All Researcher Development Programme (RDP) courses

The time has come to start writing your thesis, but you may still be in the lab finishing experiments and/or writing papers for publication.

This ‘hands on’ workshop focuses on helping you plan to write your thesis. In this workshop we will remind you of some writing exercises, introduce techniques to help you with the planning, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and be prepared to do some writing.

This beginner’s course is designed to get you thinking about preparing your first poster. A good poster’s worth 1000 words… but a bad poster’s just a bit of messy paper. When it’s time for you to present your scientific poster how are you going to make the most of the opportunity?

We’ll think about why we use posters to present our research, what makes the difference between a good and bad poster and some useful tips to help you present your data in style.

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:

• engagement types and the appropriate format to engage effectively and collaboratively
• engagement opportunities
• extensive training portfolio for researchers and professional staff to build skills and confidence
• funding schemes and resources to inform and support develop projects, events and activities

These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions.

Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:

• Dr Tana Joseph, Public Engagement and Impact Manager for the Schools of Arts and Humanities and Social Science - Monday, 15:00-15:30 and 15:30-16:00
• Dr Lucinda Spokes, Head of Public Engagement, all areas and schools - Monday, 16:00-16:30 and 16:30-17:00
• Dr Diogo Martins-Gomes, Public Engagement and Communications Manager, Clinical School and School of Biological Sciences - Wednesday, 12:00-12:30 and 12:30-13:00
• Dr Claudia Antolini, Public Engagement Manager, School of Physical Sciences and School of Technology - Thursday 14:00-14:30 and 14:30-15:00

The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance.

Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder.

Do people tune out when you talk to them about your research? Can you explain why your research is worth their attention? Do you know how to make your research better and enhance its impact by gathering external perspectives from industrial and commercial contacts?

This 3-hour workshop gives you the tools to discover and communicate the broader context of your work when engaging with industry and business contacts. It will help you explain the relevance and anticipated impact of your research to non-experts. Practice discussing your work among peers so that you can crystallise your message and make it relevant. This will maximise the value of your next opportunity to talk about your research to external contacts.

This workshop is particularly relevant if you are preparing to participate in a workshop, conference or poster session where you will be engaging with potential industrial partners. It is also relevant if you are looking for future sponsorship for your research, preparing for its commercial uptake, or even if you are considering a job outside academia!

Course Organised by: Maxwell Centre (www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk)

Please note for in-person courses the Maxwell Centre is on the U bus route.

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Welcome to The Researcher Cafe - your online destination for a bi-weekly, laid-back gathering where you can take a break from your research, connect with other researchers, and expand your social circle.

Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee along with a biscuit, while you engage in stimulating conversations and forge new friendships.

Best of all, no reservations required - just drop in and unwind!

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

This 2 half-day course focuses on the structure of good scientific writing using writing exercises as an integral part of the workshop. The course will look at the practical process of writing, the nature of scientific publishing, and the importance of editing. The day will include editing sessions in which you apply the ideas you have learnt to your own writing. For this, you will need to write a 300-word abstract about your work in advance and have it available to work on during the workshop.

You will need to write a 300-word abstract about your work in advance, and have it ready on the day

(see 'Prerequisites' below for details).

REGISTRATION starts at 9.00am each day. Please ensure you arrive on time 

Come to the Student Services Centre and settle down to enjoy some focused writing time. These sessions will run once a week throughout the Academic Writing Month, in November and are 2.5 hours long. Tea and coffee will be provided.

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Are you ready to start using social media in a more professional capacity? Maybe you want to use social media to share your research and connect with other academics but don’t know where to start. Perhaps you have a love-hate relationship with social media & wouldn’t be on it unless you had to be. You might even have the “LinkedIn ick” or the “Instagram dread” about posting and sharing.

In this in-person, social media training session, we will cover Facebook groups / Instagram & LinkedIn pages. We will talk about how they differ from each other and which one is best for your “personal brand” and research.

We will look at the functions. We will also think about how to post, what to post and how to get over any icks, fears and blocks. I hope you will come away from this training session with actionable tips and tools and feel more positive about sharing your expertise and finding your network.

Emilie Silverwood Cope has worked in marketing and sales for over 25 years and spent the last 7 years as a social media manager and trainer. She has run Social Media accounts within the education sector across various platforms. She too has a love-hate relationship with social media.

