Communication specialist Alba Sánchez is leading a workshop on how to turn a thesis into an Instagram carousel

On April 30, the workshop“Successful Outreach on Instagram: #HiloTesis” took place, a training by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+I) at the University of Navarra aimed atresearcher staff , PhD student professor the university.

The session, held in the classroom Gamesa classroom , located at the Institute of Culture and Society, consisted of an intensive workshop to introduce participants to the use of Instagram tool knowledge dissemination , using reference letter #HiloTesis, which promotes the communication of research short, visual formats that are accessible to the general public.

Science communicator Alba Sánchez Montalvo, known on Instagram @inmunominuto, led the session, in which she discussed how to transform research into a clear, engaging, and understandable carousel for non-specialist audiences. Sánchez holds a Ph.D. in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Aptamers research group at Cima of Navarra. Her career as a science communicator began during the Covid-19 pandemic, a internship has maintained and expanded through social media and regular contributions to the program “A golpe de bit” on Radio Nacional de España, among other activities.

Tips for Effective Communication on Instagram

In a small, personalized workshop setting, the dozen participating doctoral students worked on the key strategies for adapting scientific language to the digital environment and crafting an effective, accessible narrative. Sánchez emphasized the importance of not trying to summarize the entire thesis “To communicate successfully, it’s important to choose a central idea, explain why it matters, and guide the reader step by step using a simple, visual structure designed for mobile devices.”

The workshop also included an internship component internship concrete examples of how to adapt scientific language, ranging from simplifying technical jargon to identifying attention-grabbing hooks that capture the audience’s interest from the very first slide. In addition, Sánchez shared a work outline work structuring the presentation, which involves starting with the problem, explaining its relevance, posing the research question research concluding with the main findings, their significance, and their social impact.

In closing, Sánchez outlined a series of guidelines for reviewing the carousel before publishing it—some basic recommendations focused on checking whether the issue and the main question are clear, whether only the essentials have been included, whether the cover page encourages readers to continue reading, whether the design mobile-friendly, and whether it is clear why the research socially.

This training the first in a series of workshops on research communication research knowledge dissemination techniques and skills organized by the UCC+I at the University of Navarra for the 2025–2026 academic year.