Dr. Christoph Elhardt is a media spokes person and communication specialist at ETH Zurich’s central communication department. He teaches science and political communication at ETH Zurich and the University of St. Gallen and launched the Communication Academy together with Gertrud Lindner. Before joining ETH’s central communication department, he led the comms department of a think tank and worked at a branding agency. He holds a PhD in political science from ETH Zurich.
In today’s communication landscape, researchers are increasingly engaging directly with society – be it through social media channels, events or dialogue platforms. As a result, communication departments no longer have sole control over how their scientists are perceived. Yet, how well researchers communicate shapes the reputation of a university. This calls for a new role for communication departments in training their researchers in basic science communication skills.
In 2021, ETH Zurich therefore launched the so-called Communication Academy, a free and modular internal training programme for science communication. The programme aims to empower scientists to communicate their research in a comprehensible way to a non-scientific audience. It is targeted at PhD students, postdocs and professors.
Based on our experiences, we want to discuss the success factors as well as the challenges in setting up such a program. We would like to enable colleagues from other universities to take a first step in this direction. We are also looking forward to hearing from colleagues how they are empowering researchers to navigate the new communication landscape.
Program:
- Introduction (5min)
- Participants share their experiences with SciComm teaching and support (10 Min)
- Discussion in small groups on strategic rationale of and skills taught in SciComm programs, presentation of results (20 Min)
- Introducing the ETH Communication Academy (10 Min)
- Q&A / Group discussion (15 Min)
Workshop with Gertrud Lindner