MSc Biochemistry / Course details

An essential part of being a successful research scientist is the ability to give clear and interesting presentations, and likewise, to be able to assimilate new information presented in the form of a seminar. In this module, students will acquire the ability to listen to a presentation, understand the key concepts and record important details, and then summarise its contents in a brief written report. The Science Communication Module also encourages students to develop the ability to positively assess the scientific merit of other scientists’ work.

The oral presentation is based on students’ research projects and are designed to improve communication skills and provide students with skills that are transferable to the workplace. The sessions also allow students to discuss their work with academics and other students and staff.

This unit aims to develop the students’ ability to communicate scientific concepts clearly and effectively to both scientific and non-specialist audiences. Students will develop skills in lay communication through oral and written tasks. Students will be introduced to authentic research environments by attending scientific seminars and presenting their own work in a conference-style poster session. 

• Be able to grasp information presented in scientific talks and summarise it in meaningful ways.
• Be able to orally present your own research work.

It is recognised that an essential part of being a successful research scientist is the ability to give clear and interesting presentations, and likewise, to be able to assimilate new information presented in the form of a seminar. In this module, students will acquire the ability to listen to a presentation, understand the key concepts and record important details, and then summarize its contents in a brief written report. The Science Communication module also encourages students to develop the ability to positively assess the scientific merit of other scientists’ work. The oral presentation is based on students’ research projects and are designed to improve communication skills and provide students with skills that are transferable to the workplace. The sessions also allow students to discuss their work with academics and other students and staff.

• Following a dedicated interactive 2hr plenary session to learn strategies for how to digest information from a scientific seminar and how to generate scientific resources for lay audiences, students will attend scientific seminars and generate a lay group presentation and a lay abstract. They will also generate a lay abstract of their own research project.
• Following a dedicated interactive 2hr plenary session to learn strategies for conference poster design and presentation, students will develop a poster based on their projects and present at a conference-style poster session.

• experience and understand how scientific contents are presented in conference-style seminars.
• have a broader understanding of research topics in biological sciences and the methodologies used.
• experience and understand how conference-style poster sessions work and how to adapt poster style appropriately.
• understand how to pitch scientific contents to lay audiences.

have acquired the skills to be able to critically assess the work of other researchers.

have acquired the skills to translate complex topics into simple language.

• have learned to develop effective scientific posters and present them via elevator pitches.

• Analytical skills: be able to extract information from scientific seminars.
• Innovation/creativity: ability to turn project work into poster design.
• Presentation skills: ability to turn complex scientific contents into an easily accessible presentation.
• Leadership: chairing a team to prepare the group presentation.
• Project management: managing the process of turning complex data into organised oral, visual or written presentation.
• Oral communication: giving an elevator pitch of a scientific project.

Group presentation of a scientific seminar - 20 min - 10%

Lay abstract of a scientific seminar - 500 words - 20%

Lay abstract of students’ own project - 500 words - 20%

Poster presentation of own project - 50%

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