A-Z course list

Public engagement is one of the many ways that research can have positive impact beyond the four walls of the University – not to mention benefits to the researcher. Done well, it can boost your communication skills, give you fresh perspectives on your research, inspire others and maybe even lead to a practical change in how society does things. But how do you get started? And would members of the public honestly be interested in what you do?  This introductory workshop helps answer these questions.

At the end of the workshop you will:

• Develop a deeper understanding of the social context for your research
• Make sense of the variety of stakeholders in your research
• Identify the next steps you need to take in developing your public engagement skills

A career in research is exciting, varied and gives you the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of discovery in your chosen field, but it is a highly competitive environment and researchers from all over the world aspire to reach the top of the profession. If you are aiming for a career in academic research it is crucial to publish regularly, be independent and attract your own funding. You can start to do this early in your research career: if you are awarded a postdoctoral fellowship, not only will you stand out from the crowd, but you will demonstrate that you can propose innovative projects that attract research funding - this is a key requirement for a successful academic career.

How do you go about the process of applying for your own postdoctoral research fellowship? There is more to it than filling in an application form: you will have to propose and design an innovative project, identify a senior researcher to advise you and approach them about being involved in your project, convince the application reviewers that you are the right person, name referees and more. To be successful requires planning and preparation and you will need to use your network and be proactive. In this workshop you will find out what steps you should take, time frames, what a fellowship involves, international options, how to apply, the different types of fellowships available and how to use your connections to your advantage.

This workshop is suitable for early career researchers/ postdocs who have less than five years of postdoctoral experience. The workshop will include case studies, individual exercises and the instructor’s own experience of successfully obtaining a postdoctoral research fellowship.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Understand the process and requirements for applying for a postdoctoral fellowship;
2. Apply what you have learned to writing your own fellowship application;
3. Design your own strategy for attracting funding and moving forward in your research career.

This workshop relates to domains B3 and C3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop is for research staff will focus on writing academic CVs. It will address how to present your skills, experience and research effectively, and assist you to tailor your CV for different roles within academia.

This one and half hour briefing session is for research staff thinking of applying for a new job in academia, whether academic teaching or academic research.

The session will explore:

• What makes for a good CV;
• What counts in an academic CV;
• How to present your skills and experience effectively;
• Supporting or personal statements, or cover letters for academic applications.

The session will include a presentation and group discussion of some example CVs.

Please note that feedback on individual CVs is not possible at this session. This is best done by arranging an individual career development consultation.  Further information on these consultations can be found at:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/university-staff/careers-service-support-for-staff

After attending this session you will be able to:

1. Improve your confidence in writing and tailoring your CV;
2. Increase your understanding of how to adapt your CV for different roles, including teaching focused or research focused roles;
3. Understand what should be addressed in a cover letter or supporting statement.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D1 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop for research staff will focus on creating a CV for non-academic jobs. It will address how to present your skills, experience and research effectively, and assist you to tailor your CV for different roles.

This one and half hour briefing session is for research staff thinking of seeking a change to a non-academic job (within or out of higher education) or making a career switch.

The session will explore:

• What makes for a good CV;
• How to adapt your CV for careers outside academic research;
• How to present your skills and experience effectively.

The session will include a presentation and group discussion of some example CVs. 

Please note that feedback on individual CVs is not possible at this session. This is best done by arranging an individual career development consultation.  Further information on these consultations can be found at:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/university-staff/careers-service-support-for-staff

After attending this session you will be able to:

1. Improve your confidence in writing and tailoring your CV;
2. Increase your understanding of how to adapt your CV for different roles, specifically roles outside of academic research.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D1 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Career Management for Researchers is a bespoke online course developed by specialist researcher careers consultants at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield. It has been designed for PhD students and research staff who are exploring their career options and preparing for the next stage in their career, whether in academia or beyond. It is a 4-part course designed to address key career issues pertinent to researchers. Each week the course content provides a range of articles, videos, reflective activities, exercises and discussion topics. You are encouraged to set aside 2-3 hours to complete all of the content available in a week.  

Course themes 

Week 1 - Making career plans and identifying what you want 

Week 2 - Exploring career options beyond academia 

Week 3 - Careers in Higher Education - research, teaching and professional roles 

Week 4 - Job search, CVs, applications and interviews within and beyond HE. 

Designed as a 4-part course to be completed over 4 weeks you can access it individually and work on it at your own pace. Once you register, you have 6 weeks when the course is open to you.  

Alternatively, if you would like to be part of a cohort of University of Edinburgh research students from all disciplines working on it together, Eleanor Hennige, IAD Careers Consultant will be facilitating online discussion sessions around the course on set dates over a 4-week period. This will allow you to complete the course content each week before discussing it with Eleanor and fellow researchers so that you can all share strategies, ideas and experiences as well as build a support network.  

To be part of this you would register to start the course at the same time and commit to attending the 4 online discussion sessions. To register to be part of the March cohort please register for the course and then sign up on MyEd to the 4 discussion sessions scheduled on 9th,16th,23rd &30th March.

During March, researchers from across UK institutions will be encouraged to engage with the online course, so whether you join the Edinburgh cohort or do it on your own, there will be other researchers online, adding comments, experiences and suggestions.  

