EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

Chapter 4
Scientific communication
Ann Van der Auweraert (UA)
1. Introduction
“Communication skills are as important as science” Dr. Sean McCarthy 198 .
During more than one and a half year, female academics of the University of Antwerp
and of other universities in Flanders, have developed, spread and exchanged knowledge
concerning gender and (scientific) communication. The result is an instrument
that can be useful for universities and organizations to set up a training course: ‘Communicate
your way to the top’. The ultimate goal is to supply women with a personal
tool they can use as a guiding principle for their career development.
The focus will not be on scientific communication between researchers and their peers,
but on the other overall communication in this environment. During the career of a
researcher, there are indeed a lot of other moments where communication plays an
important role. Good communication skills are pre-eminent to conquer a place in formal
and informal networks, to sensitize others for a project, to write clear project proposals,
to put boundaries to tasks and responsibilities, to be heard during meetings, to
function on external platforms, to give interviews, to give presentations for non-professionals,
to debate and to argue, to communicate with executives, students and staff, ...
In this project, two aspects are important: on the one hand, becoming aware of the
gender problem at universities so that changes may become possible, and on the other
hand, the development of a communication instrument that meets the needs of female
academics. The intention of this project is to provide the modern and successful female
academic with new tools in order to enable her to be more decisive in the future.
The entire report is written in line with the steps that were taken to develop a scientific
communication training for female researchers. With this process approach, the author
hopes to acquire a maximum exchange of learning effects and experiences. The way
this instrument was developed can be found in part 3 ‘Process report’. The contents of
the training and the evaluation of the project are described in part 4 ‘Instrument and
case study’. As a starting point, the problems in the field of communication, which
women experience, are briefly described.
198 ‘How to Present your Project to Academia and Business’, ... . “Tools for Successful Research Careers”,
Stockholm, Sweden, 3-4 December 2001.