Life-Science Writing for Today
An interactive course for hospital physicians and researchers in the life
sciences, already run successfully in the university environment
Date and time: 1st course: Mon. 17 (10 am-5 pm)- Tue. 18 Oct. (9 am-4 pm) and
2nd course Wed. 19 (10 am-5 pm)- Thu. 20 Oct. (9 am-4 pm) 2011
Venue: Ahus, Forskningssenteret, Nye Nord 5 etg. Møterom 056-Hans Th Waaler
Cost: NOK 4900 per participant for registration by 31 August 2011 (NOK 5400 after
this date)
(includes course materials, refreshments and lunch on both days)
Spend 2 days concentrating on style, structure and vocabulary to achieve
a good standard of writing, focusing on journal articles and grant writing
The aim is to examine writing techniques critically and constructively, and to help
participants achieve the appropriate style for their audience. Lecture-discussions are
interspersed with exercises and mentored round-table discussions in small groups,
where the course mentors review unedited texts written in English by participants.
Participants are required to bring 7 copies of an extract from a text written by them. An
abstract would be ideal; text from an article, report, thesis, discussion paper, or other
life-science text would also be suitable. 2 pages will suffice. The text may contain
complex tables or diagrams, but should consist mainly of text.
Details of how to register and a course programme are given after the mentors’
biographies.
Course mentors
All mentors have held key positions in the European Medical Writers Association
(EMWA) and are established writers, editors, EMWA workshop leaders and trainers
in industry and academia
Barbara Grossman, BSc (Hons)
As well as having a passion for proofreading and quality control,
Barbara Grossman has more than 20 years' experience of medical
writing and editing in the pharmaceutical industry. Before starting
her own medical writing and consultancy business (Hawkeye
Medical Limited), she built up and managed the medical writing
group at Covance, the contract research organisation, working in a
wide range of therapeutic areas. She has hands-on experience preparing a variety of
clinical documents, and has managed several large writing programs. Barbara has given
professional development training at the British Association of Research Quality
Assurance (BARQA), the Drug Information Association (DIA) in Europe and the USA,
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the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), the National Institute for Health
and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and has run many company-internal training courses. In
addition, Barbara was a member of the Institute of Clinical Research (ICR) ‘Study Startup Expert Working Group’.
Alistair Reeves, BA (Hons), Editor in the Life Sciences
Alistair Reeves is a linguist by training and an editor and writer by
profession. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more
than 30 years as a translator, writer and editor, and has extensive
experience with all nonclinical and clinical documentation for drug
approval, marketing texts, journal publications and educational and
informational materials for patients and professionals, including
websites. He founded Ascribe Medical Writing and Translation in Wiesbaden,
Germany, 7 years ago. He is a regular contributor on language issues to The Write Stuff,
the Journal of the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), holds in-house
courses for the pharmaceutical industry throughout Europe, and has been giving regular
language and writing workshops for EMWA, Management Forum and other
organisations for the past 20 years. He is a certified Editor in the Life Sciences (Board
of Editors in the Life Sciences, USA) and is EMWA Course Coordinator for the Master
of Science in Medical Writing at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Besides
training, he now spends most of his time as a freelance editor and ‘rewriter’ of texts
prepared in English by non-native—and native—speakers.
Kari Skinningsrud, MSc
Kari Skinningsrud has worked in the pharmaceutical industry with
clinical research and medical writing for 14 years, and in her own
company “Limwric as” with medical writing and translation for 10
years. She grew up as bilingual (Norwegian and English) in Canada,
the USA and Norway. Kari has extensive experience with writing
clinical documents and with editing and rewriting medical
manuscripts in a wide range of therapeutic areas. As a part-time employee at
Rikshospitalet, Oslo and a freelance writer, she has developed a workshop in grantwriting and assisted researchers with writing of successful applications for funding to
the EU and the Research Council of Norway. Since 2006, Kari has quality assured
English summaries and translated articles from Norwegian to English for the Journal of
the Norwegian Medical Association on a regular basis. She has an advanced EMWA
certificate of medical writing, has attended most EMWA conferences since 2000 and
has served as the Public Relations Officer on the Executive Committee of EMWA in the
period 2005-2009.
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To register, please contact:
Kari Skinningsrud
kari@limwric.no, phone +47 41338765
Payment to Barbara Grossman, 30, Woodlands Park Avenue, Maidenhead
Berkshire, SL6 3LS, United Kingdom
IBAN: GB56MIDL40310501819879
BIC (SWIFT): MIDLGB2110K
The full fee is due on registration. 10% discount for bookings received before 31 August 2011
(i.e. NOK 4900 before and NOK 5400 after). Cancellation policy – More than 14 days before
course: 80% of fee refunded; 7–14 days before course: 50% of fee refunded; fewer than 7 days
before or no notification: No refund. A full refund will be given if fewer than 10 people have
registered by 16 September 2011. If you register and cannot attend, but supply a replacement
participant, you will receive a full refund and the replacement person will be charged the same
registration fee as you paid.
Course programme
Day 1
0900
0915
0940
1000
1100
1200
1230
1300
1330
1400
1600
Introductions
Publication titles
Abstract writing
Writing essentials
Writing for the reader
Lunch
Use of verbs
Prepositions
Working with authors
Breakout sessions*
End of Day 1
Day 2
0900
0945
1030
1100
1300
1330
1545
1600
Polishing your document
Editing tools
Experience from reviewing abstracts for ‘Tidsskriftet’
Breakout sessions*
Lunch
Grant writing
Summing up and questions
End of course
*The texts brought by the participants are discussed during the breakout sessions in small
groups under the guidance of the course mentors. Depending on the number of participants,
there may be time to do an exercise that will be marked in the evening on Day 1.
Minor adjustments in programme timing and content may be made.
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