Communication and Skills in Biosciences

This is a 10 credit Phase 2 module for all Honours students registered for the Biological Sciences, Biochemistry and Human Biology. The module is delivered by a series of lectures, workshops and independent work but is also integrated with the tutorials with the personal tutor. It aims to improve scientific writing, oral presentation, science communication and group work skills.
The module will start with a series of lectures introducing the scientific literature, scientific ethics, critical appraisal of scientific papers and science communication and the media. 

By the end of the module you should be able to:

• Articulate and discuss ethical issues arising in scientific research
• Understand the nature of the scientific literature
• Be able to search and retrieve articles from the scientific literature using different defined search criteria and on-line databases and libraries
• Critically review and interpret a research paper
• Understand why particular statistical tests have been performed, and know how to report the results of statistical tests and interpret results in published papers
• Communicate ideas clearly, both orally and in written exams and extended essays
• Communicate complex scientific ideas to a ‘lay’ audience
• Work in groups to produce a short video that addresses a scientific question
• Develop strategies to organise your time effectively and coordinate the delegation of defined tasks.
• Identify three skills and describe the circumstance or scenario in which you could deploy or have deployed them effectively