Whether you are a member of the natural or human science community, if you are a PhD student, professor, part of an academic department or international research team, or self-employed and you wish to showcase your work to a wider audience then this is the perfect course for you. You will learn how to promote your work to professional peers, the general public, as well as the media.

In this Course, we have been incredibly fortunate to gather a team of experienced professionals from scientific experts, to media specialists, to communication coaches, who frequently appear at conferences and on various face-to-face and online platforms. You will gain key takeaways that you can adapt to your own communication contexts. To further deepen your learning experience, you will collaborate with an international scientific community to reflect on and fine-tune your own skills in pitches, presentations, approach to question and answer sessions, networking, and speaking to the media.

Authors' note: While the course is intended for self-study use, it has also been successfully piloted in flipped classroom English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) training contexts.

Course organization

Introduction to the Course

Welcome to the Course

Structure your Ideas with Cécile Michaut

What is your goal ?
What is your message ?
Who is your audience ?
Which plateform for which audience ?
Leave the jargon behind
Your pitch
Peer Review Task 1 : Your research pitch

Enhance your Scientific Presentations with Bethany Cagnol

Back to the Basics
Language Points for Scientific Presentations
Enhance your online communication experience
Improve your panel discussions or round table experience
Case study on excellent presentation skills
Week 2 Quiz: Enhance your Scientific Presentations

Answering challenging questions with Sinead Namur

Interactive Lesson: Reflecting on tough audience questions
Interactive Lesson: Reflecting on appropriate responses
Debrief on inappropriate responses
Interactive Lesson: Observing appropriate responses
Debrief on appropriate responses
Peer Review Task 2: Answering questions

Networking with various experts with Bethany Cagnol

Collaborating in other fields and applying for grants
Spotlight on a neuroscientist: Reaching out to the general public
Spotlight on an oncologist: Getting the most out of social media
Spotlight on the President of Télécom Paris: Networking in academic and corporate contexts
Top Tips for Networking in the Sciences with Bethany Cagnol

Interacting with the Press with various experts

Frédéric Restagno, CNRS research professor of physics, on working with the media
Cécile Michaut on The Written Press and the Web
Catherine de Coppet on Interviewing for Radio
Audrey Mikaëlian on Interviewing for Television
Cécile Michaut on Building a Sustainable Relationship with the Media
Peer Review Task 3
Last word from your course leader, Bethany Cagnol

Instructional Goals

By the end of the course, you should:

How to prepare a clear and concise professional pitch of your research domain and recent work that can be adapted to various audiences.
Gain a sound understanding of the expectations of journalists when being interviewed by the press.
Fine-tune key public speaking skills for presenting, answering questions, and networking during scientific and media events.

Grading Policy

Each week includes a final test :

in week 1, 3 and 5, a peer review
in week 2 and 4, a quizz

For quizzes, the number of attempts allowed is unlimited

To valide the course, you must achieve a total grade of 80% or higher.

Week 1 peer review count for 15% of the final grade
Week 2 quizz count for 10% of the final grade
Week 3 peer review count for 15% of the final grade
Week 4 quizz count for 10% of the final grade
Week 5 peer review count for 50% of the final grade

Support and tutoring

Technical Questions

If you have any technical problem or question, you can contact referents-pedagotheque@imt.fr. We will do our best to answer within 2 working days.

Independent Use

If you take this course on your own, forums will not be running and you will not get any answers. Nevertheless, you can use the forums to discuss topics of the course with other independent users.
If you have any technical problem, you can contact referents-pedagotheque@imt.fr. We will do our best to answer within 2 working days.

Class Use (with your teacher)

If you take this course with your teachers, they are free to use the course forums or any other means of communication. Please follow their instructions to contact them.
Nevertheless, if you have any technical problem, you can contact referents-pedagotheque@imt.fr. We will do our best to answer within 2 working days.

Établissements impliqués

Logo IMT Nord Europe

31 March 2023

2 ans