Training workshop: Lay Summaries with Impact

Tuesday 02/12/2025 13:00 – 16:00, in person, on campus

Open to academics and early career researchers

Overview

A lay summary provides you with an opportunity to clearly communicate your research to audiences beyond academia. They are often required for grant applications, reporting and by your funders to help share the importance of your work and its impact. In this session we will explore the why, what, who, when and how of lay summaries. We will consider the importance of structure and style, tailoring your communication to different groups and provide an opportunity for you to look at developing your own lay summary.

Learning outcomes of the session:

• Understand why plain English is so important when writing lay summaries
• Be able to identify the different types of language that a public/lay audience may find challenging or inappropriate
• Be able to utilise techniques to translate written academic and specialist language for a public/lay audience
• Understand what lay summaries are and why they are required
• Recognise and utilise the structure required for plain English summaries
• Understand what a lay/public audience would expect to see in a plain English summary and why.
• Identify some forms of bad practice in plain English summaries and ways to correct these.
• Apply the learning from the session on their own plain English summaries.

Bookings via the training catalogue –  register at: https://app.manchester.ac.uk/RESDEV0046