Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Effective Speaking
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3744-26-00-00	There are 12 available seats
	Enrollment deadline: 14/12/2025

Date and time	13.01.2026, at: 09:00 - 30.01.2026, at: 14:30
Regular seats	15
Course fee	11,880.00 kr.
Lecturers	Morten Berg
ECTS credits	4.30

Contact person	Morten Berg E-mail address: mail@ikontext.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration SUND 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 enrolment 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 Please note that this course involves 6 days of online teaching and 1 day in-person. Course description This course involves six days of online teaching and one day in-person. It is aimed at non-native speakers of English who wish to hone their speaking skills to better reach their international audience. To help you accommodate the variety of rhetorical traditions and linguistic backgrounds represented in academia, the course supports your skills in English-medium oral communication by providing guidance for the pronunciation of words, sentences and longer stretches of speech as well as rhythm and pitch contour. The course also helps to develop your grasp of the dynamics of speaking in formal settings as you learn to cope with the highly artificial situation of speaking to a group of people who you may feel are smarter and more knowledgeable than yourself. By understanding your own and your listeners’ reactions, you will be able to analyse and rationally assess your situation in order to tackle your natural anxiety. Rhetorical principles that help improve listeners’ comprehension are likewise discussed. While being trained in plenary seminars and supervised group work in speaking to and interacting with forums of varying formality, you will receive extensive feedback on the several speaking assignments over the course. To allow participants staying abroad or those who for various reasons prefer to participate online, the course is primarily delivered via Zoom. Please be advised that this is a very intensive course requiring a sustained effort for lasting results. The spacing of course days thus aims at enabling reflection, planning and rehearsal of the assignments, leaving little time for other commitments. Elements • speaking and presenting exercises • pronunciation of individual words: rules and theory • intonation and other continuous elements of pronunciation (stress, rhythm, variety, etc.) • group and individual coaching on pronunciation and intonation • submission of audio-recorded samples for feedback • using online communication tools for optimal effect • optimizing the impact of online presentations • nonverbal elements: body language, gaze, voice, appearance, etc. • oral communication theory (oral vs written language, psychological aspects, etc.) • physical and mental preparation for presentations • selecting materials for, preparing and rehearsing presentations • understanding listeners’ minds: forgetful, distracted, whimsical • cognition patterns: group and repeat ideas, be physical and concrete • communication skills: think of what they hear, not what you say • what is achievable in an oral presentation compared with paper and poster formats Outcomes At the end of the course you will: • have developed and rehearsed at least four presentations on topics related to your PhD work • be more confident when engaging in public speaking in English • have the self-awareness and knowledge necessary for further developing your public speaking skills • be looking forward to making your next presentation! Participants Non-native speakers of English Language English Venue Zoom and Panum Form Delivered mainly online: Plenary, group and individual work, feedback, voice and body exercises, audio and video recording, discussion, own pronunciation practice Course instructors Cand.mag. Morten Berg (English), owner at i kontext, mail@ikontext.dk; cand.mag. Helle Idland (Rhetorics) Dates 13–30 January 2026 Online: Tue 13 at 9:00, Wed 14, (Thu 15), Fri 16, Mon 19 (Tue 20), Thu 22 (Fri 23), Tue 27, (Wed 28) In-person: Fri 30 at 14:30 The dates outside the parentheses indicate class sessions for all participants, while the dates in the parentheses indicate group sessions for only one or two of the three work groups. This allows you to either reserve for course work all of the days outside the parentheses or divide the work load into two shorter days involving both the days mentioned inside and outside the parentheses. Please check your alumnus email account (and its spam filter) three weeks before course start, as you are expected to submit a sound recording before the course. Registration Please register before 14 December 2025. 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 enrollment. 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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Please note that this course involves 6 days of online teaching and 1 day in-person.