Interdisciplinary seminar series

Addressing society's most pressing and complex challenges requires interdisciplinary collaborations, for which researchers need specific skills to effectively work across disciplines. Among the core skills required for interdisciplinary research, effective communication and interaction with other researchers are key.

This course, entirely based on experiential learning and reflection, will allow you to learn and develop these skills by communicating regularly with EPFL doctoral researchers from multiple disciplines. You will learn how to share your research in a language meaningful to an interdisciplinary audience, and you will have the opportunity to engage with colleagues from other disciplines to gain their perspectives on research problems.

PhD candidates will prepare and present their research to an interdisciplinary audience and receive feedback from their peers, mentors and teachers from which they can learn and improve.

Each seminar will be recorded, allowing doctoral candidates to rewatch their presentation for further insights and compare their performance to the feedback they will receive.

The course will be structured as follows:

• 1 introductory session
• 2 sessions of seminar presentations
• 1 workshop session on story telling and body language
• 3 sessions of repeated seminar presentations
• 1 final social networking session
• Optional: one-to-one online coaching session (30 minutes, upon request)

Through active participation in all seminars:

• You will become aware of the current research in other disciplines

Through preparation of your own seminar:

• You will learn how to explain the basics of your own project to a diverse academic audience
• You will learn how to express the scientific question and methodology as well as critically present first findings of a research project
• You will practice storytelling and visual communication

Through reflecting on the experience:

• You will learn how to give and receive constructive feedback
• You will reflect on the learning process, especially the feedback received from peers on one's own project presentation

The exam will be composed of:

• 2 presentations (recorded)
• 2 peer feedbacks
• 2 self-reflection reports
• Active participation in the seminars