The Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Background

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability is a research and innovation center at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The center, established in 2011, is part of a cluster of DTU research centers aimed at cultivating an internationally-oriented and innovative research environment of the highest quality to benefit society.

Pursuit of these objectives led to DTU partnering with Nature Masterclasses to run customized training for their PhD students on a unique international program called PAcMEN (Predictive and Accelerated Metabolic Engineering Network). PAcMEN is a Marie Curie-Innovative Training Network coordinated by DTU, which enables its researchers to carry out cutting-edge research in metabolic engineering, modeling, systems and synthetic biology focuses. 

In a comprehensive and interactive Nature Masterclasses workshop delivered by Nature Research editors, DTU's students were given training on how to write high-quality scientific manuscripts and get published in top journals.

Nature Masterclasses workshop

The Nature Masterclasses team personalised a two-day workshop for DTU. The workshop was designed to fit into their PAcMEN program and provide a total of 28 hours of training so that the PhD students would receive one ECTS (European Course Transfer and Accumulation System) credit after participating.

The workshop was led by João Duarte, Senior Editor of Nature Biomedical Engineering, and Ross Cloney, Senior Editor of Nature Communications, and consisted of short lectures, open discussion, practical exercises, and one-on-one interaction with editors.

The purpose of the workshop was to provide insights into the editorial process and scientific writing, with the overall aim of improving participants’ confidence in writing and submitting manuscripts. 

It was highly interactive, with practical exercises throughout the two days, including a lively discussion on plagiarism and ethical issues.

There was also a 'live abstract edit' where the students got the opportunity to work individually with an editor to receive detailed feedback on their own draft unpublished abstract. 

The participants also had the opportunity to put questions to the editors and asked about the benefits of being a peer reviewer and how Nature Research selects peer reviewers. And before the workshop, the participants were asked to complete some pre-workshop reading of several influential papers related to their field. 

Feedback

Following the workshop, participants were asked to report their overall satisfaction with the workshop.

• 95% of participants were pleased with the quality of instruction
• 100% agreed the speakers were knowledgeable and gave clear and helpful answers to questions
• 100% felt that the pace of the course was appropriate
• 90% thought the level of the workshop was appropriate
  
  

"The workshop was very informative and well structured. Practical exercises were well implemented and provided a great chance for learning. The presenting editors were very open, answering all questions and overall did a very good job."

- Workshop participant, DTU