Engaging Society through Science Communication

Aims

By the end of this course, you will be familiar with the essential tools of science communication and know how to apply them effectively. You’ll learn to select the right channels - from social media to the press and in-person meetings - to share your research clearly and accessibly, prepare focused messages, and build your professional network. Reflecting on how science and society interact will help you choose your role as a scientist in this broader context.

Content

The course provides participants with practical tools to communicate science effectively. It covers:

• How science interacts with society and what to pay attention to
• Defining your goals in engaging with society beyond academia
• Explaining your research and its implications clearly and concisely
• Building your presence on social media
• Preparing for interviews with the media

Methods

The course combines short theoretical inputs, checklists, concrete examples, group discussions and practical exercises.

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates & Postdocs

Requirements

1. Participants must provide two written items about their work (abstract of a research article, short description of a research project or proposals, appearances in a newsletter or in the media, etc.). This input must be uploaded as a single Word or Pdf file with the filename “Firstname_Lastname.docx/pdf” to the Dropbox folder <https://saraga.short.gy/BS_26 before 8 April 2025>6.
2. Participants must do the assignment that will be uploaded here https://saraga.short.gy/BS_26_assign by 8 April 2026 and do it until 15 April 2026.
3. Participants must bring a laptop to the workshop.

About the Trainer

Daniel Saraga has 18 years of experience in science communication. His current and previous clients include universities in Switzerland and abroad, the ETH Board, the Swiss National Covid-19 Science Task Force and Luxembourg’s parliament. He was previously head of science communication at the Swiss National Science Foundation, a science journalist and editor-in-chief of three multilingual popular science magazines, the founder of the Kidslab at the University of Basel and a researcher in physics, holding a PhD from University College London. He has trained hundreds of scientists in dealing with the media, advising policymakers, developing their social media presence and improving their writing. He is the founder of Saraga Communications.

Workload

Total of 9h (course attendance 8h, preparation 1h)

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.