British Council to boost academics’ communication skills

The British Council in Kenya is offering training in communication and writing skills for scholars and researchers to enable them to publish in international journals and to empower emerging researchers to seize available opportunities for funding.

The British Council, under the Researcher Connect training series, is targeting researchers in universities and research institutions in different academic fields, irrespective of the stage or phase in their respective careers. Those targeted include doctoral students, early-career researchers and PhD holders in general, as well as post-doctoral scholars.

The training aims to build communication and writing skills, enabling researchers to communicate their findings, and pursue grants and fellowships available locally and internationally.

“It focuses on the development of excellent communication skills using the English language in international, multicultural contexts. It is appropriate for upper intermediate level learners and above, and will enable them to communicate their research effectively with a range of audiences in appropriate academic and-or professional styles,” said a call made by the British Council on its website.

“Researchers need the communication skills to enable them to publish in international journals and present at conferences in English, apply for funding to national and international bodies, communicate with the wider public and policy-makers and build international collaborations to further their research,” it added.

Training will be delivered in a workshop format in February and will take place in Nairobi and the Western Kenyan city of Kisumu.

Projects Co-ordinator Anne Maina told University World News that the training was different from what other similar programmes offered and was designed to help academics “to operate internationally”, assisting them to secure both foreign and private sector research collaborations.