Teachers :Richard-Emmanuel Eastes, Matteo Merzagora

In the so called post-academic era of science, the production of scientific knowledge can no longer be separated from the communication channels that lead to its dissemination, within and outside the scientific community.
The course main objectives are to provide an understanding of the role of communication in the work and career of a scientist, and to train the students in communicating their work efficiently.
The approach will be both theoretical and practical. The theoretical part will provide a basic introduction to learning theories and cognitive processes applied to the understanding of scientific concepts, and an introduction to the field of science and technology studies aimed at appreciating the complexity of the interactions between science and society at large. New tools of knowledge production and dissemination in the web 2.0 era will also be introduced. The practical part will focus on techniques of structuring and delivering a scientific presentation to a variety of audiences (in particular scientists of the same or different fields, but also politicians, the media, other stakeholders, the public, etc.) and on writing techniques. A series of workshops will complement the course: students will be challenged to produce written and oral presentations under specific constraints and targeting specific audiences, to interact with journalists, to interact with the general public, and to devise innovative and creative forms of communication.