Amy Cook
Environmental scientist in Canberra. AI helps me synthesise research papers and write reports for non-technical stakeholders.
📬 linkedin.com/in/amycook
Stories by Amy Cook
I finally cleaned out my email inbox with AI help
I had 14,000 unread emails. I know. Don't come for me. I couldn't face it alone, so I asked Claude to help me build a system. Not just "unsubscribe from things" — an actual system for how to handle email going forward. It helped me set up filters, gave me a framework for what to delete vs archive vs action, and wrote me a template for politely unsubscribing from mailing lists I couldn't easily opt out of. The part that helped most was when I described my job and it suggested which email categories actually needed my attention versus which ones I was keeping out of anxiety rather than usefulness. I'm at inbox zero for the first time in six years. It won't last. But I have a system now.
Help me build an email management system. My situation: [describe job, volume of emails, main types you receive]. I want to go from [current state] to inbox zero. Give me: a sorting framework, filter suggestions, and a template for unsubscribing from lists.
Read full prompt →Translating technical environmental reports into stakeholder presentations
Environmental scientist. I write a lot of technical reports. They're rigorous, well-evidenced, and completely inaccessible to the decision-makers who need to act on them. The translation gap between scientific findings and policy action is real and significant. Good science sits unread because it's not communicated well. I've started using AI to help me create two versions of every significant report: the technical document (written by me, no AI) and a stakeholder summary (AI-assisted). The process: I summarise the key findings in plain language to Claude and ask it to help me structure a 2-page briefing that clearly states what we found, what it means, and what action is recommended. Simple, visual, decision-ready. I've started getting more follow-up from stakeholders. People who previously didn't read my reports are now engaging with the findings. One government department implemented a recommendation within three months of receiving a briefing — something that would have taken years through the normal report pathway. The science hasn't changed. The communication has.
Help me write a 2-page stakeholder briefing based on these research findings: [plain language summary of findings]. The audience: [decision-makers, not scientists]. Structure: what we found (in plain terms), why it matters, what action is recommended. No jargon. Decision-ready format.
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