Overview:

Using science communication methods based on storytelling and peer feedback, this 6-week course teaches you how to easily engage ANY audience so that they understand and remember your research. The skills you will learn will be applicable to any context in which you are required to explain your research and its value, including professional presentations at conferences, talks to lay audiences, and grant applications. Each summer, McPherson ERI will sponsor up to 6 individuals to take the course, and preference is given to early applicants. One applicant per PI will be selected (unless space is available, in which case more than one applicant per PI may be accepted). More course details can be found here.

This course comes highly recommended by your McPherson ERI peers who participated over the last several summers. In fact, both trainees and PIs have said that the StoryForm Science Communication Course was one of the best and most useful courses they ever took.

Awards to attend the course are only given those who are at an institution in Wisconsin and are either McPherson ERI Trainee Members or McPherson ERI Members who are Staff Scientists (see eligibility criteria). If you are a postdoc or graduate student who is not yet a trainee member, please submit a trainee membership application on the same day you apply for this award opportunity. If you are staff scientist who is not yet a member, please submit a membership application on the same day you apply for this award opportunity.

Eligibility Requirements:

To be eligible to receive MERI sponsorship to attend the StoryForm Science Communication Course, you must…

• …be either (i) a McPherson ERI trainee member OR (ii) a McPherson ERI member that is a staff scientist. (If you are a postdoc or graduate student who is not already a trainee member, please submit a trainee membership application along with your travel award application. If you are a staff scientist who is not already a member, please submit a membership application along with your award application. Further information about MERI membership is available here.)

• …agree to give an in-person, 3-10 minute talk (to be developed during the course) on your research to an audience of McPherson ERI members and trainees on the UW-Madison campus within one year of the course’s conclusion.

NOTE: If you are not eligible to be a McPherson ERI Member or Trainee Member, you can still enroll in the StoryForm Science Communication Course but will have to cover tuition cost by some other means than MERI sponsorship. If you are interested in doing this, please sign up directly for the course here.

Submission Guidelines:

To apply for an award to attend the StoryForm Science Communication Course, simply fill out our online google form (via the button toward the top of the page) before the application deadline.