Scientific Communication

BIOL60330 Scientific Communication 15 Full year Postgraduate Taught Level 6 Andreas Prokop Unit coordinator School of Biological Sciences 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 An essential part of being a successful research scientist is the ability to give clear and interesting presentations, and likewise, to be able to assimilate new information presented in the form of a seminar. In this module, students will acquire the ability to listen to a presentation, understand the key concepts and record important details, and then summarise its contents in a brief written report. The Science Communication Module also encourages students to develop the ability to positively assess the scientific merit of other scientists’ work.The oral presentation is based on students’ research projects and are designed to improve communication skills and provide students with skills that are transferable to the workplace. The sessions also allow students to discuss their work with academics and other students and staff. During this unit, students will attend scientific seminars and will prepare a group presentation and a lay abstract based on two different seminars. Students will also write a lay abstract based on their own research project. The necessary strategies will be explained in a dedicated 2hr interactive classroom session. A further dedicated 2hr interactive classroom session will introduce to strategies for scientific poster design. Students will then develop posters of their own research projects and present them at a conference-style poster session.  This unit aims to develop the students’ ability to communicate scientific concepts clearly and effectively to both scientific and non-specialist audiences. Students will develop skills in lay communication through oral and written tasks. Students will be introduced to authentic research environments by attending scientific seminars and presenting their own work in a conference-style poster session.   <ul> <li>Be able to grasp information presented in scientific talks and summarise it in meaningful ways.</li> <li>Be able to orally present your own research work.</li></ul> <ul><li>experience and understand how scientific contents are presented in conference-style seminars.</li><li>have a broader understanding of research topics in biological sciences and the methodologies used.</li><li>experience and understand how conference-style poster sessions work and how to adapt poster style appropriately.</li><li>understand how to pitch scientific contents to lay audiences.</li></ul> have acquired the skills to be able to critically assess the work of other researchers.have acquired the skills to translate complex topics into simple language. <ul><li>have learned to develop effective scientific posters and present them via elevator pitches.</li></ul> <ul><li>Analytical skills: be able to extract information from scientific seminars.</li><li>Innovation/creativity: ability to turn project work into poster design.</li><li>Presentation skills: ability to turn complex scientific contents into an easily accessible presentation.</li><li>Leadership: chairing a team to prepare the group presentation.</li><li>Project management: managing the process of turning complex data into organised oral, visual or written presentation.</li><li>Oral communication: giving an elevator pitch of a scientific project.</li></ul> Analytical skills Students will analyse the material presented in each seminar in order that the key points can be identified for the précis. Innovation/creativity Information should be presented in the poster to make the data stand out and maximise impact. Oral presentation should convey the background material and results creatively Leadership Student will take responsibility for the decisions in relation to content for the poster and oral presentation. Project management Students will decide on which material should be selected from the seminar for each précis, and which content to include in the poster and oral presentation. Oral communication Oral presentation and verbal description of poster material. Problem solving Students need to summarise the key points from each seminar presentation in a succinct manner. Research Students will describe their findings in relation to the wider field. Written communication Precis summaries of the selected seminars. It is recognised that an essential part of being a successful research scientist is the ability to give clear and interesting presentations, and likewise, to be able to assimilate new information presented in the form of a seminar. In this module, students will acquire the ability to listen to a presentation, understand the key concepts and record important details, and then summarize its contents in a brief written report. The Science Communication module also encourages students to develop the ability to positively assess the scientific merit of other scientists’ work. The oral presentation is based on students’ research projects and are designed to improve communication skills and provide students with skills that are transferable to the workplace. The sessions also allow students to discuss their work with academics and other students and staff. <ul><li>Following a dedicated interactive 2hr plenary session to learn strategies for how to digest information from a scientific seminar and how to generate scientific resources for lay audiences, students will attend scientific seminars and generate a lay group presentation and a lay abstract. They will also generate a lay abstract of their own research project.</li><li>Following a dedicated interactive 2hr plenary session to learn strategies for conference poster design and presentation, students will develop a poster based on their projects and present at a conference-style poster session.</li></ul> 0 Other 100% <ul><li>Attend scientific seminar: prepare group presentation for lay audience (tutorial setting)</li><li>Attend scientific seminar: prepare 500-word lay abstract</li><li>Prepare 500 word lay abstract for students’ own research project</li><li>Prepare a poster for students’ own research project and present elevator pitch at poster session  </li></ul> Tutorial session feedback  Marking comments Oral feedback MSc Biological Sciences MSc Biological Sciences PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Developmental Biology MSc Developmental Biology PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Cell Biology MSc Cell Biology PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Biochemistry MSc Biochemistry PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Neuroscience MSc Neuroscience PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Cancer Res and Molecular B MSc Cancer Research and Molecu PGDT Taught Component Mandatory N 0 0 150