Who is the course designed for?
This one year top-up course is only open to students who have already successfully completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Practical Science Communication.
The Diploma programme aims to develop individual science communicators who are able to adopt an informed, responsive, discipline relevant and critically reflective approach to the practical delivery of science communication at a high level.
Aims of the programme
- Provide professionally relevant teaching and learning in the theory, knowledge and skills that underpin, and are at the forefront of, science communication and engagement.
- Develop and create skilled science communicators with the necessary expertise and understanding to engage in and deliver well-informed high-quality science communication activities appropriate to the needs of their discipline and their audience.
- Promote a comprehensive understanding of the practical and ethical considerations relevant to science communication.
- Provide students with the theoretical knowledge and the practical opportunity to apply their learning in a work-relevant and practical manner through the design, delivery and evaluation of a specific science communication or engagement activity.
- Develop in students the judgement, confidence and responsibility that will enable them to be proactive, responsible and discriminating in their interventions at a high level in their profession.
Teaching and learning
The course is delivered using a variety of learning styles, combining interactive face-to-face learning with online delivery. Seminars, practical demonstrations, workshops, problem-based learning and small group working will be delivered and facilitated by experts in the field of science-related communication and engagement. Learning on this programme is highly experiential, recognising both the practical nature and application of science communication, and that students learn from both what is taught and how it is being taught.
Online resources, provided through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), draw on specific science communication topics, case studies, and relevant and appropriate additional resources. Understanding of academic theory and its practical application is facilitated through discussions and critical appraisals with peers and with tutors.
Students will already have successfully completed units 1 - 3 for the Postgraduate Certificate. The Postgraduate Diploma top-up takes one year and comprises three modules (units 4 - 6).
Please note that dates are provisional and may be subject to change.
Unit 4: Knowledge, Authority and Expertise
- 24 - 25 October 2022
- 5 - 6 December 2022
This unit draws on the literature from the sociology of science to explore a range of perspectives on science as a form of knowledge, as a group of methods and as a social institution. In particular, it asks how science commands respect as expertise, and explores what happens if this respect is withheld. Thus the unit explores, at a fundamental level, the relationships between science, politics and publics in terms of authority, trust, and public culture.
Unit 5: Contexts and issues in science communication:
- 9 - 10 January 2023
- 6 - 7 February 2023
- 6 - 7 March 2023
This module will develop students’ capacity to understand and their skills for particular sectors. It will also alert students to the key contemporary issues in science communication. It will:
- encourage adaptability towards a range of professional and ideological contexts
- alert students to trends, policies and concerns that frame science communication of the day
- develop a reflexive process of communication that students can use to more effectively serve a wide range of audiences and interests
Unit 6: Diploma project proposal
- 21 April 2023
- 11-12 May 2023
- 16 June 2023
Students will be working on individual projects under the guidance of their tutors. Each project should clearly show the student’s use of ideas and techniques from across the Diploma programme, and may be relevant to their workplace provided it meets the criteria for assessment.
Course Director
Dr Jane Gregory developed science communication courses for Imperial College in the early 1990s, and since then has set up and taught UG and PG courses at Birkbeck, UCL (where she was appointed Reader in Science and Technology Studies) and, most recently, Manchester University. She has published on the role of public science communication in the development of scientific ideas, and on the global political and economic contexts for science communication. Jane has also worked as a book editor in science publishing, and for seven years developed exhibition texts and gallery guides for the Science Museum, London.
