Workshop with Riccardo Vaccaro 

Whether it’s a conference talk, a poster presentation or a big moment on stage: good science thrives not only on strong, evidence-based content, but also on how it resonates with the audience.

This workshop focuses on presenting scientific content in a way that is understandable, engaging, and memorable. Participants will learn how to distil complex topics into a compelling narrative, use language effectively, and capture the audience’s attention through their voice, body language and stage presence. Learning to manage nerves with confidence is also part of the process.

After all, anyone who can communicate their research clearly achieves more than just a good presentation: they bring science to life.

Riccardo Vaccaro works as a presenter, on-location reporter and science journalist for ARD. At “Quarks”, ARD’s largest science department, he works as a presenter and writer and helped develop the TikTok channel. Having produced nearly 600 videos to date, he reaches hundreds of thousands to millions of viewers and explains complex scientific topics in a way that is easy to understand, humorous and accessible. He can also be heard regularly on the radio – including on the programme ‘WDR 5 Quarks – Wissenschaft und mehr’ and on the ‘Quarks Daily’ podcast, where he explains complex topics in a way that is accessible to a wide audience. He appears on camera as a digital reporter for WDR’s ‘Lokalzeit’. In addition, he worked as an on-location reporter for the ARD/ZDF Mediathek programme ‘Der Fall’. Alongside his journalistic work, he is also a writer of books for children and adults. His new non-fiction book is due to be published in spring 2027. His aim: science should be fun and entertaining. The key question here is: how can complex topics be communicated in such a way that they remain factually accurate – yet are still truly understandable to absolutely everyone?

About this workshop series

This event is part of a series on science communication at JGU. If you attend four or more events in the series, you will receive the “WissKomm-Basics” certificate. All events are automatically open to participants from the RMU partner universities.

Through the Open Science and Science Communication project (COM Department), JGU is establishing a campus-wide advisory and professional development programme on science communication. Researchers and staff from all disciplines and at all levels of expertise benefit from support services and programmes designed to develop their skills. The project thus expands on existing science communication initiatives in Rhineland-Palatinate (WissKomm Academy) and at the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU). 

Contact: scicom@uni-mainz.de