This workshop will focus on the early stages of career choice and will help you to start to identify what is important to you in a career; including the skills you want to use, values to be satisfied, preferred work environment and other factors important to you.

You may be considering moving out of academia into another career area but how do you decide what else you would like to do? 

In this workshop we will look at the early stages of career choice and you will begin to identify what’s important to you in a career through structured self-reflection.  You will start to develop a ‘wish list’ of what you’re looking for in your career in terms of skills you want to use, values to be satisfied, preferred work environment, and any other factors important to you.  This will help you in the future as you start to assess your interest in and suitability for different career areas.

This workshop will help you to:

• Identify the skills you have developed in your research career which you would like to use in the future;
• Think about your key drivers and motivations for the future;
• Consider what constitutes your preferred work environment;
• Identify barriers to change and explore strategies for tackling these.

The workshop will be followed by an optional linked workshop, ‘Changing Careers: Exploring Career Options’, which will focus on strategies to help you to generate and research alternative career options.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Develop an awareness of what is important to you when considering your future career development;
2. Develop an improved insight into your key drivers and motivations for the future;
3. Work on initial development of a personal framework for assessing your suitability for alternative career options.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B2 and B3 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Do you know how to capture your audiences’ attention? And how to keep it once you’ve got it?

This workshop is ideal for researchers who would like to improve their research communication skills and are new to engaging members of the public with their research. The skills we develop when we talk about our research with people outside our subject area can directly improve our skills when communicating with our research peers. This interactive session looks at:

– Reasons to communicate (with different publics)

– Thinking about your audience in terms of who they are, their motivations for being there, how to facilitate a good experience

– Various tools to build a narrative e.g. simple structures, jargon busting, use of questions, signposts, body language

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

1. Draw from a selection of communication tools to perfect how you talk about your research.

2. Consider your audiences', and your own, experiences of participating in research communication.

3. Have at your disposal a tried and tested 1 minute talk about your research.

This workshop is designed specifically for staff who are interested in planning events, workshops or conferences. Organising a conference gives researchers the opportunity to boost their profile, develop new skills and to meet other academics in their field. 

In order to deliver a high-quality event it is crucial that organisers execute a sequence of well planned actions in advance, leaving plenty of time to solve any problems that arise unexpectedly. There are now a number of free online tools and event marketing systems, such as Eventbrite, that can be used to help you manage your conference so that you can achieve maximum impact and attract delegates.

The workshop is designed to cover event planning and design, management, finance, venues, online tools, marketing and promotion, attracting sponsorship and post-event actions. The content is taught via short lectures, demonstrations of free online tools and interactive group exercises, in addition to case studies and the instructor’s own experience. Participants are encouraged to share their own event ideas throughout. 

The content of this workshop is applicable to individuals who are interested in careers both inside and outside of academia.

• Generating ideas for your event
  • What is your aim? Why hold an event?
  • Timing and length
• Planning your event
  • Team, dates, venue, costs
  • Pre-event software
• Event structure
  • Cutting edge talks, workshops, posters, papers, networking (speed)
  • Inviting & attracting high-quality speakers
  • Timing & livestreaming
• Marketing and promoting your event
  • Early bird vs late bird rates
  • Digital & social engagement
  • Tools to measure your progress: website, Eventbrite, analytics
• Attracting sponsorship
  • Who to ask?
  • Sponsorship packages: gold, silver, bronze
• Event management
  • Badges, bags, stands and technical tests
  • Reminders & drop outs
  • Registration and welcoming delegates
  • Managing speakers, timing, questions and an audience
• Post-event actions
  • Surveys and feedback
  • Mailing lists, videos and blogs

List of Learning Outcomes. By the end of this workshop, students should be able to:

3. Apply different methods of evaluation and be aware of other post-event actions

This workshop relates to domains B3 and D1 of the RDF.

Copyright and Open Access training is an important way to build confidence, awareness, and staff skills, enabling the provision of teaching, research and information services in compliance with the law and open educational practices.

The practical applications in Higher Education of the most recent social or technical development (MOOCs, social media, digitisation and online collaboration etc.) or regulatory changes (RCUK & HEFCE OA policies, new copyright exceptions) has led to a new level of complexity vis-à-vis Open Access and Copyright compliance.

Many research funders and institutions have introduced policies requiring research publications to be made available on an open access basis.  This workshop explains the various policies as they apply to staff at the University of Edinburgh and outlines the various options available to researchers to enable them to make their work open access.  The workshop will cover ‘green’, ‘gold’ and ‘hybrid’ open access, the policy environment (including REF), as well as the support provided by the Library Research Support Team to help researchers navigate this evolving landscape.   

This is a short workshop delivered over a single two-hour period.  Much of the content will be delivered by presentation, but there will be plenty of room for questions and discussion as part of the session.  In addition, the Scholarly Communications Team will be able to provide follow-up support for individuals or small groups. 

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Understand business models for academic publishing;
2. Understand why Open Access is important;
3. Understand Institutional and funder Open Access policies;
4. Understand current and future changes in scholarly communications.

