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Course description

Analytic Storytelling is a method for people working with complex content. You will learn a step-by-step method to organise your content into a clear and compelling story that forms a solid base for writing or presenting. You can use these skills when pitching or presenting to colleagues as well as laymen, or when writing a paper or a grant application.

Learning objectives

Typical questions from participants are: 

1. I find it difficult to structure my story. I provide too much detail, I make my story too long, people don´t understand me, or I get so lost in my own story and don’t know what to put where.
2. I want to create more engaging stories. I want people to pay attention and get enthusiastic. And I don´t want to tell dry or boring stories!
3. I want different audiences to understand me. I work in an interdisciplinary team, or with companies or other stakeholders, or patients. How do I make sure we understand each other?

During this course you will acquire skills to: 

• Adapt your story to different audiences, from peers to laymen
• Structure your information in a strong logical flow
• Provide a rich and relevant context 
• Maintain the structure in your writing 
• Make original visuals that support your message

With these skills you can build stories for various types of communication, and for various audiences: from grant applications to conference presentations, scientific articles, pitches, or explanations for non-experts. 

Instructional method

This course consists of an online preparatory module (2-3 hours) followed by two online training sessions of 1-3 hours. Between the sessions there are homework assignments (±4 hours). The course contains a lot of exercises to put the theory immediately into practice. During the training you will work on a story of (one of) your own project(s). You will receive extensive feedback on your storyline from the trainer and your peers. 

Trainers

Stijn Cornelissen, Priscilla Brandon, Arnaud Bom, Evert-Jan Kamerbeek.  combine sharp analytic skills with storytelling expertise. They bring their own personal background and expertise to the course, from scientific research, creative writing, analytic philosophy, science journalism and theatre.

Group Size

5 to 6 participants

Number of credits

0.7 EC

Course schedule

The second session is 1.5 hour within the time frame stated above.

Course certificate

You will receive a certificate of completion if you attend both sessions of the course and complete all the course requirements (i.e. assignments).

Course fee

Course fee GSLS PhD candidates: â‚¬0.
Course fee academic staff UU/UMC: â‚¬850.
Course fee external participants (if space permits): â‚¬1420.

‘GSLS PhD candidates’ include:

• PhD candidates registered to the Graduate School of Life Sciences of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ via Hora Est/MyPhD

‘Academic staff UU/UMC’ include:

• PhD candidates of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, not registered to the Graduate School of Life Sciences via Hora Est/MyPhD; 
• Postdocs employed by the Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ or UMC Utrecht;
• Other academic staff employed at the UU/UMC

‘External participants' include:

• all other participants

Our no-show policy

We are happy to offer courses and workshops for free to all GSLS PhDs. However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Our activities tend to be fully booked well in advance. For every late cancellation or no-show we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend.

This is how we work: 

• Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend;
• If you need to cancel your registration, do so at the earliest possible moment, at least four weeks before the start of the course;
• You have to attend both full course sessions;
• Not meeting the attendance requirements or cancelling within four weeks before the course starts means you will be charged no-show fee (€425 for this course);
• We are unable to make any exceptions.

After this training I'm better able to recognise common pitfalls in creating a structure in text. I've learned to present my research in a more interesting way, also through visualizing what I want to bring across. I can use these skills in many areas of my work; for instance, I apply them also in my teaching.

The method you learn helps you to form a line of reasoning that other people can understand

I learned how to make my research project more structured and understandable. This can prove helpful in the writing of scientific papers or in presentations at conferences