Presentation Skills - 20+21 May 2025

Trainer: Alexander Britz
Date and Time: 20 + 21 May 2025 (9:00-17:00)
Target group: PhD students
Venue: IMB
Content:
During the workshop, the participants will gain essential skills to deliver impactful scientific presentations (for seminars, conferences, or a thesis defense). The emphasis will be on oral presentation skills.

The specific topics and learning objectives of the workshop are:
- Understand and apply fundamental laws of effective professional scientific communication, with a spotlight on oral presentation skills.
- Learn to create compelling narratives from scientific results using structured storytelling and pitching techniques.
- Acquire skills to use body language and voice effectively.
- Understand how to use technical aid and design appealing slides.
- Hands-on practice of short presentations in breakout sessions.
- Utilize structured feedback to refine your presentations.
Each participant will have to bring a 5-mins presentation or a poster for an active practice session.

Please register by 18 April 2025
To receive information on course fees for external* participants, please email training@imb-mainz.de

Critical Reasoning and Logic - 27+28 May 2025

Trainer: Kai Hüwelmeyer
Date & time: 27 + 28 May 2025, 9:00-17:00
Venue: IMB
Target group: PhD students, postdocs, junior scientists
Content:
Scientists have to give arguments in many different contexts: in their publications, in grant applications, in lab meetings and in conference presentations. Nevertheless, the bases for strong and correct arguments are not always fully clear to them. Logic provides extremely helpful tools for scientists to develop their arguments in a coherent, well-structured and convincing way. The course introduces the most important concepts of logic: premises and conclusions of arguments, validity and soundness of arguments, deductive vs. inductive reasoning, common types of inferences and fallacies. The idea of the course is to use these concepts as a toolbox which provides useful techniques for everyday scientific work. The participants learn how to reconstruct arguments from scientific texts, how to give well-structured and logically valid arguments, and how to avoid misunderstandings.

Please register by 25 April 2025
To receive information on course fees for external* participants, please email training@imb-mainz.de

Basics in Science Communication - 10 June 2025

Trainer: David Fußhöller
Date and Time: 10 June 2025, 09:00-17:00
Target group: Staff; Postdocs; senior PhD students
Venue: IMB
Content:
During the workshop the participants will have a chance to learn about the following topics:

• Science, society and the role of the media
• Targeted communication and the art of reduction
• Target groups and how to reach them
• Basics of successful communication
• Challenges in science communication

Please register by 30 April 2025
To receive information on course fees for external* participants, please email training@imb-mainz.de

Think before you write (Scientific Writing) - 30 June + 7 July 2025

Trainer: Andrew Moore
Date & time: 30 June + 7 July 2025, 9:00-17:00
Venue: online
Target group: advanced PhD students and postdocs
Content:

• Find out about the most important rule of communication (any communication).
• Learn about how readers find and read your work, so that you can write better for your intended audience.
• Get some interesting insights into cognitive psychology that are highly relevant for writing good scientific English.
• Learn how to structure your writing for maximum effect.
• Submit a short piece of writing, and benefit from group feedback and editorial input in real time.
• Find out how editorial works, how to avoid common pitfalls (typical reasons for rejection), and how to react to rejection letters.
• Understand the journal world better, and improve your ability to choose an appropriate journal in which to publish (and to avoid "predatory" journals!).

Please register by 16 May 2025
To receive information on course fees for external* participants, please email training@imb-mainz.de