This workshop relates to domains C1, D2 and D3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This is a two part workshop and participants MUST attend both dates.  (Part 2 is 10 December 2020, 09:30 - 11:00)

Please only sign up for this workshop if you are able to attend both dates.

Please note you will be required to complete a preparation task in advance of this workshop.

Full Description:

Interested in public engagement but unsure how to maximise the impact of your efforts? This workshop introduces a flexible approach to planning engagement activities with focus on the outcomes. What are you hoping participants (i.e. community groups, policymakers, researchers, etc.) get out of the interaction, and what activities are most likely to make these outcomes happen?

By the end of this workshop, you will have the key tools to take forward public engagement plans that match your impact goals.

This workshop is delivered by Stuart Dunbar (Public Engagement Manager, College of Science and Engineering, The University of Edinburgh) and Anne-Marte Bergseng (Communications Manager, ClimateXChange). It draws on material from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement.

Please note that your email address will be used to share templates immediately after the event. We will also email you a short questionnaire 2-3 months after the workshop. If you wish to opt out, please let the organisers know during the workshop.

You know what your research student should be doing, but it just doesn’t seem to be happening. Despite your best efforts to set up good habits for your student, it does not work. Why is this, and what can you do to make completing a PhD easier for your students and for you?

Students attending the seven secrets workshop have consistently reported a marked improvement in their progress towards completing their PhD. Now they have asked us to please tell their supervisors the same things!

This session gives you practical strategies to deal with common problems such as:

• supervisor/student relations
• dealing with writer’s block
• attitude (or lack thereof!) in relation to the PhD – it’s not a Nobel prize
• getting your student to seek help when they are stuck
• the student who never has enough time
• treating the PHD like a job
• keeping on going when the going gets tough

Who is it for?

Supervisors of research students at any point in their candidature.

Facilitator:

Hugh Kearns, Flinders University Australia. Hugh is recognised internationally as a public speaker, educator and researcher. He regularly lectures at universities across the world and is widely recognised for his ability to take the latest research in psychology and education and apply it to high-performing people and groups.

*This is a two day workshop running on 12th and 13th December and participants must attend both days*

All researchers are expected to do public engagement – to interact with stakeholder groups and/or wider ‘publics’ in order to increase the impact of their research. Public engagement takes different forms in different disciplines, but in all cases it is most effective when researchers talk with people rather than lecturing at them, when we are open to hearing what other groups have to say.

This course gives practical guidance on how to go about such ‘collaborative conversations’ in a way that is relevant to your research. It builds on the principles of ‘dialogue’, which has proved a powerful approach to communication in public engagement and many other areas. Come to this course and you will:

• Learn to recognise and address where your publics are coming from;
• Build your skills in facilitating dialogue so that everyone is heard and contributes;
• Think strategically about how to design dialogic public engagement activities;
• Start developing the skills to reflect and improve upon your engagement and other communication practices long after the course has ended.

Our training approach combines theory and practice. We will take you through a series of focused exercises, interspersed with short presentations and time for reflection, so that you experience a range of approaches and techniques you can then use in your future work. 

Whether you are planning to engage with government bodies, business, product or service users or citizens, this course can help make you more effective. You will leave with a toolbox of skills and techniques that you can use (and refine) in a range of different settings, including – but not only – public engagement with research.

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

1.Recognise and address where your publics are coming from;

2.Build your skills in facilitating dialogue so that everyone is heard and contributes;

3.Think strategically about how to design dialogic public engagement activities;

4.Continue developing the skills to reflect and improve upon your engagement and other communication practices long after the course has ended.

Collaboration can be one of the most rewarding aspects of a research career, and yet can bring some of the biggest challenges.  This session is aimed at researchers new to, or thinking of establishing, a collaborative research project.  The aim is provide an opportunity to reflect on your reasons for collaborating, what each party might offer, and also look at some practical ideas for establishing effective working practices and relationships.

This interactive session will be both reflective and practical, providing an opportunity for you to stop and reflect on your own approach and openness to collaboration, as well as some of the practical aspects of managing collaboration relationships and projects.

We will consider:

• Benefits and risks associated with collaborative research;
• Strategies to identify potential partners and work with them effectively;
• Assessing your readiness to collaborate and convince funders;
• Establishing a collaborative relationship: agreements and decisions.

 After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Describe what you offer, and wish to gain from, a research collaboration;
2. Plan effective ways to enhance your visibility and attractiveness to potential collaborators;
3. Enter in to collaborations with greater awareness of how to effectively establish and manage the process.

This workshop relates to domains B3, D1 and D3 of the RDF

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Do you need facilitation skills to do your job? Probably: good facilitation skills are critical to team working, collaborating with other teams and organisations, planning and holding meetings, and small group teaching.

If you’d like to improve the communication and inter-personal skills needed to facilitate well, this workshop may be for you!

