dangerous – e.g. when politicizing sci-
ence or making it a fight of mere opin-
ions such as in the debates on climate
change or vaccination. Therefore, it is
better and safer if scientists can also
communicate their research in a more
accurate way. tion for companies and universities.
And I also wrote a book about my fa-
vourite neuroscience topic: How we
perceive ourselves and others. It is in
German and the title is “Mein Hirn hat
seinen eigenen Kopf” (Rowohlt).
For those researchers who are not
convinced by these broad benefits:
Communicating science on stage also
brings many personal benefits to the
researchers themselves. Their re-
search becomes more visible, they
can increase their scientific impact
and citations and last but not least, by
communicating with a broader public,
the scientists can also learn a lot while
profiting from new, fresh ideas and
feedback from laypeople or other sci-
entists from other fields. Did this article arouse your interest? If
you want to try out a Science Slam or
another science communication your-
self, there are plenty of opportunities. On
scienceslam.de and science-slam.com,
you can find general information about
Science Slams and upcoming events –
they are always looking for new science
slammers! Specifically in Tübingen, you
can contact Moritz Zaiss altustro@gmail.
com (MPI for Biological Cybernetics), or
Wiebke Schick wiebke.schick@student.
uni-tuebingen.de (Cognitive Neuroscience
Department, Tübingen University). If you
prefer to start with very short 3-minutes
slams, FameLab (britishcouncil.de/en/
famelab) and FallingWalls (falling-walls.
com/lab/apply) might be of interest to
you. Professional science communication
training is offered for example via www.
mediomix.de.
Do you also engage in other forms of
science communication?
Yes, I am a regular guest (every 2
weeks) at German Radio (WDR) and
summarize latest neuroscientific re-
ports and discoveries I find relevant
and interesting. I also give talks and
coaching about science communica-
Anne Thaler is a PhD candidate in
the Space and Body Perception
Group at the Max Planck Institute
for Biological Cybernetics in
Tübingen, Germany.
Marianne Strickrodt is a PhD
candidate in the Social and Spatial
Cognition Group at the Max Planck
Institute for Biological Cybernetics
in Tübingen, Germany.
References:
[1] Magnus Klaue’s article in the magazine “Forschung & Lehre” (07/2015)
[2] Article by German science blogger and science slammer Cornelius Courts scienceblogs.de/bloodnacid/2015/03/19/quo-vadis-science-
slam/
- What brings us together
and supports us to bring
the Neuromag to you -
The Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience
At the University of Tübingen, three international
neuroscience graduate schools provide research oriented
career tracks that lead to a master and, eventually, a
doctoral degree and provide an ideal preparation for a
career in science and academia. There are three programs:
Neural and Behavioural Sciences, Neural Information
Processing, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience.
The three graduate programs complement one another
ideally and, thus, provide a markedly broad spectrum
of neuroscience research and training opportunities in
Tübingen. Teaching is entirely in English.
8 | NEUROMAG | November 2017
Application deadlines: January 15 for master programs.
Doctoral students may apply throughout the year.
Students from outside the European Union are required to
pay a tuition fee of 1,500 EUR per semester.
Contact
Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience
International Max Planck Research School
University of Tübingen
Österbergstr. 3
72074 Tübingen – Germany
www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de
[email protected]