PhD Symposium - Designing and communicating your work for different audiences in different formats
Organiser
Sisse Finken, Associate professor, Head of PhD School, the ITU
Lecturers
Malene Bichel, Singer and process consultant, Copenhagen
Ole Andreas Alsos, Associate Professor, Head of Department, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway
Lene Nielsen, Associate professor, ITU
Dates of the course
18-19 November 2021
Time
8:30 18th November 2021 – 16:30 19th November 2021, including overnight stay
We meet at 8:30 in front of the reception at the ITU (by the main entrance) on November 18th. The bus leaves at 8:45AM sharp
Place
Bautahøj Konferencecenter, Jægerspris
Deadline for registration
The deadline for registration was 12 October. If interested, please contact phdsupport@itu.dk for availability. Currently we have one open seat on the course.
The PhD school supports sustainable thinking and doings by having the number of reservations equal participation. We hereby encourage you to partake in minimizing waste of resources. With this, your registration is considered binding. In case of illness please notify PhD support as soon as possible.
Course description
The symposium is hands-on and concerns how PhD students can move their work between, and make an impression in, different professional settings. The aim of the symposium is to work actively with a case, a vignette, a string of code, a research finding, a project description, or similar, which is to be translated into different formats (oral and visual presentations) for different audiences, such as e.g. academia, industry, public institutions, investors, funding agencies, and/or for the general public.
The program of the symposium is composed with the effort to train PhD students in clearly and innovatively disseminating research outcomes to foster dialogue and/or further collaboration with different addressees.
The symposium is interdisciplinary in focus and cater to PhD students in all stages of their studies, from newly enrolled to graduates.
Learning outcome:
Having completed the full symposium successfully, PhD students will:
- Be able to identify and creatively use tools for designing graphical research posters
- Be able to communicate using body language confidently
- Be able to critically analyze and bring about relevant aspects of research when presenting for different audiences
Evaluation:
Upon completion of the course, attending PhD students are invited to evaluate the course for further improvements.
Program
Day 1 - Thursday Nov. 18th
Upon arrival, Sisse Finken introduces the symposium. Hereafter, Ole Andreas Alsos (Associate Professor, NTNU, Norway) presents how you can disseminate your research through a graphical poster. Before lunch you’ll learn how to use simple tools to design a research poster. After lunch you’ll practice the art of designing your own poster, as well as presenting it. There will also be time for feedback and dialogue about the work presented. We end the day with a session where you each shortly presents (2 min.) your chosen piece of research orally (see preparations below).
08:45 leave ITU by bus to Bautahøj
10:00-10:15 Arrival and coffee. Introduction to the symposium (Sisse Finken)
10:15-12:00 Poster design (Ole Andreas Alsos)
12:00-13:00 lunch + check-in (find your rooms)
13:00-15:00 Poster design and poster presentations with feedback (Ole Andreas Alsos)
15:00-15:15 Coffee and talk
15:15-16:45 Pitching (2 min.) your chosen piece of research is shortly presented orally. Feedback (Lene Nielsen, Sisse Finken)
Time to check email, to relax, or take a walk before dinner
18:30-19:30 dinner
Socializing (events organized by ITU PhD students: you are welcome to bring along board games, arrange games/events for getting to know each other, etc.)
Day 2 - Friday Nov. 19th
Associate Professor Lene Nielsen gives a lecture on how to present research for industry partners. After a short coffee break, Malene Bichel (singer and process consultant) continues with a performance workshop that aims at improving the body language when presenting for and/or interacting with an audience.
After lunch, there is a short session during which the PhD students are to make a short oral pitch (2 min.), which is to be formulated using insights from the performance workshop and the morning lecture. The pitch should be aimed at industry or other relevant partners outside academia. A short feedback session on the oral presentations ends day 2.
8:00-9:00 Breakfast + packing
9:00-9:45 Industry presentation (Lene Nielsen)
9:45-10:00 Coffee
10:00-12:00 Performance workshop (Malene Bichel)
12:00-12:45 Lunch
12:45-13:00 Prepare a 2 min. oral pitch to be presented
13:00-15:30 Pitches/feedback
14:30 Coffee
15:30-16:40 Bus travel to ITU
Preparation for the symposium
You will work with one piece of research (a case, a vignette, a string of code, a research finding, a project description, or similar) and translate it into different formats for different audiences. Thus, as preparation, you should locate and bring along the piece of research you would like to work with during the two days. Besides locating the research piece, you should also prepare a short oral presentation of it (2 minutes) or, at least, you should give some thoughts to how you will present it during the afternoon session on Day 1. For the readings, you must identify and read 2-3 of the suggested readings from the literature list and you must get acquainted with the online resources provided (below).
Mikkelsen, J. F. (2017): Communication ethics and the receiver. Journal of media and communication research, 33(63), pp. 85-102. Online access
Hyland, K. (1991): Oral Presentation Skills. Published as: Hyland, K. (1991): Developing oral presentation skills. English Teaching Forum 29(2), pp. 35-37. Online access
Rowe, N. & Ilic, D. (2011): Poster Presentation – a visual medium for academic and scientific meetings. Paediatric Respiratory Reviews 12, pp. 208-213. Online access
Ankrah, S. N., Burgess, T. F., Grimshaw, P. & Shaw, N. E. (2013): Asking both university and industry actors about their engagement in knowledge transfer: What single-group studies of motives omit. Technovation 33, pp. 50-65. Online access
Pedersen, L. R. (2018): The emergence of Business Anthropology in Denmark and beyond. Fact Finders. Knowledge Aesthetics and The Business of Human Science in a Danish Consultancy. PhD dissertation, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Social Science. Chap. 1, pp. 49-80. Hard copy
Lang, M. (2003): Communicating Academic Research Findings to IS Professionals: An Analysis of Problems. Informing Science. Special Series: Informing Each Other, Vol 6, pp. 21-29. Online access
McGahan, A. M. (2007): Academic Research That Matters to Managers: On Zebras, Dogs, Lemmings, Hammers, and Turnips. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 50, No. 4 Online access
Randall, D., Harper, R. & Rouncefield, M. (2007): Ethnography and Its Role in the Design Process – ‘If You Must Work Together’. In Fieldwork for Design. Theory and Practice. Springer, Chap. 5, pp. 135-168. Hard copy
Marylin Strathern (2021): What’s in an argument? Reflections on knowledge exchange, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 55, No 1, Feb. 2021, pp. 7–29. Online access
Colin, C. (2008): The impact of entrepreneurs’ oral ‘pitch’ presentation skills on business angels’ initial screen investment decisions. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance. Vol. 10, 2008, Issue 3, pp. 257-279. Online access
Hard copies of the readings can be found on the shelf in Sisse’s office in corridor 3D
Prerequisites
To attend, you must be a PhD student enrolled at the IT University
Credits
2 ECTS for full attendance
Amount of hours the student is expected to use on the course
Participation: hours 30 h (1+½ day at Bautahøj + written exam)
Preparation: hours 26 h (readings + selection of research piece + preparing for the short oral presentation)
Exam
2 pages about the topic of the symposium, how it relates to your work, and how the symposium is found useful for disseminating your research outcome to interested others.
E-mail your exam paper to Sisse within the deadline: December Monday 6th 2021
Participants
Up to 30 participants. When registering you will in the end of the registration form be informed whether you are signed up for the course or if the course is full. If the course is full, you will automatically be signed up for the course waiting list. You will then be contacted by PhD support should a seat open up. If you wish to be taken off of the waiting list, please contact phdsupport@itu.dk.