Skills You’ll Develop:

• Enabling everyone to speak openly about their views, interests and needs
• Thinking together to tackle difficult problems or get a job done
• Fostering creativity and realise the potential for ‘group intelligence’
• Handling dominant voices and ensure all participants are heard
• Working through conflict without confrontation
• Recognising different patterns of communication and encourage ‘authentic’ communication
• Using your power as a facilitator constructively

Training Approach:

Our training approach integrates some ‘theory’ with a lot of opportunities to practice. Specifically, we will:

• Introduce key concepts – about different forms of communication and styles of facilitation, and about collaboration
• Work on key skills and common challenges, giving you experience of some different techniques and approaches
• Make this relevant to your circumstances and needs, and encourage your reflective practice.

What this Course Does Not Cover:

Facilitation involves two skill sets: thinking strategically (for planning and evaluation); and attending to communication and inter-personal dynamics in these critical conversations. This workshop aims to build capacity in the latter skill set only.

 While this workshop is extremely useful for people wishing to engage others with their research, this won’t be a specific focus on the day.

Suitability

This workshop is intended for people who already do some facilitation and want the opportunity to reflect on and deepen their practice in this area. Those new to facilitation and dialogue, are encouraged to attend Public Engagement Beyond Public Lectures instead.

Research costs money. If you are contemplating conducting any form of research you need to think how it will be funded. There are many sources of potential funding, but not all are appropriate either for certain projects or certain investigators. In this online presentation, Allan Gaw will take participants through the current funding landscape and help them to identify the most promising sources of funding for their own research. In addition, he will also highlight the most important mistakes researchers make in their grant applications, thus helping participants increase their chance of success. 

After the session each participant will:

· be aware of the different sources of research funding

· know how to evaluate these and identify those that are most relevant

· understand the requirements of research funders and their different agendas

· be familiar with the most common reasons why grant applications fail

· have a working strategy for making a successful grant application.

*this is an online workshop*

Have you recently joined the university in an academic or research role?

Attend this informal and interesting event to:

• Discover the support and resources available to you. Round table discussions will focus on career development opportunities, applying for research funding, advice on engagement, impact and consultancy, information services and developing teaching skills

• Meet other new colleagues from across the university (coffee and brunch is included)

• Hear insights from senior academics

• Get a professional profile picture (optional).  A photographer will be at this event.

The Get Connected event is an informal induction event for new research staff and academics, in all schools / colleges, who have recently joined the University. It’s also suitable for new post-docs who have previously done their doctoral studies at the University.

For more information visit the website: https://edin.ac/2ASNvP2

This workshop relates to domains B3, C1, C3 and D1 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

PRIVACY STATEMENT

Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it

We will use your personal data to allow us to process your registration, communicate with you and obtain your feedback about the event. We are processing the information about you for these purposes because by registering for the conference, you give your consent for us to do so.

If you have given us your permission, we will share your name, affiliation and contact details with the other participants in the delegate list, and University support groups, involved in the day. We will not share information about you with any other third party.  We will hold the personal data you provided us for 6 months.

** This is a two part course, run on consecutive days 20th and 21st April (10.00 - 12.00 both days), participants should attend both days**

This two-day workshop helps researchers learn the skills of writing research papers for peer reviewed journals. It focuses on all the steps involved in the writing process after the collection and analysis of data: clarifying the message of our paper; mapping out the manuscript to get the ideas into a logical structure; writing the first draft; editing the manuscript; submitting the manuscript; and successfully navigating the reviewing process to final publication.

During the workshop, through written exercises and discussions, delegates will examine all aspects of the process, and start drafting their own research manuscripts.

This workshop is suitable for:

• Early career (postdoc) researchers with little or no experience of writing papers for peer-reviewed journals;
• More experienced researchers and staff who still struggle with the process and want to improve how they write their papers.

To get the most out of this workshop, delegates should bring results they are ready to write-up for publication, or bring a “stalled” manuscript and a recent issue of the journal in which they wish to publish their manuscript’. This workshop does NOT cover experimental design and data analysis, nor does it provide a technical editing service.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. understand and identify the steps involved in the writing and publishing process
2. understand why papers fail to be written, submitted or published
3. create a personal action plan to write and publish

This workshop relates to domains A1 and D2 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This short workshop will outline the experience and skills expected of new lecturers.  It will encourage reflection and discussion on how to continue to build your profile and develop relevant experience to improve your competitiveness for an academic career.

You should attend this workshop if:

If you are wondering how to make the transition from early career researcher to first lecturing job then this interactive session will be of interest.  Drawing on the results of a national survey of academic staff in universities across the UK, the session will outline the experience and skills looked for in new lecturers.  We will discuss what experience you need to develop (and share tips about how you can be gaining this experience) and what to emphasise at application and interview stages.

 After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Understand the experience, skills and qualifications that make a good candidate for a lecturer role;
2. Assess your own experience and identify gaps in light of what is required for lectureship positions;
3. Share and gain ideas of how you can build additional relevant experience.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop relates to domains B1, D1 and D3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit: http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

It can be difficult to design public engagement activities to be truly interactive and inclusive. You may not feel confident about how to engage people or you may sense that your activity could be more effective at meeting the expectations of everyone involved. This workshop will help by giving you strategies to design public engagement activities where everyone is engaged and comes away with something useful.

