Nearly 80 PhD students attended a JBGS workshop on high-quality science graphics
On 14th May 2025, our Managing Editor, Dr. Hristina Prodanova, organized a workshop during this year’s Sixth Interdisciplinary PhD Forum of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), which took place in Grand Hotel Velingrad from 13th to 16th May 2025. The 2.5 h workshop happened on the second day of the forum including a lecture and practical exercises titled “Out of the box: Learn to build good-looking science graphics”.
During the lecture part of the workshop Hristina talked about the basics of the graphic art including typography, color theory, composition and why it is so important for scientists to pay extra attention when preparing their illustrations for scientific papers. During the exercises, participating PhD students learned how to create and edit composite figures containing one of the most commonly used graphics—bar and pie charts. With the newly learned theory about colors, fonts and composition, the PhD students applied Hristina’s tips and tricks for creating Excel charts and professional post-customizing in PowerPoint.
The workshop generated very high interest among the forum participants, where not only PhD students attended, but even colleagues from different institutes and the headquarter administration of BAS.
The workshop received a high average rating of 4.75 (out of 5) based on 16 anonymous feedbacks. Two people shared that they had technical issues unzipping the learning materials or understanding the color scheme, and one suggested that the duration of the exercise should be longer. Many PhD students left positive general comments to express their thanks and request receiving updates on upcoming lectures and events.
“I appreciate the fact that this was an introduction to a program that 99% of people already have and requires no additional license. The whole Office suite has a lot of options for well-crafted statistical operations and figures that remain undiscovered unless one looks for them or someone demonstrates them.”
“I really liked the ending, where you insert a number on each line, which makes it easier for the reviewer and editor.”
“Exceptionally well and concisely structured and presented content, in accessible language and with accessible means of expression.”
“I would love to receive information about upcoming events and trainings. Meeting you was extremely useful for me and my future dissertation.”
A dedicated interdisciplinary course on figures is being developed by our Managing Editor, Dr. Hristina Prodanova as a long-term activity to support young researchers from Earth Sciences and beyond. Anyone interested will be contacted after filling out this form.