Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

English for Researchers: Write and Talk
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3945-25-00-00	There are 11 available seats
	Enrollment deadline: 27/01/2025

Date and time	28.02.2025, at: 09:00 - 04.04.2025, at: 15:30
Regular seats	17
Course fee	10,800.00 kr.
Lecturers	Vibeke Backer
ECTS credits	3.90

Contact person	Marianne Bøje E-mail address: marianne.boeje@regionh.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list. The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee. Learning objectives A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to: 1.Understand the rationale behind an academic writing style 2.Write concisely, precisely and accurately 3.Identify and avoid common errors 4.Navigate the change of formality between written and spoken language 5.Confidently talk about their work 6.Confidently discuss and argue their points Content Background •The use of artificial intelligence in science writing is both helpful and problematic. It can save time and be an inspiration; however, it often draws on clichés and compromises the strength of claims regarding findings and implications. This makes an article uninteresting and, more importantly, unreliable, rendering the Abstract untrustworthy and necessitating readers to scrutinize the figures to obtain an overview. It is crucial to understand the workings of a language before taking short-cuts. Without this knowledge, you cannot confidently assess whether various aids are a benefit or a drawback. •Another aspect of using artificial intelligence in your writing is that it can destroy your original thought. For example, words outside your own vocabulary are used and although correct, can be confusing and diminish your sense of ownership of the piece. Moreover, if you are not confident with the written vocabulary in an article, you will not be able to reproduce and modify it in a presentation or an informal talk. •Oral communication of your work and all its implications is part of your job as a researcher. Communication can be through formal presentations or more casually through chats with your peers and colleagues. Finding the right register, level of formality, is difficult. The brevity of a written article is not what is wanted for successful oral communication; neither is the slang or metaphors often used with friends. The English needed is not that used by most native speakers: it is language suitable for a global audience. Developing this requires understanding and practice. Content •On this background, the course focuses on how to write correctly and how to speak appropriately. This is achieved by moving between developing the language needed for an academic article and developing that needed for oral communication of your work in an informal, but professional, environment. Emphasis will be on increasing your confidence so you will feel comfortable arguing your points and raising difficult topics. •All participants are asked to send an Abstract prior to the course start. The Abstract will form the basis for the learning points and practices, both written and oral, incorporated in the course. Participants PhD researchers wishing to publish their work in reputable English-language journals and who also wish to present and discuss their work in small professional groups. The ability to speak English at an intermediate level, as a minimum, is a requirement. Relevance to graduate programmes The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: All graduate programmes Language English Form Classroom lectures, group work, exercises, games, short presentations and discussions Course director Professor MD DMSci Vibeke Backer, pulmonologist Rigshospitalet and Copenhagen University Dept of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck surgery and Audiology Entrance 6, 3th floor, section 6033 Inge Lehmanns vej 8 DK-2100 Copenhagen Denmark Mail nina.vibeke.backer@regionh.dk or backer@dadlnet.dk Teachers Carol Bang-Christensen, external language consultant: Mail: carol@thecomputer.dk Dates 28/02/2025, 07/03/2025, 14/03/2025, 21/03/2025, 28/03/2025, 04/04/2025 Course location Righospitalet, Inge Lehmanns Vej 8, 2100 København Ø Entrance 8, Conference room 7, 7.th floor, Registration Please register before 27. January 2025 Expected frequency Twice per year: spring, autumn Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment. Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor

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