Testimonials – Impact Statements: Participants (AIMS-South Africa Masters’ Students)
On the impact of the Africa Scientifique workshop on their science communication and public engagement presentation & communication skills and knowledge
I learnt the public engagement platforms that I can use to communicate my work and which tools are more effective than others – The public engagement tools and formats that can be used to communicate my work with the general public at large. I learnt to effectively combine public engagement platforms and the public engagement tools to communicate properly with the public.
The sessions were interesting and the topics discussed captured my heart. I really learnt a lot. I learnt about communication skills and how to present effectively to my audience. I learnt how to write a good proposal. I learnt to be able to think fast and put my thoughts down in a clear way.
The facilitator gave me a chance to demonstrate my presentation skills. Due to my participation in the activities, this helped me to work on my weakness during presentation. I learnt how to keep your audience attentive; the pace at which one speaks; the components involved in proposal writing and how to make it outstanding.
I learnt how to overcome socio-cultural exclusion in science communication.
I was able to reveal my feelings about the engagements to the public and learn the good approaches to different groups in society.
Benefits achieved from the workshop – especially in presentation, ‘WOW’ – I mean as a scientist that has been my weakness but in this workshop I learned how to tackle this issue, the techniques and important facts when presenting.
I learnt about the different styles of presentation.
The facilitator gave us diverse tools, platforms that we can use to present and communicate science via written or oral format.
I learnt how to communicate scientific ideas, research to tourists, in industry, to decision-makers, the general public….I also learnt to write proposals and make my presentation to be on one slide. It has given me the capacity to fill the missing gaps needed to communicate effectively.
I learned how to communicate my scientific ideas to the general public and to communicate my mathematics and science ideas using my native language.
The facilitator answered questions relating to how to write a good proposal and gave us a group activity in which my group won the best proposal.
I know what is required of me, if I had to go out there and engage with the public in scientific communication. Language remains an important factor in public engagement regarding science.
I learnt how to properly identify your target audience; identify the necessary tools and resources that I will need to properly communicate my work; and how I can monitor and evaluate how I communicate my work and get responses from the public about my public communication and engagement skills.
I really enjoyed the workshop because it was focusing on my weak point, which is standing in front of many people (audience) and speaking.
I learnt how to include motivation and enthusiasm in my presentations.
I was not familiar on delivering message to people, now I have that skill and I have other tools to use for public engagement and science communication.
Science communication is much helpful not only to the public but to me also, because the more I present my work especially in public society, the more I gain knowledge of what I do too, because of questions imposed from audiences.
Presenting has been my weakness in my studies but from this workshop now I can be able to present my findings to public and science community.
In order to be able to engage with the public you need capacity building training, resources, mentoring and tools.
Benefits of the workshop – knowing the different tools I can use to communicate my work. Now I have gained and been exposed to some skills I will need to communicate my science with public stakeholders.
Benefits of the workshop – An improvement on my presentation skills. Also on how to simplify mathematics when delivering it to our communities.
I was able to learn how to present towards the audience making mathematics into simpler terms – because most people don’t really know mathematics and Africa Scientifique helps with making mathematical sciences easier.
I have benefitted in quite a number of ways but the most important one is the ability to communicate science to any group of people. It has transformed my mentality positively as a young researcher, because after my research thesis, I am motivated now to go out to communicate my research work.
Benefits of the workshop – my communication skills have improved; it has opened my eyes to see the importance of communicating my scientific work. After taking the 3-day workshop, I believe I am better prepared for my master’s defence and to communicate my work in the public.
I learnt how to communicate science and mathematical ideas/knowledge to the
general public in a way one would understand the importance of having scientific knowledge. Science communication/public engagement has helped me to feel free to talk about my mathematical ideas to people who have no idea of the application of mathematics to the real world.
The Africa Scientifique workshop has helped to boost my confidence when communicating my ideas to the public.
Africa Scientifique – Background & Rationale
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Decolonising Museums and Science Communication, held on the 13th May 2020.
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SCI:COM 2019 ‘Creativity – Novel approaches to Science Communication’
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Ecsite Advocacy Group on Diversity, Equity and Social Inclusion
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