This workshop will be run flexibly according to the needs and priorities of the participants. It will address:

•    What you want from the engagement

•    Who your participants should be and what they may want from the experience

•     What kind of interaction and communication are appropriate depending on the type of participatory process

•     How to enable everyone to be fully involved and work together

•     How to ensure that the process meets both your and your participants’ aims.

The core principles covered in this workshop are relevant for anyone planning a public or stakeholder engagement process that involves dialogue or deliberation. Whether it is a short interactive event at a science festival or a longer workshop with stakeholders or an ongoing collaboration that you are planning, this course is for you.

The training approach in this course is practical, hands on with regular opportunities to do, discuss and reflect.  The course facilitators will work with you so that you can apply the course material directly to your own public engagement activities/ideas/proposals/plans (see prerequisites below).

Please note: This course does not address the facilitation skills needed to implement your process design effectively: these are addressed in a separate one day course to be run on 26 May 2020.

Preparation for the course:

•This workshop is especially relevant to participants who are planning an interactive public engagement activity or wish to build public engagement into a funding proposal.  As such, participants should come with a particular public engagement activity in mind which they can work on throughout the course.

•Part of the materials for this workshop involves pre-written case studies that participants use to design a public engagement process. The organisers have a bank of these, however if any participants wish to use their own activity for a case study this can be accommodated. The course organisers have a case study pro-forma that needs to be completed and sent to Jan Barfoot (j.barfoot@ed.ac.uk) 7 days before the workshop. Contact Jan Barfoot for the proforma.

•All participants are expected to have a basic understanding of dialogue and of deliberation. To this end we recommend that, prior to the course, you read the relevant sections of ‘Public Dialogue and Deliberation’ by Oliver Escobar, available at: http://www.beltanenetwork.org/resources/beltane-publications/

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1.Think strategically about the design of your public engagement activity, with a focus on inclusion, dialogue and deliberation.

3.Develop the skills to create workable plans for public or stakeholder engagement that both attends to relevant practical considerations and meets everyone’s aims.

4. Apply this learning to your own public engagements plans.

The workshop is designed specifically for Arts, Humanities and Social Science postdocs and researchers at an early stage of their career with little or no experience of reviewing manuscripts for journals.

The peer-review system helps to ensure the quality of published research. Journal editors are therefore reliant on experts who can deliver independent reviews in a timely fashion. The ability to review manuscripts should be a core skill of every researcher.

By learning how to review research manuscripts quickly and effectively, you will:

• Gain a core skill that every researcher should have;
• Free up more time for your own research;
• Develop a better understanding of how to write your own manuscripts.

After attending this course you will be able to:

1. Understand how to critically evaluate a research manuscript;
2. Apply practical methods for reviewing a manuscript quickly and effectively;
3. Understand your responsibilities as a reviewer.

This workshop relates to domains A1, A2 and D2 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop is for STEM postdocs and researchers with little or no experience of reviewing manuscripts, this workshop focuses on the peer-review system and how to critically evaluate a manuscript.

Peer-review helps to ensure the quality and reputation of published scientific research. For the peer-review system to work, researchers who publish must reciprocate by reviewing the work of others.  Therefore, the ability to review manuscripts quickly and effectively for journals should be a core skill of every STEM researcher.

Journal editors are reliant on experts who can deliver independent reviews in a timely fashion. But what should go in the review?  And how long should you spend reviewing a manuscript? Find out from a survey of 80 editors of international peer-reviewed journals.

Through group exercises and discussions, attendees on this workshop will learn how the peer-review system works, including what editors expect, what to include in written comments and how long you should spend reviewing a manuscript

After attending this workshop you will be able to: 

• Understand how to critically evaluate a research manuscript;
• Apply practical methods for reviewing a manuscript quickly and effectively;
• Understand your responsibilities as a reviewer.

This workshop relates to domains A1, A2 and D2 of the RDF. 

 For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This short session is an introduction to the different types of intellectual property (IP) and why IP is important to the university and to individual researchers.  It will review the main types of IP (patents, trademarks, designs, copyright, know-how) and how they can be used to generate value. It will also look at the consideration of ownership issues and some simple dos and don’ts that all those working in academic, creative and/or technical sectors should be aware of.

This workshop is running in collaboration with Edinburgh Innovations - https://edinburgh-innovations.ed.ac.uk/  and is an Edinburgh Innovations sponsored event, supported by Marks & Clerk

Have you ever sat in a meeting and looked around the table and heard an inner voice say what are you doing here? Have you ever spent sleepless nights worrying about not being good enough to answer the questions after a talk you have to give? Have you ever just felt like a fraud? If you have, you are not alone.  Most professionals have suffered from so-called “Imposter Syndrome” at some point in their careers, and for others it can be a lifelong affliction.  In this webinar we will look at this attitude, what causes it and offer strategies for dealing with it.

After this session the attendees will:

·       Know what is meant by “Imposter Syndrome” 

·       Be aware of how widespread it is

·       Understand its causes

·       Know how to deal with it when it happens.

This is a two part course, participants are requried to attend both days:

Part 1: 17th June, 11am - 2pmPart 2: 29th June, 11am - 2pm

'Managing your Research Teams' is a workshop that is compulsory for all existing and new Principal Investigators (PIs) in the Deaneries of Clinical Sciences and Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences, and strongly recommended in the Deanery of Biomedical Sciences.

