Communication in STEMMB Education SIG

The Communication in STEMMB Education SIG is a cross-institutional community of staff who are keen to share, discuss and critically engage with communication practice in academic and professional STEMMB education.

The SIG aims to explore, critically engage with and transform communication practice within STEMMB education. Communication practices sit at the heart of higher education as the means for sharing and constructing knowledge, assessing competence and preparing students for employment, particularly as educational and professional environments are disrupted by generative AI. The SIG aims to provide a space for members of Imperial involved in the teaching, support and assessment of communication skills to share practice and develop cross-disciplinary collaborations. 

While focusing on the skills that students need and how these might best be supported equitably, we also want to the turn the lens on staff themselves: Staff, as well as students, participate in a range of academic and professional forms of communication and often struggle to articulate why we communicate as we do and the values we have around this. The ‘problem’ is not presumed to be the inability of students to heed advice.  

In the SIG's first year, we hope to discuss:

• What kind of communication do our students need to learn? Where does this come from and what are its limits? Could inter-departmental collaboration help?
• What counts as good communication at Imperial and in students’ future workplaces? How do we teach and assess this?

In the 2025/26 academic year, the SIG’s leaders are:

• Rob Playfair (Teacher of English for Academic Purposes, Lifelong Learning)
• Edd Bankes (Teacher of English for Academic Purposes, Lifelong Learning)

If you would like to join the SIG, complete the form here.

The SIG convenes once a term to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate and contribute. These meetings serve as a forum for lively discussions, presentations, demonstrations, and networking opportunities.

Our primary communication platform is Microsoft Teams. Here, you will find updates on upcoming events.