PhD students trained in international scientific mediation

07 July 2022

From June 27^th to July 1^st 2022, Bethany Cagnol, Sinead Namur, and Melania Burgelis, of the Languages and Cultures Department, welcomed to Télécom Paris about thirty international doctoral students from various European higher-education establishments for a unique training programme entitled « Mediating International and Scientific Communication », in the framework of the IDEAL Project.

In this highly interactive course, participants have the opportunity to explore various mediation pathways for sharing and relaying their own cultural experience and scientific knowledge. The first half of the course covers a range of popular and modern intercultural communication models that will be used to foster collaborative interaction, encourage conceptual dialogue, and facilitate a pluricultural space.

Then, in the second half of the course, trainees use these intercultural foundations to gain hands-on experience showcasing their scientific work to professional peers, the general public, as well as the media. Participants gain key takeaways for adapting one’s language to break down complex information, facilitating communication in delicate situations, mediating Q&A sessions, and adapting their message during media interviews.

MISC Mediating International and Scientific Communication

IDEAL Project

In 2019, Télécom Paris partnered with the Project IDEAL to help provide training in soft and transversal skills for PhD students. As quoted on the Project IDEAL website:

IDEAL consists of designing and providing high-level doctoral training to address the challenges faced by European researchers today: being better prepared to face the growing complexity of their jobs and increasing the economic and societal impact of their work; questioning the relevance of their research activities, while renewing the attractiveness of Doctoral Education for new generations of talents.

The IDEAL consortium of ten partners includes the following institutions, including six French Engineering Schools:

AgroParisTech, Arts et Métiers, Chimie ParisTech, ENSTA Paris, Mines Paris-PSL, Télécom Paris,

and four European Universities of Science and Technology:

Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa (IST, Portugal), İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi (İTÜ, Türkiye), Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI, Italy), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM, Spain).

The IDEAL Projet has been superbly coordinated by Laura Tierling at Mines Paris-PSL.

Spoiler Alert !

Bethany, Sinead and Mel will be offering this course to IP Paris PhD students from February 6-10, 2023!

And also: Promote your scientific results, a new MOOC!