Discover the importance of public engagement in science, and learn techniques to share and raise awareness of your research. Define your message and share your findings through social and traditional media. Good science communication ensures the public engage with and understand relevant scientific research. On this course, you will learn how best to share your science findings with your intended audience.
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You’ll explore how the relationship between society and science has evolved over time, and find out how traditional and social media can be used to share research. You’ll learn to identify your target audience and define your message to build a shareable story.
You’ll also discover guidelines for working with journalists, and how to host small events to share information with the public.
Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to science communication and public engagement
Week 2: Finding your message and delivering it
Week 3: Communicating through journalists and institutional initiatives
Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Design small-scale public science communication events
- Reflect on the role of traditional and social media in the communication of science
- Improve your science communication activities by clearly identifying the target audiences, messages and stories
Who is the course for?
The course is designed for scientists and researchers who wish to communicate the results and theory of their field(s) of study to the public.
This includes graduate and postgraduate students, academic staff of all career levels, and scientists not working in academia.
