate Professor, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Vermont, USA
Photo credit: J.K. O’Neil

“Your resources are a cut above anything out there at the moment; they’re inspiring, beautiful resources on exciting topics with real academic rigour.”

Pollyanna Langford-Lacny
Post-16 Careers Lead and English Teacher, Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath, UK

“I cannot thank Futurum enough. With the help of Karen I was able to increase my understanding of marine biology and its implications in population dynamics. If any high school students want to take the initiative to contact an expert Futurum is the way to do it! With Sarah’s [McAnulty] help I know I can ace this project!”

Noah King, grade 12, contacted us via the comments board on Sarah McAnulty’s article:
https://futurumcareers.com/what-can-we-learn-from-bobtail-squid 

“It has been an absolutely pleasant experience working with Karen, Brett and their Futurum team to publish the article about 5G broadcast. Their professionalism, patience and team efficiency indeed smoothed the entire process of initial drafting, editing, revising, reviewing, further revising and finalising, especially for our case where quite a few academic and industrial partners were involved. What truly impressed me was their transferable skills to open up an accessible edutainment world for young school-age audiences as well as educators who are keen to learn about cutting edge research and innovations.”

Dr De Mi
Research Fellow, 5G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey, UK

“Explaining deep theory in very plain language is not an easy task. But it is a very meaningful work for scientists to engage with the public. Karen and her colleagues have done a wonderful job in making this possible. It has been a very pleasant experience in working with the Futurum team. I will certainly recommend to peer researchers in my future career.”

Zilong Liu
Senior Research Fellow, 5G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey, UK

“I think it [Futurum] is very useful and that schools should use it. It is detailed and has loads of options. It also shows different career paths for each subject.”

Bunny, Year 10

“I really enjoyed working with Karen, Brett and their Futurum team. Their work plays an important role in bridging the gap between academics and the broader community – the school community, in particular. The team is super friendly, professional and responsive, which made life so much easier. Thank you!”

Prof Zheng-Xiang Li
John Curtin Distinguished Professor, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Australia

“I’m really grateful to be part of Futurum’s vision. Karen and Brett made the process really easy and fun. They have a real knack for understanding scholarly research and translating complex ideas into reader-friendly language. They even helped me to better understand my own research! I love the article and look forward to working with them again.”

Dr Kohyar Kiazad
Associate Professor, Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School, Monash University, Australia

“It was a real pleasure working with Karen and Brett in creating an article about my research on tornadoes. The final article was professional and informative and it is both gratifying and exciting to know that my research will be freely available to students and educators around the world. Hopefully my own excitement about doing research with supercomputers will help inspire others to choose a career path in the sciences!”

Dr Leigh Orf
Atmospheric Scientist, Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Futurum is “easy to navigate has nice fonts and is packed with interesting things”.

Year 8 student, Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath, UK

The Futurum website is “detailed, pictured, interesting and eye-capturing and has relatable topics”.

Year 8 student, Hayesfield Girls’ School, Bath, UK

“I am thoroughly impressed. Karen has been extremely professional, and after the initial round of effort on my behalf, her and the team made an excellent product with only limited input from me. As Brett promised in our initial discussion, there was little burden on me, but some excellent research was done by the Futurum team!”

Dr Paul Lasky
ARC Future Fellow and Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Australia

“Working with Futurum on my article was a very positive experience, and I’m thrilled that they are engaging their younger audience in research that will likely be of great interest to them, namely, emerging clean energy technologies. The finished product is of high quality, and I hope readers of the article will be inspired to delve into the technical details, which are truly fascinating. What I most appreciate about Futurum‘s process is how seamless and straightforward they made it and how accommodating they were with my revision requests as we proceeded toward the final version.”

