Why do we do what we do?
First, we’re excited about what researchers in science, technology, engineering, medicine and social sciences are discovering, and we want to help them thrive in their careers.
Second, we believe that the world not only needs science and research but deserves to UNDERSTAND the work that researchers are doing and why it matters – even if the only reason that it seems to matter is, “It’s fascinating!”
The thing is: most researchers are already excellent communicators. After all, writing a paper or a dissertation or a thesis and collaborating with other people to gather and analyse data requires the ability to communicate!
What we know, however, is that few researchers have been lucky enough to have a grounding in how to communicate effectively in all aspects of their careers, and that’s where we come in. Our training is designed to to equip researchers with the skills they need to communicate effectively, authentically, and with impact in a variety of situations.
Communicating your work: easier said than done.
We know that it can be difficult for researchers to communicate what they are doing and why for many reasons. For example:
- A lack of formal skills and/or confidence
- The challenge of tailoring a message and sharing complex content to diverse audiences – sometimes separately and sometimes in one room
- Although everyone says “it’s important to communicate your work”, it’s not unusual to hear that no time or resources have been planned for the activity
- And sometimes, we’re so busy doing the research that we run out of time and energy to share our results beyond writing a paper.
We get it.
Our communication training and coaching is designed to help researchers people master the art of defining, structuring, and delivering their messages in a way that expert, non-expert, and diverse audiences understand.
Whether you need to get your message across at a research conference, reach out to your local community, or interact effectively in your team, we’d love to help.
Our story
SciComm Success is the brainchild of Suzanne Whitby. A communication specialist, facilitator, and trainer, Suzanne ran a successful international communication consultancy with offices in the UK, South Africa, and Austria. A move to Boulder, Colorado in the USA in 2010 resulted in her working with scientists and researchers from NOAA, NCAR, and Boulder University, all of whom wanted to learn how to become better at communicating their research and results with peers and the public.
A few exciting years later, and SciComm Success was born. Based in the heart of the Alps in Innsbruck, Austria, we now work exclusively with researchers, higher education organisations, research institutions and the many organisations that support them . That means we have a deep understanding of the particular challenges that researchers face when it comes to communication, and we are driven to helping them overcome those challenges.
We deliver the majority of our workshops and training online via Zoom and similar tools, in part because this helps us keep our emissions as low as possible, and in part because we believe that researchers deserve to be able to access research and science communication training wherever they are in the world. Thanks to the cosmic shift in the way that the world works following the COVID-19 pandemic, this has become infinitely easier for our participants.