GUST’s Global Studies Center organizes workshop
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) yesterday announced a workshop by their Global Studies Center (GSC), led by Professor Bienvenido Leon of the University of Navarra, Professor Lloyd Davis of the University of Otago, and Dr. Michael Bourk of GUST, entitled “Technical Communication for NonTechnical People: Opportunities and Challenges Communicating Science in Digital Environments”, which took place on the university campus this week. The focus of the event was to help faculty and staff learn how to communicate scientific and technical knowledge more effectively to students or colleagues.
Assistant Professor in the Mass Communication and Media (MCM) Department at GUST, Dr. Michael Bourk, said, “Academics sometimes struggle to communicate their research in the everyday language of most people. This workshop aims to address this issue. In an era of pseudo-science and fake news proliferation, we need to ensure the ability to communicate objective truths and rational science effectively, particularly in online environments.”The workshop was interactive, taking on a panel discussion style with Professor Bienvenido Leon, University of Navarra, Professor Lloyd Davis, University of Otago, and Dr. Michael Bourk, GUST.
Throughout the workshop, they shared results of an international research project on online science communication, involving 15 scholars from five different countries and nine different universities. Their findings were highlighted to help attendees improve their science communication messages with nontechnical audiences and communities. Attendees were given better tools and advice to enable them to become better communicators of scientific and technical knowledge, which can be used with their students or during research seminars with a non-specialized audience.
The GSC regularly holds seminars with experts in various fields of study. The center was founded in 2015 in partnership with the National University of Singapore, and aims to conduct cutting-edge research on crossnational political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental issues of critical importance, as well as share research output and information regionally and globally. It seeks to foster public understanding of global issues and support the policy-making processes of concerned states. Previous events hosted by the GSC include a discussion to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, sponsored by the US Embassy in Kuwait, a lecture by Dr. Peter Sluglett, an expert on Middle Eastern history and Director of the Middle East Institute at NUS, entitled: “An Improvement on Colonialism? The ‘A’ Mandates and their Legacy in the Middle East”, and another by Dr. Daniel Brumberg, the Kuwait Program Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs, on US-Arab Relations in a Time of Crisis.