19th edition – Barcelona, February 5-6 2019

Biomedical professionals need to be able to communicate effectively in writing and in speaking. However, most professionals receive little specific training in communication skills.

Science is an international endeavor, and English is the lingua franca of the international scientific community. Although Spanish biomedical professionals invest heavily in learning English, they often lack the skills in scientific English that are necessary to express their ideas clearly.

This training seminar aims to help students begin to improve their scientific English. We introduce a few basic concepts underlying effective oral and written communication in science and give students the opportunity to put the theory into practice in a relaxed atmosphere of open discussion and feedback. Finally, we discuss resources and approaches to help students continue to improve on their own after the course.

Professors:

Brian McCarthy
For seven years Brian has been running workshops and coaching people from the fields of science, academia and business make presentations on a wide range of issues. He has worked as a communications consultant for the Esteve Foundation, IRB, Telefonica, UOC and UAB. He also works as a medical writer for ThomsonReuters and has translated and edited dozens of academic articles in the fields of science and the humanities. Before coming to live in Spain in 2005, he was a professional theatre director and acting teaching in Ireland.

John Giba
Born and educated (BSc, University of Pittsburgh, 1984) in the U.S.A., John has taught English in Spain since 1985. He helps scientists and healthcare practitioners prepare papers for international journals and oral presentations for congresses. He has given presentations and workshops in several courses in biomedical English. He teaches a module in scientific English for various Master’s degree programs offered through the medical schools of the University of Barcelona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has coauthored three books about scientific communication: Surgical English (2010), Inglés Médico y Sanitario (2010), and Preparing and Delivering Scientific Presentations (2011).

The nineteenth edition of this training seminar was organized in Barcelona (February, 5-6 2019) by the Dr. Antoni Esteve Foundation in collaboration with the Vall d’Hebron Institut d’Oncologia.