Skip to main content

Description

Design workshops are a format to help develop science communication activities and strategies, and are a collaboration between scientists/engineers and others (including social scientists, communication experts, policy makers, etc). These communication activities could take any shape and form (e.g. outreach activity, open discussion forum, reflection tools, brochures, …), but one thing sets them apart from other science communication activities: they are based on design requirements (wishes and demands) of both people with a background in actual science/engineering, and experts in the field of communication/collaboration.

Target Audience
  • Adult citizens
  • Children 7-12
  • Teenagers

You can do it with all those groups, but we did it with professionals from different fields like public engagement or the cultural and creative sector.

Benefits

Benefits

These events bring together scientists/engineers and other societal stakeholders (NGOs, the general public, policymakers, etc.) in a format that requires contributions from all involved parties.

Preparations

The basic setup of a design workshop is as follows:

  • Gather design requirements for the communication activity for all stakeholders involved
  • Collaboratively develop prototypes/scenarios based on these design requirements
  • Select and develop one suitable activity
  • Run a pilot workshop and develop it further and repeat these 4 steps

Notes

As an outcome, you can expect designs prototypes for strategies/activities made in collaboration with scientists and/or engineers.