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MediaLab Boot Camp Gives Grad Students Hands-On Communications Practice

Peter Ubel Media Lab

Peter Ubel, professor at the Fuqua and Sanford schools, address students at the Sanford School's Media Lab about connecting policy research to public discussions.

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Universities are full of good ideas for how to change the world. But without good communication skills, those ideas may never reach wider audiences.

Twenty-eight Duke graduate policy students learned what it takes to get their messages across during “MediaLab: A Research Translation Boot Camp,” a special workshop at the Sanford School last week.

The hands-on training session introduced students to a range of tools and skills to help them translate research findings into engaging forms for reporters, policymakers, and others who lack the specialized knowledge they acquire as policy students. The program developed by Alison Jones, communications director for the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, and Karen Kemp, assistant dean of the Sanford School, was offered for the first time last week. 

Masters and doctoral students from the Sanford graduate programs, the Nicholas School and other programs spent two and a half days learning from faculty and professionals how to turn research into appealing graphics, how to pitch a news story, on-camera interview techniques, how to manage a social media presence and more.

Presenters included Duke professor Bill Adair, founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning website PolitiFact, who explained the differences between “off the record” and “on background.” MPP alumna Shannon Ritchie and Professor Peter Ubel discussed the advantages and challenges of using social media in the policy arena.  Marty Morris, former chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and Duke instructor, gave tips on how to get policymakers to pay attention to your message.

Other topics included graphic design for non-designers, effective charts and graphs, op-ed writing and press release writing. On the final day, the student teams presented work they produced based on research articles, with topics ranging from gun violence to adolescents’ cell phone use.

It was the kind of “workshop that every single public policy student who wants to make a social change should take, said Sebastian Bowen, a student in the Master of International Development Policy program. 

Photos by Les Todd/Duke University Photography

Sanford Media Lab