This full day workshop event has been developed to ensure that PIs and those in management roles in these Deaneries are appropriately trained in the management and development of the staff they are involved with and knowledgeable about the policies and procedures necessary for recruitment, development and management of their teams.  Workshops run in the central area and dates are available throughout the year.

Background

Professor Sir John Savill, Head of the College of MVM believes that this workshop is of high value in achieving the aims of the Athena SWAN award to the Clinical Sciences and Molecular, and Genetic and Population Health Sciences and therefore that it is compulsory in these two Deaneries.

Description

Data from the Principal Investigators and Research Leaders survey (PIRLS) suggests that in general, PIs are less confident in their managerial role than they are in their research leadership activities. The survey also identified that the following statements reflect important targets for excellent research leadership:

• Advances significantly the discipline/research area;
• Creating opportunities nurtures researchers’ careers;
• Exemplifies the highest standards of research integrity and conduct.

Overview

This workshop aims to ensure staff carry out their role in the College confident in their management capabilities, sure of management practices, University policy and national legislation and able to emulate best practice to their groups and colleagues across the University. By focusing on managing people, the workshop will:

• Equip staff with the essential skills required for managing groups of diverse and autonomous individuals;
• Develop an understanding of University policy in recruitment, management and appraisal;
• Ensure the highest possible standards in equality and diversity are achieved;
• Enable staff to effectively manage the career development of their team, particularly for early career researchers.

Target Audience

This programme is compulsory for all PIs in the Schools of Clinical Sciences and Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences, and is strongly recommended for all PIs in Biomedical Sciences. It is also recommended for Professional Support Staff who have managerial roles and are involved in helping to manage research teams.

This workshop relates to domains C1 and D1 in the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

If you have recently joined us and are looking to meet other new staff, come along to this informal induction session hosted by Human Resources and the Institute for Academic Development.

You will have the opportunity to meet up with other new staff, share experiences and get support from each other. HR and IAD will be on hand to answer any questions too.

Aimed at all new staff (both academic and professional services).

As a PhD supervisor part of your role is to enable students to develop their independence as researchers.   This can be challenging for supervisors as there is always the temptation to tell the student what to do especially if the student is linked to a specific funded project.  This practical workshop aims to equip you as supervisor with the ability to “coach” your students to enable you to support the development of independent research.  Within the workshop we will explore:

• Coaching skills such as active listening and problem reframing.
• A framework for having coaching conversations to enable problem solving by your students.
• Research focussed coaching style questions.

During the workshop there will be an opportunity to put these skills into practice and gain feedback on your approach. The skills discussed in this workshop will have relevance to the management of research staff and working inside research collaborations – however the focus of the workshop is how these conversations can be managed within the context of a PhD supervisory relationship.

Whatever your discipline and whatever stage you are at, being able to give a clear, effective and informative presentation is an important professional skill. This online course, aims to teach you the basic rules of giving presentations. This workshop is relevant for individuals from any subject area who either have little or no previous lecturing experience, or those who wish to improve their presentation skills. 

This session will help you to:

• Understand the importance of preparation;
• Know how to design a presentation;
• Be aware of the effective use of PowerPoint - less is more;
• Know how to deal with questions;
• Be able to apply the seven Es to present with ease.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Prepare an effective, well-sign-posted presentation;
2. Deal effectively with questions posed after a presentation;
3. Put into practice the seven principles of effective presenting.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

This workshop relates to domains B1 and D2 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Building a network and using it effectively is a key requirement for all professionals, whether it is in an academic research setting, industry engagement or a conference. This workshop will focus on how to establish a network and build it to support your career and aims.

We will cover networking strategies, engagement methods and how to “pitch” yourself and/or your ideas. Participants will be introduced to various techniques that they can use in a variety of situations with a range of different audiences. How can we turn conversations to our advantage? How do we approach and engage with senior academics? When and how should we follow up with people?

Each individual will be encouraged create a personal strategy that they can use after the workshop and build on in future. The workshop will comprise a mixture of group work, class discussion and individual exercises.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Develop an understanding of networking strategy and be incentivised to develop a personal networking strategy;
2. Draw on the networking experience gained at the workshop to spot opportunities and “pitch” themselves;
3. Apply the knowledge from the workshop to the development of their own personal networking plan.

This workshop relates to domains B1 and B3 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

A successful research project does not solely depend on an important research question and a well-designed plan, but also on the efficient execution of the project. Many research projects fail to complete on time and on budget and some struggle even to get off the ground. In this half-day workshop we will apply the principles of project management to academic research and show how by applying some simple tools and techniques we can solve many of the common problems we face and avoid others altogether. The workshop will consist of a series of short, interactive lectures, interspersed with practical exercises.

After the workshop each participant will:

• be able to define the different component parts of a research project;
• understand the common challenges that arise when managing a research project and know how to avoid the;
• be familiar with project management tools and techniques;
• be able to put these tools into practice;

This workshop relates to domains B1, B2 and C2 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit: http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Thinking about engaging with audiences online, but don’t know where to start?

