Jorge Cham, creator of PhD Comics is visiting the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday 27th March 2018 to deliver a lecture and workshop:
Finding Humour in Academia Lecture
Tuesday 27th March 2018 (1.00pm – 2.00pm)
Jorge Cham is the creator of Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics), the popular comic strip about life (or the lack thereof) in Academia. He is also the co-founder of PhD TV, a video science and discovery outreach collaborative, and a founding board member of Endeavor College Prep, a non-profit school for kids from disadvantaged communities in East Los Angeles. In this lecture, Jorge Cham will recount his experiences of bringing humour into the lives of millions of stressed out academics and will share stories from his travels to over 300 universities and research centres in the US and across the world. Thought-provoking yet humorous, Jorge Cham’s talks examine the source of academics’ anxieties, explore the myth of procrastination, and help academics figure out how to convey what they’ve learned to the outside world. There will also be a Q&A and book signing after the talk. More information and booking here
Communicating your Research Workshop
Tuesday 27th March 2018 (3.00pm – 5.00pm)
Now, more than ever, it is important that scientists and academics speak passionately and accessibly to the public about how and why they do research. For faculty and staff, it is a critical part of justifying their funding. For graduate students and postdocs, it is a key transferable skill that will prepare them for future careers. In this 2-hour workshop, Jorge Cham (creator of PHD Comics) relays his experiences creating successful science communication projects (videos and comics that have been viewed by millions of people and a book release from Penguin Random House) and helps participants discover the skills they need to communicate clearly with a broader audience. Participants will also create a 1-2 minute video that explains a complex topic to a general audience. More information and booking here
