Workshops
Science communication skills have very wide applicability, from scientific journals and conferences all the way through to giving talks to school students. ESConet Trainers make use of a ‘scenario approach’, in which the researchers to be trained are put into a number of situation in which they will be expected to communicate with lay, but intelligent audiences. In particular, ESConet stresses the importance of communication with and through the mass media in order to provide basic training in structured and well-focused communication. Our Science Communication I workshops consist of a number of modules, most of which have practical activities. Feedback sessions are built into all of the practical modules, and further feedback will be given as required, after the workshops. The following modules are delivered in the Science Communication I workshop:
✫ Who are you communicating with and why?
✫ Talking to the media
✫ Media writing
✫ Public science on the web
✫ How media cover science
✫ Science in culture
For more information, please visit the specific pages for:
View workshop outlines:
Science Communication I
Science Communication II
As the name suggests, the Science Communication II workshops are designed for researchers who already have the basic skills outlined in WP2: either they have taken the Science Communication I workshop, or they have taken similar modules elsewhere. So the Science Communication II workshops will put you into high-pressure situations: to brief policy makers or propose projects to funders; to deal with a controversial situation; to be involved with public science projects - such as cleaning coastlines after an oil tanker spill - that make science just one voice amongst many; to communicate about risks of deadly diseases, for example. One further issue for consideration is the increasing demand on those involved in science communication to show that they have thought through their projects, with a particular emphasis on evaluation - funders want to know that they are getting ‘value for money’. In this situation, social science techniques can be helpful. These workshops will be carefully tailored to suit your scientific disciplines and expertise:
✫ Communicating to policy makers
✫ Communicating risk
✫ Science in dialogue
✫ Social science for science communication
