Teaching – Improv for scientists (video)

This semester I run the course ‘Improvisation for scientists’ for PhD students from the Institute of Physical Chemistry where I currently work. Theatre is one of my hobbies, I especially like playing it myself. While I was working in Belgium as a postdoc I had the chance to join the Swaajp School of Improv where, besides having fun, I learnt new techniques to improve my communication skills. Theatrical improvisation is all about intuition, flexibility, spontaneity, teamwork, trust and thinking on your feet. I thought those purely theatrical games I learnt in Swaajp could also help other researchers to become better communicators.

During 7 sessions we had the chance to play and experiment with body language, verbal and non-verbal communication, empathy, active listening, how to react to stressful situations, be more confident on stage and learn how to ‘talk simple’.

Students were as happy with the results as I am. All of them would recommended the course to other PhD students and all of them consider they had fun while improving their communications skills. The course was run in English. Many different nationalities were represented among the students (Poland, Russia, India, Turkey and France). These are their words extracted from a final evaluation questionnaire I asked them to fill in where they could freely express themselves:

‘I didn’t like the exercises where I was on stage alone, but I found it very helpful to overcome my fear of public speaking’ 

‘It was the best course I have ever attended’ 

‘I hope I can find a place where I can continue practicing Improv exercises’ 

‘The atmosphere was great, it was nice to participate. It’s sad that the number of meetings is so small’

‘I am sure the course improved my social skills. I feel more confident’ 

Some students from the course during the ‘familiar portrait exercise’ posing as a superhero family (March 2019)

A pair of students playing a short scene (April 2019)

Some students from the course during the ‘Give the focus’ exercise (March 2019)

Performing during the Swaajp student showcase, Antwerp, Belgium (December 2017)

As an experiment, I recorded the students before and after the course. Their task was to introduce their work during 1-2 minutes. The following video sums up the results (recommended to watch it in cinema mode).