There is currently an unprecedented demand for public engagement activity online, however there is a need to maintain the quality of any public engagement activity and online engagement is a different skill set to the usual public engagement carried out by staff and students.

This workshop will address some of the considerations for engaging online, where this differs from face to face engagement and where there are similarities.

Online environments offer some enormous freedoms compared to 'real world' events, but, of course, they also have some drawbacks and difficulties. We will help you explore the possibilities for creating an effective online activity that achieves the same aim as your intended offline activity. And we will take you through key considerations for planning and delivering a successful online activity, including looking at accessibility, safeguarding, privacy, and evaluation.

This session is aimed at researchers with some public engagement experience and staff in a role supporting public engagement

Please note that this course will proceed with attendees taking part remotely.

Please book your place by Friday 8 May - an email will be sent on this date providing details of setup requirements and relevant links for taking part in the course. 

A career development consultation is a 1 hour one-to-one appointment with a professional careers adviser. You can have as many consultations as you need and they are available all year round. You can use this appointment for many purposes, including:

• discussing your career options, pathways and planning strategies
• practical advice on preparing a targeted CV or application form.
• undertaking a mock job interview for an upcoming role you have applied for
• general advice and discussion on any career issue relevant to you or your current situation

Consultation appointments can help you, whatever your current stage. You may:

• have recently joined the University.
• be coming to the end, or potential end, of a project or contract.
• have been here a number of years and aim to develop a long term career in the University
• be actively looking to move in a new career direction

Eligibility: Our 1:1 appointments are only open to early career academic research-only staff on fixed term contracts, e.g. research assistants and associates, post-docs, and research fellows; and early career academic teaching staff on fixed term contracts, e.g. teaching assistants and teaching fellows.  Unfortunately, we are unable to provide support to academic staff on open-ended lecturing contracts.

Please note:

1. After you book a slot for a consultation, please email any supporting documents to ResearchStaff.Careers@ed.ac.uk.  Providing supporting documents such as a CV or job description will help you to gain more from the consultation process
2. Consultations are available on Monday to Thursday. 
3. Consultations will be held via Mirosoft Teams, the careers consultant will call you at the appointment time.
4. Advice is available via email if you have a quick query or perhaps have an approaching application deadline. We will endeavour to reply to all email requests within one working week.

Please refer to our webpage for our Privacy Statement for Career Development Consultations: https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/research-roles/research-only-staff/career-management/career-consultation

The aim of this writing hour is to give you a dedicated writing time to focus on writing projects whilst working from home. 

The session will include a 5-minute check-in at the start to allow you to share hints and tips (optional) and to focus on what you want to achieve in the session, there will then be a full hour dedicated to writing.

Timetable:

10:00 – 10:05: General check-in and planning

10:05 – 11:05: Writing

11:05 – 11:10: Wrap up and check in

This session is for all postgraduate researchers and research and academic staff

This workshop is designed specifically for staff who are looking to develop their online presence and boost their career prospects through social media.

There are now numerous channels available that can be used to amplify your research, promote an enterprising project and attract future employers. Each individual can now build their own online “brand” that friends, colleagues, collaborators and future employers can engage with. In addition, social networks can act as a valuable source of information and a personally tailored news feed.

We will explore different types of content that researchers can experiment with. What engages people? How can you attract attention? What should you post and what should you avoid? How should you manage your time on social media and optimise your engagement?

The workshop is designed to cover a selection of mainstream social media tools that can be used to build your online brand. Short group exercises, case studies and the instructor’s personal experience will be included to illustrate key points.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

• Identify social media tools that can be used to build your online brand.
• Understand the different type of content that you can work with to engage people.
• Develop your online presence to boost your research and promote yourself to employers.

This workshop relates to domains B2, B3, D1, D2 and D3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

A hands-on introduction to using storytelling techniques for effective research communication. We will look at how to make a story engaging as well as at the variety of creative ways stories can be used to communicate research practices and findings. You will learn simple ways of working with story structure as well as techniques for telling. By the end of the session, you will have an outline of a story about your own research to share.

Please note this workshop requires active participation. You will be asked to take part in group discussion and share creative work as part of the group exercises.

This on-line workshop provides advice and support for research supervisors who are now having to supervise more flexibly in response to changing circumstances. It will include strategies for:

• Maintaining the relationship – meetings/virtual meetings (frequency, length, structure, tools)
• Helping students with Plan B – dealing with interruptions to their research
• Contingency planning as levels change
• Responding to students’ concerns (personal, funding, time, access to data)
• Supporting students at different stages (new, mid-candidature and finishing)
• Mental health issues
• Looking after yourself

The webinar will be interactive with participants given the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience.

The conduct of research requires us to assume many roles - administrator, manager, technician, IT specialist, statistician, writer - all of which are often piled on top of other tasks, maybe even a whole other job. How can we manage this process effectively and bring a research project to a successful conclusion? With the clock ticking, we only have one choice and that is to get organised. However, that’s easier said than done, especially if you are new to research or you have many professional commitments. This workshop will teach the basics of effective time management and will apply these principles throughout in the context of an academic role.

