Science Communication Building Blocks - Professional/Short course

Program Overview

The Science Communication Building Blocks program from UWE Bristol offers tailored training sessions for individuals and teams seeking to enhance their science communication skills. Led by experienced trainers, the program covers various topics, including storytelling, audience engagement, and evaluation techniques. Participants can customize their program or choose from pre-designed pairings to suit their specific needs. The program is suitable for staff, students, and teams in various fields who aim to effectively communicate science to diverse audiences.

Program Outline

Outline:

Content:

The Science Communication Building Blocks program offers three levels of content:

• Introductory: No prior experience of science communication.
• Intermediate: Some previous experience of science communication.
• Advanced: Previous experience of science communication and actively working in the field.

Available sessions (all are three hours in duration):

• 1.1 Getting started in science communication: A brief introduction to science communication and key reasons why it might be important to your role.
• 2.2 Science communication: A potted history: An interactive session that explores how the field of science communication has developed and examines some of its key drivers that shape what we do today.
• 2.3 Telling your story: What makes a good story?
How do you present that in person or on film? And what will make it appealing to traditional or social media.
• 2.4 Inclusion in Science Communication: This session looks at identifying 'underserved' participants, key concepts in inclusion and building strategies for engaging underserved people.
• 2.5 Science writing for researchers: Key techniques in science writing enabling you to write effective blogs, stories for the media and other forms of writing.
• 2.6 Introduction to Research Methods: Science communicators often need to carry out research and this course will introduce you to the basic principles of setting up and managing a project, alongside introducing several key social research methods.
• 3.1 Quality in Science Communication: In this session, you will explore why quality is an important concept in science communication and then consider different ways we can think about quality and who might be responsible for ensuring quality in science communication, particularly in digital spaces.
• 4.1 Developing creative science communication projects: This session focuses on the start-up and ideas generation phases of project development.
• 4.2 Boost your science writing skills: Exploring how to write lively, engaging stories that are targeted well at their audience.
• 5.2 Science Podcasting: If you are thinking of starting a podcast, this is for you.
The session explores how to create engaging podcasts and developing your audience.

Features:

• Perfect pairings and example programmes.
• Developing creative science communication projects + Creative evaluation techniques
• Using social media to communicate science + Science writing for researchers
... plus many more combinations.
• Looking for a two-day training event for science centre staff?
• Developing creative science communication projects
• Telling your story
• Inclusion in science communication
• Creative evaluation.
• Looking for a two-day training event for university researchers?
• Developing creative science communication projects
• Telling your story
• Inclusion in science communication
• Creative evaluation.

Structure:

The program consists of three-hour sessions covering relevant topics for contemporary science communication and public engagement.

Teaching:

The Science Communication Building Blocks are delivered by a team of experienced trainers who teach on undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional training courses at UWE Bristol.

Meet the trainers:

• Dr Kathy Fawcett: Senior Lecturer in Science Communication in the Science Communication Unit (SCU).
• Andrew Glester: Lecturer in Science Communication.
• Dr David Judge: Lecturer in the SCU.
• Dr Andy Ridgway: Senior Lecturer in Science Communication in the SCU working on media representations of science.
• Dr Margarida Sardo: Senior Research Fellow in the Science Communication Unit.
• Dr Amanda Webber: Senior Lecturer in the SCU.
• Professor Emma Weitkamp: Professor at UWE Bristol and Co-Director of the SCU, working in science journalism, public relations and Sci-Art.

Other:

• The program is designed for staff, students, and teams who want to improve their science communication skills.
• The program is delivered by the Science Communication Unit at UWE Bristol, which is a leading provider of science communication training in the UK.
• The program is available online or in-person.