Scientific communication in medicine - Editorials, essays, opinions, blogs and social media (Series of Seminars)
Lecturer: Juan VA Franco (Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, Managing Editor of the Cochrane Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Contact Editor for the Cochrane Urology Group, Clinical Editor at the BMJ, and co-host of the podcast Talk Evidence (BMJ))
Place: Building 17.11.0032 H
Time: 10 am (sharp)– 1 pm
Dates: Wednesdays: 03/05, 10/05, 17/05, 24/05, 31/05, 07/06, 14/06/2023
Scientific communication is key to conveying persuasive ideas or contributing to academic debate. Doctors write opinion pieces, are interviewed on TV, and even record podcasts. Moreover, there are always hot debates in medicine: “Which conditions should be screened for in primary care?” “Should a new surgical procedure be covered by the Krankenkasse?” “Should marihuana be legalised in Germany?” Journals and media cover these topics by publishing research articles (evidence) and non-research articles (opinions, analyses, essays, editorials). Non-research articles engage with not only the theory and evidence but also the writer’s perspective. In addition, social media has provided more platforms for debate, for example, #MedTwitter, with a 280-character constraint.
In this course, we aim to develop the skills in writing engaging, persuasive, evidence-based, non-research articles and practice using social media and other platforms for creating or disseminating content related to medicine and health.
Seven workshops covering the following topics:
- Creating your communication style following best scientific practice.
- Handling controversial topics. Misinformation or miscommunication: protecting patients, the public and yourself, including legal and ethical considerations.
- Ethical use of software to improve your English writing (AI and other tools) and software to edit videos and audio.
- Short non-research articles: blogs, editorials and opinions.
- Scholarly comments: essays, perspectives and analyses.
- Social media: Twitter, Podcasts, being interviewed and other platforms.
- Principles of editing text and multimedia.
During the workshop, we will develop different types of content (articles, recordings, interviews) based on the interest of the participants in terms of themes and formats. We will guide the participants in ways to disseminate the output of these workshops. We will also analyse case studies based on current events.
Please bring your own laptop.
Registration through LSF
Please contact for questions.