History

A pilot program with undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo was run from 2019-2020. The Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge chapter of RCIScience partnered with Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, Canada Research Chair in Science, Health, and Technology Communication at the University of Waterloo, to create this pilot initiative. Subsequently, Dr. Mehlenbacher and Carrie Boyce, Executive Director, RCIScience, collaborated with a team of experts including Dr. Chantal Barriault, Laurentian University; Brad Mehlenbacher, University of Waterloo; Devon Moriarty, University of Waterloo; Sarah Ruffell, University of Waterloo; and Kirsten Vanstone, former RCIScience Executive Director, to develop an online version of the Certificate with support from a NSERC Science Communication Skills grant.

Several participants of the inaugural SciCommTO Conference developed modules for the Certificate. If, after reviewing our modules, you’re still looking for more great content, check out the SciCommTO 2020 Conference Toolkit! 

Have an idea for a module? Let us know!

+ Advisory Board for Development

  • Nadita Basu, University of Waterloo
  • Andrea Johnas, University of Waterloo
  • Ki-Youn Kim, Science Communication Specialist
  • George Lamont, University of Waterloo
  • Kimberly Sheppard, Kimberly Sheppard Communication Studio

+ Instructional Content/Module Developers

  • Chantal Barriault
  • Celia Du
  • Andrea Johnas
  • Ki-Youn Kim
  • Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher
  • Brad Mehlenbacher
  • Megan Selinger
  • George Lamont
  • Sarah Ruffell
  • Tommy Mayberry

Funding Support

The RCIScience Communication Certificate was originally developed as a science communication skills training activity with support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through a Science Communication Skills Grant (Grant holder: Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, University of Waterloo; collaborators: Charlotte Armstrong, University of Waterloo; Chantal Barriault, Laurentian University; Brad Mehlenbacher, University of Waterloo; Devon Moriarty, University of Waterloo; Sarah Ruffell, University of Waterloo; and Kirsten Vanstone, former RCIScience Executive Director). Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher also acknowledges support from the Canadian Research Chair program and Ontario Early Researcher Award programs.