Scientists learned how to develop hands-on and brains-on science workshops for lay audiences in a training offered by the Luxembourg Science Center.
Six doctoral candidates and one master student from the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) participated in the training. During a one-day workshop in October 2021, Nadia Battello and Isabelle Schmartz from the Luxembourg Science Center shared their knowledge and supported the participants in the creation of their own workshop.
“In a nutshell I learned how to create a workshop from scratch”, said one of the participants in the anonymous feedback. “It was hands-on from the beginning and I think it is the best way to learn how to do something. I learned what to look out for, how to organize the time, the content, how to engage people and in which manner that should be done.”
At the end of the day, the scientists were able to deliver their workshops to the other participants in order to receive feedback and further improve them. The workshops covered topics like immunology, mini-brains, solar cells, fluid dynamics and climate change. The participants will have the chance to deliver their workshops to the public during various events and comic exhibitions in 2022. More information about this will be published in the DESCOM News section.
The workshop is funded by the Doctoral School in Science and Engineering (DSSE) of the University of Luxembourg. It is supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) in the context of the production of the second volume of the science comic LUX:plorations. The comics are an activity carried out by the FNR-funded project DESCOM (Doctoral Education in Science Communication). DESCOM aims to support interactions between academia and the public by providing different modes of training in science communication as well as organising and supporting outreach activities.