2010 began for mpi with a challenging assignment at Birmingham University, where we trained a multi-disciplinary group who are learning to make short films for the web in how to present their research to the general public. There were twenty-six trainees, with subjects ranging from early modern gardening to quantum computing and from multi-stakeholder development initiatives to cancer research. Over eighty per cent of the Birmingham trainees rated our workshop as  "Excellent" and you can see some of their comments in feedback.

We have now media trained in 22 universities in Britain, including two of the top 6 in the world, according to the Times survey – University College London and Oxford University. This year we have been invited to train at several new venues for us, including Warwick, Portsmouth and Oxford Brookes, and increasingly we are making return visits to places like Glamorgan, Plymouth, Exeter, Loughborough, UCL, Queen Mary University of London, and Oxford.

Our work in Ukraine continues with a new project for the European Union, led by SAFEGE of Belgium, helping communication about women’s and children’s rights. In March we trained a number of Ukrainian government officials and some leading figures in the partner organisations of the project that include UNICEF, UNDP, the Council of Europe and the ILO. On the same visit, we were able to give our one day media communication course to a responsive group of PhD students at the country’s leading university, Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

Last November at the Academy we taught a week-long module “News Writing for the Web” for professional journalists attending the Digital Future of Journalism one year course—we were in fact asked to start the course off, and gave an inaugural presentation to an invited audience of Kiev media figures on “Surviving the Internet; Strategies of the Traditional Media” which was well received by an audience facing many of the same challenges!

“Best staff development course I’ve been on – should be made compulsory”

“I would suggest advertising the course more aggressively and holding it more often”

"This was the best training I've had all year"

Participants, Loughborough University

"I was very impressed that the trainers had taken the trouble to tailor the content precisely to each person's interests. It made the exercises very real" Jill Francis, History PhD Candidate, Birmingham University

"I found it extremely enjoyable and very educational. It filled in the skills we tend to lack as researchers and are rarely given the opportunity to learn. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than I had expected which meant the practical work was less intimidating. Very clear and well-paced, gave us insights into “tricks of the trade” and extremely valuable tips.” Dr Alexandra Pitman, Research Department, Mental Health Sciences, UCL

"The trainers were very knowledgeable and have put a lot of work into researching our areas in order to ask informed questions. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and I think what I have learned will be very useful" Jane Upton, post doctoral researcher, Sports and Exercise Science, Birmingham University

"Very good preparation with understanding and knowledge of our specific subjects. Very impressed" Dr Chrissie Fenske, Division Manager, St George's, University of London

"Very worthwhile and worth spending a day of my time-a very good number of tips picked up" Dr Prysor Williams, Lecturer, Environment and Natural Resources, University of Bangor

“I found the intense, "hands-on", no nonsense training invaluable and feel now more prepared to be able to be interviewed by media.  Also, the unflagging work until the very end of the day I found inspiring!” Margie Louws, PhD candidate, University of Bradford

“Thank you very much for all your hard work, especially in creating individually-tailored questions. Your expertise shone through!” Stella Moss, History Lecturer, Oxford University