Dr Mark Tuckerman
Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics, New York University, USA

Reviewed by cgoodright on TES in June 2019

It was great fun to work with Futurum to produce the article about operations research, machine learning, and supply chain management. The process was smooth and enjoyable, and the Futurum team was exceptionally good at translating academic research ideas into something fun and interesting for non-experts. I think the finished article looks great, and I am eagerly sharing it with my colleagues, students, and friends.”I really enjoyed working on my article with Futurum. They had great interview questions from the beginning and really went out of their way to let me repeatedly revise my responses, and promote feedback on my revisions, until we all felt that my responses were well-crafted and appropriate for a grade-school audience. Everyone was also incredibly accommodating in regard to my hectic schedule and change in job (and address) in the middle of the process, which made for a stress-free collaboration.”

Prof Larry Snyder
Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lehigh University, USA

“I really enjoyed working on my article with Futurum. They had great interview questions from the beginning and really went out of their way to let me repeatedly revise my responses, and promote feedback on my revisions, until we all felt that my responses were well-crafted and appropriate for a grade-school audience. Everyone was also incredibly accommodating in regard to my hectic schedule and change in job (and address) in the middle of the process, which made for a stress-free collaboration.”

Dr Ellyn Enderlin
Assistant Professor of Geophysics, Boise State University, USA

Reviewed by Judy432 on TES in May 2019

“Working with FUTURUM has been a pleasure. They have made my work accessible, exciting and I hope appealing to the younger generation as they explore their career opportunities. As a scientist, much of what we write is dry and academic, yet we try to make a difference for the better. FUTURUM have transformed this in an engaging and lively way, allowing us to reach beyond the usual circle of experts, and remind me how very lucky I am to be a doing this research.”

Prof Bram Murton
Associate Head of Marine Geoscience, National Oceanography Centre, UK

“It was a pleasure working with the colleagues at Futurum. They picked up on all the fine points of our project and even found the most appropriate picture they could have for the article. On top of their expertise and knowledge they seem to be clairvoyant or telepaths!”

Dr Agueda Gras-Velazquez
Head of the Science Education Department, European Schoolnet and Scientix

“Fantastic experience working with Cressida, Karen, and Brett transforming a written interview into an age-appropriate coherent and well-illustrated article. I was really impressed with how the Futurum staff and their processes were able to make a complex study accessible yet accurate. I learned a lot during the process. I’ve shared the article with a number of educators and teens and universally they have been impressed.”

Dr Marc Frischer
Professor in Biological Oceanography, University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, USA

Reviewed by honeymchacko on TES in September 2019

“It was great working with Cressida and Karen on the article about “101 things to see in space”. The design work was so much better than anything we could have achieved in house on similar timescales, and the direct link to our target audience of young people who may not have considered a career in STEM before was unbeatable. The process was simple and I had input on the content right through the process. Communication was friendly and easy, and has lead to a product that introduces what we do in a new way to anything we’d tried in the past – I’m excited to keep using the article to present the project to people.”

Dr Stacey Habergham-Mawson
National Schools’ Observatory Manager, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

“It was a true pleasure to work with Karen and Cressida on my article and brochure for the FUTURUM Magazine. The final product looks great and is very conducive to a younger audience – I do not think that I could have reached out to a teenage audience as clearly and effectively without FUTURUM’s help! Following Karen’s advice, we included an article by my PhD student Josh, bringing a fresh student perspective to the effort, which I am sure will be instrumental in better connecting to other young minds.”

Dr Andréa Richa
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Arizona State University, USA

“I really enjoyed working with Cressida, Karen, and the rest of the team. They were really good about keeping us updated and involved in every step of the process, and executed wonderfully on their vision of making difficult science accessible and approachable to young students. I’m very excited to see how these articles and guides can be used to inspire another generation of bright minds, especially those who are interested in our field but don’t think they would fit in or make the cut.”

Josh Daymude
PhD in Computer Science, Arizona State University, USA

An inspiring place to read about current scientific research, made accessible to a younger audience with relevant questions and links into career options. Love the weekly blog – great work team Futurum.

