Head, heart and stories: RRU grad helping scientists share their work

In a 30-year career marked by curiosity and communication, journalist Jeff Goodes has told hundreds of stories. He has been a writer,broadcaster, podcast producer and host. 

Now, the  graduate of Royal Roads University’s Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program is taking that experience back to school as the newly appointed Journalist in Residence with the Faculty of Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. He takes over from TV journalist and medical correspondent Avis Favaro, who held the inaugural position during the 2022-23 school year. 

“The focus of the position is really helping academics share their message with the public and the community in an engaging way,” says Goodes. “Academics spend their lives working on research…and they’re expected to do things for which they have no training. They have to share their knowledge, learn how to communicate. The other thing is outreach and publicity — they must learn communication skills to be successful. 

“The idea [of the journalist in residence program] is to bring in somebody who’s a communications professional and is able to share communication tools, strategies and approaches, and help them to be able to tell their story in a human and compelling way.” 

Goodes knows storytelling. After starting his career as a writer and broadcaster in his hometown, Winnipeg, he worked at CBC for almost 30 years, including a decade as host and producer of Fresh Air, CBC Radio’s Ontario-wide weekend morning show. He was also the creator and co-host of the Scott Free Podcast, a comedy talk-show with Scott Thompson of Kids in the Hall, and was the producer and senior producer with White Coat, Black Art, a radio documentary series hosted by Dr. Brian Goldman looking at “the culture of medicine and the health-care system from the point of view of those who work on the other side of the gurney.” 

Also, for his final research project at Royal Roads, Goodes examined podcasts as a teaching tool for medical residents. He found they were effective because the over-worked, over-stressed residents could listen at 1.5X speed while doing non-medical tasks. But the most critical component, he says, was story because humans are “wired for story.” 

“It’s that human connection that’s important… Every program that we do, we look for stories, story treatments that have a head and a heartbeat.” 

Bringing both head and heart to the table, Goodes has already done two events for his new job, speaking with post-doctoral academics about how they can spread the word about their work.  

He brings to those discussions both his experience teaching at Hamilton’s Mohawk College and his lessons from Royal Roads. “You get to meet people who are curious about what they do and they’re smart, they come from different walks of life.” 

And, to his delight, they always have good stories. 

Learn more or enroll in the Master of Arts in Learning and Technology program.