News

On March 25 and 26, 2019, the participants of the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program attended a workshop on “Effective Academic Communications” held by Prof. Cort Anderson from the School of Natural Sciences and Medicine of Ilia State University. The main goal of this event was to get the doctoral students familiar with how to prepare a creditable grant proposal, scientific paper, or presentation.

On the first day of the event, the instructor introduced the essentials of academic writing to the participants. Thus, emphasis was put on organizing and structuring an academic paper and utilizing language and style clearly as well as effectively. Moreover, Prof. Anderson also addressed scientific presentations and pointed the details out that make a presentation creditable and allow the audience to understand the context and significance of data being presented. At the end of day one each of the participants was given the task of preparing a short presentation on their PhD research subjects to be given on the second day of the workshop.

Day two started with an introduction to the “ten rules” of successful grant writing, whereby Prof. Anderson not only discussed the dos and don’ts of an academic grant writing process but also shared his comprehensive experience – as both grant writer and proposal reviewer – with the participants. Subsequently, each of the participants was asked to put their presentation skills to the test by giving short presentations on their PhD research topics. The feedback given right on spot by the instructor and the peer group turned out to be highly beneficial for the presenters. As a follow-up to the workshop the participating doctoral students were given the assignment to draft and submit a proposal that will be evaluated by the instructor, and returned to doctoral students with a feedback on the style, language and structure used.