Lyndsey Henderson via Facebook

“Working with Cressida, Karen, and Brett at Futurum has been an absolute pleasure. Academics sometimes fear having their work reduced or simplified but Futurum have a fundamental understanding of how to present research in a palatable way without distorting it. This comes from attention to detail, dedication to the cause of education, and a genuine respect for academic endeavour.”

Dr Simon Rennie
Senior Lecturer in Victorian Poetry, University of Exeter

“It was wonderful working with Brett, Karen and her team. It was an enjoyable experience and so easy and effortless. It was amazing how effortlessly they could take complex science and make it understandable for students. We are excited about the final product and being able to share our work with educators and future scientists.”

Professor Lori Eckhardt
Forest Health Cooperative, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, USA

Brilliant articles that really shine a light on all the fascinating opportunities in STEM. Keep up the good work!

Sarah Ratcliff via Facebook

“Working with Futurum was a delight. Brett took the time to answer all of my questions and help me understand the process. Karen was efficient, responsive to our suggestions, easy to communicate with, and so patient when things were delayed on our end due to the partial government shutdown. We’re delighted with the beautiful and informative final product. The Futurum team made it so easy for us to share our research and science education products with educators and students around the world.”

Dr Stephanie Bestelmeyer
Executive Director, Asombro Institute for Science Education, USA

“I really enjoyed working with Karen and her team at Futurum Careers. The process of preparing the article was efficient from start to final production. I was impressed with the Futurum’s team capability to breakdown complex science into an easily digestible format for a broad audience.”

Dr Dave Hay
Professor of Tissue Engineering, Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK

“I highly recommend working with Futurum. Karen and the Futurum team were a pleasure to work with and they create materials of the utmost quality. The process was seamless and required far less of my time than I initially anticipated. The Futurum team has the unique ability to distill complex ideas into material clearly articulated for teenagers and young adults, a targeted audience in much need of exposure to science capital. Through the work of Futurum, more young people will gain science-related knowledge and pursue careers in science.”

Dr Alexis Vogt
Associate Professor of Optics, Monroe Community College, USA

“Working with the staff at Futurum was a wonderful experience. From the genuine interest in the association and thoughtful questions, to the beautiful layout and attention to detail, Futurum’s personalized approach yielded an article that was both visually appealing and informative. We were beyond grateful for the opportunity to talk about our journal, Connected Science Learning, and the importance of informal learning experiences in promoting quality science learning for preK-12 students and beyond.”

Kate Falk
Senior Manager, Public Relations, National Science Teachers Association, USA

“Futurum sets up our future so very well in how it networks and reaches out. I am very impressed with the engaging graphics, electric ideas exchange, and extremely committed knowledge mobilization team. Getting to know Karen and Brett, as company leads who take a personalized approach, created such an enjoyable working experience. The opportunity to bring the benefit of science to students, and to potentially light up some STEAM career ideas, especially in those areas where ‘soft skills’ like empathy, interpersonal awareness, social skills count so much, is phenomenal. I am hopeful that these young leaders will open their hearts and minds to exciting helping professions, as well as be a part of the research to action to wellness cycle!”

Dr Christine Wekerle
Associate Professor of Paediatrics, McMaster University, Canada

“Working with Karen [at Futurum] was an absolutely amazing experience because, for the first time of my career I had the opportunity to make science accessible to children and teenagers. This is new for me because I work with predominately older students at Doane University (age 18-22). I also really enjoyed sharing my personal experience from my childhood and what inspired me to become a professor of chemistry. I think younger students will appreciate that I had bad grades and nearly didn’t graduate from high-school, but I still was able to climb up the career ladder. I hope that encourages young students to prevail and not give up. It didn’t take me long to review the materials – perhaps a few hours – but the time didn’t matter to me. I didn’t keep track because it was fun and not work.”

Dr Andrea Holmes
Professor of Chemistry, Doane University, USA

“WISE found Futurum really easy to work with – they asked insightful questions around our programmes and created a feature that was visually engaging and easy to read for the target audience. We are confident that this will raise the profile of our programme following publication.”

Mhairi Crawford
Development Director, WISE Campaign, UK