This session will help you to:

• Understand the importance of time management;
• Know the principles of time management;
• Appreciate how to apply these principles to the different aspects your academic role;
• Be aware of the commonest pitfalls in research management and know how to avoid them;
• Have a working strategy for effective personal time management.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Identify your own professional aims and objectives;
2. Use your limited time effectively to help you achieve these;
3. Avoid the commonest problems that disrupt effective time management.

This session will take place via blackboard collaborate (virtual classroom). Booking is required in order to receive the workshop link and further information about how to join the session.

This workshop relates to domains B1 and B2 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

A policy brief is a concise summary of a particular issue, the policy options to deal with it, and some recommendations on the best option. These briefs are aimed at those who make decisions and often those who control budgets such as government policymakers and others who are interested in formulating or influencing policy.  Many academics will be required to write these briefs and just how well they are written may have significant consequences for the policy in question.

In this session, we will look at the challenges faced by policy brief writers, especially understanding your audience, using appropriate language and style and thinking about impact.

After this session each participant will:

•      know what a policy brief is, who it’s for and what it looks like

•      appreciate the challenges of writing for a non-technical reader

•      have simple strategies for writing effective policy briefs.

Are you ready to take your vocal and presentation skills to the next level?

Would you like to learn how to use your body and voice to deliver a clear, confident and compelling presentation?

This workshop will promote and enhance an awareness of what makes your voice and interesting and sustainable and how you can use your body effectively to engage your audience and reinforce your message.

If you feel you are not using your voice to its full potential, or you are concerned that it is not as strong or expressive as you would wish, this course will help you to improve.

We’ll cover:

• Pace
• Rhythm
• Clarity of speech
• Facial expression
• Projection
• Intonation

As part of the workshop, we will also look at how to use your body language to enhance your communication.

Please note that this workshop focuses on how you deliver rather than the content of your presentation or technical aids. It does not cover the use of PowerPoint slides, Prezi or similar.

Learning outcomes After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Warm up your voice and body effectively to develop and protect it
2. Recognise opportunities to use your voice with greater clarity and range o expression
3. Use vocal technique and body language to enhance the impact of your presentation
4. Implement techniques to increase audience engagement and ensure your presentations have more impact

A short workshop designed to help you to think carefully about what it takes to be an effective leader in research.  Using practical experience and theory, we will look at a variety of aspects of successful leadership and you will have the opportunity to benchmark your own skills and experience and do some action planning for your future development.

As you progress in your career you will be navigating the transition from being managed and led by others to leadership and management of yourself and others.  You are already undertaking outstanding research, so how do you become an outstanding leader?

This workshop is an opportunity for you to stop and take stock of your leadership:  to think about what are you aiming for and what needs to change to develop your research leadership skills.  We will do some benchmarking of where you are now and some planning towards where you want to be.

In this reflective and interactive session, we will consider:

• Your vision for your team and you: What leader would you like to be?
• What are the qualities of a leader in academia and research?
• Where are you now? Benchmarking yourself.
• The skills do you need to develop and how you might do this.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

• Describe the qualities required for effective research leadership.
• Articulate your own leadership strengths and areas for development.
• Make a plan to develop your research leadership skills. 

This workshop relates to domains B1, B2, B3, C2 and D1 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

The aim of a structured writing retreat is to use dedicated writing time to progress writing projects in a supportive, non-surveillance environment. Example projects include book chapters, journal articles, research proposals and reports.

Most of the time is used for writing, everyone logged into the online session, with brief scheduled discussions at the start of each writing slot, often generating solutions to writing problems, developing drafts, leading to research-orientated conversations and providing feedback on writing in-progress.

A retreat works best when you focus exclusively on writing, defining specific goals you want to achieve i.e. sections of a paper/chapter, number of words, etc.  It is also valuable to be prepared to define and discuss content and structure for writing goals, allowing you to take stock of your achievements through the programme and discuss your writing-in-progress with mutual peer support.

This full day writing retreat will be held online via Blackboard Collaborate and will include two 1hr 50minute writing slots, with a large break in the middle.  Participants are asked to attend both parts. 

Timings:

Part 1: 09:30 – 11:30 – Planning at the start followed by 1hr 50min minute writing slot

Extended break

Part 2: 13:30 – 15:30 – Revising planning from start of the day followed by 1hr 50min Writing slot 

Additional information:

The programme is based on retreats run by Professor Rowena Murray, University of West of Scotland. Rowena has published extensively on academic writing and is a very experienced facilitator. Rowena’s research indicates that writing retreats can result in significant outcomes in terms of growing research-orientated interactions and relationships, building confidence in writing and research and creating cross-disciplinary research conversations.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Develop an awareness of how to use time and space for productive writing;
2. Develop an understanding of how to plan writing and generate solutions to writing problems.

This workshop relates to domains A1, B1, B2 and D2 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit: http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE 

Blogging is turning into a popular format for communicating research processes and results to different audiences. It may seem straight forward compared to other academic writing platforms, but taking the leap into publishing blogposts can be daunting. If you would like to start blogging or blog more frequently, this workshop is for you. We will explore what blogging can add to your academic practice; how to use it to support your research; and what will get (and keep) your readers interested.