“Taking part in both activities allowed me to engage in active, reflective learning… Learning about science capital has really changed my mindset.” — Katie Fala, PhD student and IAS Academy alumna

Katie is a PhD student at University College Cork, Teagasc Moorepark and APC Microbiome. She signed up for the IAS Academy online course on public engagement principles offered at the same time as taking part in I’m a Scientist.

Katie believes taking the course ‘really added value’ to her experience: “The IAS Academy was of interest to me as I haven’t had the opportunity for much formal training in outreach and felt that my skills could be improved by doing it alongside the IAS activity.”

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It was possible to bring up scenarios from the school chats and discuss them with a mentor and peers, getting new insight, feedback and ideas in return.

Enhancing the learning experience
“Taking part in both activities concurrently allowed me to engage in active, reflective learning. The learning materials were of very high quality and gave me a grounding in key concepts such as science capital and mutually beneficial research.

The lunchtime chats with Dr Hannah Little were great. It was possible to bring up various scenarios from the school chats and discuss them with a mentor and peers, getting new insight, feedback and ideas in return.”

Informing effective engagement
“In particular, learning about science capital has really changed my mindset and approach to public engagement.

I also think that the idea of science communication being mutually beneficial to the public and researchers has changed my perspective on the activities that I engage with at my research institute. I’m looking forward to putting these ideas into practice.”

I would highly recommend the Academy course to other scientists if you can secure funding and make time for the lunchtime chats and course materials.

It really helps you to reflect on the IAS experience and become more effective at engaging people of all levels of interest in science.”

To take part in a future I’m a Scientist activity, apply now at imascientist.org.uk/scientists, or contact admin@imascientist.org.uk for more information.

Work for an institution? Find out how to build public engagement capacity and quality through Academy Training Packages for your researchers.