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

Researcher Development has moved to Inkpath.

In order to find scheduled training, book places and record your attendance, head over to Inkpath, select 'single sign-on' and log in with Raven.

Click here to Launch Inkpath

You are beginning one of the most exciting, yet challenging programme of your academic career. You have entered a new lab, with a new supervisor, new lab colleagues and a new project. This workshop will explore what it means to do a PhD, think about how to establish meaningful student-supervisor relationships and plan for a productive PhD project.

Ph.D. research journey can present many challenges in our ability to maintain work life balance and work sustainably while progressing towards our goals. Addressing the challenges of work-life balance and sustainability in the context of a Ph.D. is crucial for the well-being and effectiveness of researchers. This interactive session aims to create a space for researchers to hack key issues for developing sustainable academic practices and offers a toolkit of reliable, evidence-based strategies for wellbeing management.

This workshop focuses on the basics of teaching and facilitating seminars in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It is ideal for participants with little to no seminar teaching experience.  

You will learn how to structure a seminar, harnessing an array of design methods, thought-provoking questioning techniques and effective communication skills, and the importance of reflective practice. Likewise, you will learn how to surmount challenges associated with engagement, including with seminar-related reading materials and any other pre-sessional work.  

By the end of this workshop, you will have heightened confidence in designing and delivering compelling seminars that rely on pedagogical principles for creating an inclusive, engaging and cooperative learning space.  

This workshop aligns with D1 and A1 & A2 of the HEAs Professional Standards Framework (PSF), I.e., with the ‘Associate Fellow’ level. This workshop does not result in recognition or a qualification but can be considered as part of an application. 

Team working and leadership are essential skills of the modern researcher as more projects are multidisciplinary collaborations. They are also high on the skills requirement list for most employers outside academia. However, the nature of higher education focuses on individual work so many researchers starting their career find that they have little experience or knowledge of how to work as a team member or contribute to leadership.

In this workshop, we will explore fundamental aspects of team working, including why having people in your teams who think and behave differently to you is essential for a successful team.

We will look at theories around teamwork, including work by Will Schutz, John Adair, and Bruce Tuckman, with a main focus on Belbin Team Roles, which is a globally recognised tool.

At the end of this workshop, you will be able to understand:

• Why teams don’t need well rounded people
• Why team members don’t need to work on their areas of weakness
• How conflict in team members’ working styles can be turned to an advantage
• Why our expectations of team members (including leaders) can set them up to fail
• Why, when choosing people to work with, we need to look beyond their eligibility, and consider their suitability

Please note that this workshop does not include Belbin assessments or Belbin reports.

Learn how to create and deliver an effective presentation.

Most postgraduate researchers benefit from giving presentations about their research by gaining feedback, sharing their ideas and/or findings, and raising their profile in the research community. Therefore, learning how to present your research effectively is an important skill to develop during the course of your doctorate.

An interactive and participative session that looks at the root of great communication covering:

• Levels of Listening
• Listening to understand
• Asking Great Questions
• Giving and Receiving Feedback

This session will involve group work, work in pairs and some time for individual reflection.

Storytelling is the secret weapon that can help you get on in life, from demonstrating leadership and establishing a reputation, to motivating a team, persuading and influencing, and attracting new business and partnerships.

It’s a deeply human trait to love stories. They account for about two thirds of conversations, according to research, play on our emotions, light up our minds, and are far more likely to be remembered than mere facts.

Which makes good storytelling the most powerful method of marketing, raising profile, and pure and simple selling, whether it’s your agenda, your business, or your vision.

From the hook of how to start you story, to an emotional ending, and everything in between, this high energy, highly interactive workshop covers all you need to know to become a scintillating storyteller.

This workshop is designed to help PhD students optimize their time and increase their productivity. In this workshop, we will explore a variety of time management strategies and tools to help you prioritize your tasks, meet deadlines, and achieve your academic goals.

We will guide you through practical exercises that will help you identify your priorities, create realistic schedules, and manage your workload efficiently. We will also cover essential tools and techniques for managing your time effectively, such as the Pomodoro Technique, time-blocking, and goal setting.

By the end of this workshop, you will have a comprehensive toolkit for managing your time more effectively, reducing stress, and enhancing your overall productivity.