SciComm Academy long

What is it?

Science For Georgia offers a no application needed, science communication training program. We guide Science and Technology students and professionals in building bridges across disciplines and out into the larger community. A key feature is creation of content that is directly applicable to your core audience. Everyone has a voice. Maximize yours to effectively advocate for yourself, your science, and your fellow humans.

Instructor is relatable and clear. Content is useful [for] someone just venturing in Scicomm!

Amy is a great presenter. Very entertaining and helpful.

I like being able to apply groups to understand audience needs.

I wish this could be a whole day workshop.

Good workshop - I learned a lot that I can apply in the future.

Personable and easy to dive in. I can see things learned in this course for not only my research but also my passion projects.

I really enjoyed the one-on-one meeting with instructor.

I really appreciated the workshop nature and learning what all the other students were working on as well. The 1:1 with Dr. Sharma is what makes this science communication workshop unique and super helpful! I will definitely be applying what I learned at SciComm to other presentations and communications I have in the future!

I've learned the effectiveness of telling a great anecdote to help effectively communicate my position.

The facts cannot speak for themselves. Give them a voice.

The overwhelming majority of Science Professionals and Researchers are not exposed to any formal communications training; and it shows. Your research is only as powerful as the audiences you can reach with it. We work with you to bring your work out into the world!

With our course, you will become a certified Science Communicator, and have a chance at having your work featured on Science Lookup!

Relevant

Get started by identifying and empathizing with your audience.

Concise

Clean, simple, focused talking points and language.

Actionable

Pull it all together in a memorable story.

Each SciComm Academy Includes

Introductory Talk

Designed to be given as a professional development keynote or lunch-and-learn, the one-hour introductory talk covers the basics of topic identification, audience relevance, concise communication, and driving the audience toward indented action. The audience walks away with a checklist to achieve actionable communication. This can be presented in-person or online. This format has been utilized by Smart Community Corps (A Georgia Tech Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation Program), the Orthopaedic Research Society, ComSciCon, Georgia Botanical Gardens, and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Horticulture Group.

The Core Class

Designed as an interactive learning experience, this workshop teaches the skills to identify and communicate with specific audiences. Attendees learn how to make their message relevant, concise, and actionable to successfully advocate for their ideas with interested parties.

These skills will be applied to create a headline, structured outline, and executive summary / plain language abstract that can become a larger presentation, blog, letter, or paper.

This workshop has been utilized by Emory’s Post-Doc Program, Emory’s Science Advocacy Network, and UGA’s Learn by Leading Program.

This class is offered as a 6-hour workshop or a series of sessions.

Short Courses

These courses assume participants can identify a message that is relevant, concise, and actionable. In all courses, attendees will walk away with content, checklists, and/or concrete action items.

Topics include:

  1. Working with the media
  2. Introduction to the government
  3. Science blogging
  4. Plain language abstracts

Short Courses

These courses assume participants can identify a message that is relevant, concise, and actionable. In all courses, attendees will walk away with content, checklists, and/or concrete action items.

Topics include:

  1. Working with the media
  2. Introduction to the government
  3. Science blogging
  4. Plain language abstracts

Fun Examples from Students

A fact sheet on mRNA from Sarah Strassler. NOTE: The efficacy of vaccines have changed, but this sheet was accurate at the time of creation.

 

Dr. Maria Misiura was our featured speaker at an Atlanta Science Tavern.

In 2020 - we worked with the Smart Community Corps (A Georgia Tech Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation Program) to provide information on impactful blogging. Read their stories here.