RUB Research School

Pr_01: ONLINE Effective Visual Communication of Research (4 hrs online workshop & self-study modules)

For doctoral researchers from Life, Natural & Engineering Sciences | Level all

Online workshop + self-study modules

Date: 13.03.2025 online workshop & self-study modules before and during the workshop 
Time: 09.00 - 13.30 hrs + individual time for self-study modules before and during the workshop
Trainer: Dr. Jernej Zupanc
Language: English
Participants: max. 18 persons
Credit Point: acknowledged with 0,75 CP for the doctoral training programme of RUB RS Certificate

Course Description

You will learn to visually communicate your complex research ideas and results so your messages are effortlessly understood by any specific audience (scientists or non-scientists). We will not focus on aesthetics but on how knowledge on human visual perception can help you create effective scientific images, slides, and posters. 

You will design a graphical abstract of your research, discuss it with peer scientists in a group exercise, and get actionable advice and feedback on your own images and slides. It is an immersive workshop, comprehensive, structured, memorable, easy to follow, useful and fun. 

Please consider that working through main parts of the self-study modules before the online workshop is expected, because important information and knowledge from the self-study modules will not be repeated in the workshop.

Course Content     

The training is offered as blended learning that combines self-study modules and an online workshop. 

Self-study modules via an online platform - expected to be partially completed before the online workshop:

  • Communicating with scientific vs non-scientific audiences
  • Visual perception and what humans find intuitive
  • Layout: simplifying comprehension through a structured layout
  • Eye-flow: effortlessly guide the audience through the design
  • Colors: how to amplify, not ‘fancify’
  • Typography for legibility, structure and aesthetics
  • Slides that amplify messages and don't distract when presenting
  • Posters: strategy and process for creating posters that attract and explain
  • Homework: you submit your images and slides for feedback.

Online Workshop

  • Recap and Q&A: an effective review of self-study topics and optional 1-on-1 consulting with facilitator to address your individual challenges.
  • Feedback on submitted materials: you will get actionable suggestions on how to improve your own scientific images and slides.
  • Graphical abstract drawing exercise: you will draw a sketch of your research
  • Group peer-instruction exercise: we make groups so everyone learns to give and receive informed feedback to peers.

What previous participants say

"All the knowledge shared in the workshop triggered an 'aha effect' because it was presented with a lot of competence and the trainer explained the reason why they work like that, providing biological and psychological explanations."

"Enjoyed the online course because I could watch it at any time with breaks as I needed them. This made it a lot easier to watch theoretic contents. The actual online course was therefore not that long and much more straight forward."


Trainer:
Dr. Jernej Zupanc works since 2013 as an expert on visual communication of science and offers workshops and consultancy on how to visually present complex research messages to make them easy to understand for different audiences. He did his PhD in computer science (biomedical image analysis), was a Fulbright scholar at Northeastern University in Boston and for three years evaluator of EU H2020 research and innovation related proposals.

Please click here to register for the workshop: REGISTRATION

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