Researcher Development Programme (RDP) course timetable

Times are changing.

Collaboration for Arts, Humanities and Social Science PhDs is more than the icing on the research cake: it now lies at the heart of the research paradigm for the 21st Century. The AHRC, for example, is increasingly funding collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

More and more, projects will not solely operate under the traditional model of a single researcher, but draw upon a range of partners from disciplines, institutions and sectors required to answer bigger and more far-reaching questions.

To build a successful research career within or outside the academy, you will need to connect with (and impress!) a broad network of professional colleagues. Employers value, perhaps above all, communication and interpersonal skills. This is your opportunity to develop these skills.

What will the course cover?

This 2-day course will explore the building blocks of the collaborative style of research:

Inclusive communication, Cultural awareness, Robust planning, Negotiation and the ability to work effectively with others.

Whether your collaboration is with another academic in your department, or partners from different subjects, sectors and countries, it will help you to develop winning strategies for connecting and working with others.

The course will be attended by up to 40 PhDs and will be led by a team of experienced facilitators who will work with you throughout the 2 days to support your learning. This event takes a ‘learning by doing' approach. There will be presentations on collaboration theory, but for the most part, you will be actively participating in the sessions and activities.

Are you able to ask for things you need and want?
The career of a postdoc researcher is demanding and it involves forging careful relationships with a variety of individuals, from PI's to fellow researchers and peers to postgraduate students. Are you capable of asking for help from others when you need it? Do you too often give up your own priorities to respond to others' needs? This course is designed to help you develop an assertive mind-set to communicate your needs in an honest, clear and respectful way.

Outcomes:
- Understand the difference between assertive, aggressive and passive thinking/behaviour
- Know what assertiveness looks and sounds like
- Develop skills in communicating assertively in day-to-day conversations

Times are changing.

Collaboration for Arts, Humanities and Social Science PhDs is more than the icing on the research cake: it now lies at the heart of the research paradigm for the 21st Century. The AHRC, for example, is increasingly funding collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

More and more, projects will not solely operate under the traditional model of a single researcher, but draw upon a range of partners from disciplines, institutions and sectors required to answer bigger and more far-reaching questions.

To build a successful research career within or outside the academy, you will need to connect with (and impress!) a broad network of professional colleagues. Employers value, perhaps above all, communication and interpersonal skills. This is your opportunity to develop these skills.

What will the course cover?

This 2-day course will explore the building blocks of the collaborative style of research:

Inclusive communication, Cultural awareness, Robust planning, Negotiation and the ability to work effectively with others.

Whether your collaboration is with another academic in your department, or partners from different subjects, sectors and countries, it will help you to develop winning strategies for connecting and working with others.

The course will be attended by up to 40 PhDs and will be led by a team of experienced facilitators who will work with you throughout the 2 days to support your learning. This event takes a ‘learning by doing' approach. There will be presentations on collaboration theory, but for the most part, you will be actively participating in the sessions and activities.

Are you in a formal leadership role, or have you taken on leadership positions informally? This workshop will help you to consider the variety of situations and contexts you find yourself leading in and guide you in understanding your leadership skills and abilities so that you can improve them and deploy them thoughtfully. We will look at a variety of meanings and views of leadership, discover the 4 elements of leadership, consider various leadership styles, and reflect on leadership within and out of research environment.

We would encourage you to take this workshop as a very brief introduction to leadership before attending Leadership 2: Next Steps for Postdocs.

Outcomes

• Recognise own current skills and strengths in relation to developing further as a leader.
• Review a range of definitions of, and styles of, leadership.
• Apply to your own context.

Feedback from Michaelmas 2016:

“I found it interesting to define what leadership means and to understand the different styles there are.”

“It was a very interesting and different training which was very good to attend so as to know the skills to develop.”

This course is designed for first-year PhD students to help you increase your effectiveness and meet the challenges of your PhD. We cover several different aspects of personal effectiveness in this one-day workshop, with practical solutions to get you started on your journey.

Outcomes:

• Start planning the first year of your PhD
• Be equipped to manage your relationship with your supervisor
• Understand how to work effectively with others

This course complements the supervising training and information your Department will provide. It is a course that consists of: an online module, which introduces practices and principles of undergraduate supervision at Cambridge, and a face-to-face workshop in which you will explore challenges and approaches to supervising.

By the end of this course you will know:

• the purpose of supervisions at Cambridge
• how to deal with common supervision scenarios
• how to provide effective feedback
• the practicalities of starting to supervise

Topics covered:

• Introduction to supervising (including what supervisions are, format, preparing for them)
• Background information for those who need it (British education system, Cambridge undergraduate system)
• Role of a supervisor
• Dealing with different supervision scenarios
• Departmental information
• Summary of what you have learnt
• Practical tips and advice
• Resources for ongoing support and information

This course is designed for first-year PhD students to help you increase your effectiveness and meet the challenges of your PhD. We cover several different aspects of personal effectiveness in this one-day workshop, with practical solutions to get you started on your journey.

Outcomes:

• Start planning the first year of your PhD
• Be equipped to manage your relationship with your supervisor
• Understand how to work effectively with others

This introductory workshop will examine the processes of preparing and giving lectures. It will encourage you to consider what makes a good lecture and what lecturing is for.

*Please note that this course is not aimed at PhD students*

What are transferable skills, why are they important and how do you know which ones to develop? This course gives you the chance to find out the answer to all these questions and more. It is also your chance to have input into the types of training you would like to spend your time on and speak to the people who could help develop them.

This course complements the supervising training and information your Department will provide. It is a course that consists of: an online module, which introduces practices and principles of undergraduate supervision at Cambridge, and a face-to-face workshop in which you will explore challenges and approaches to supervising.

By the end of this course you will know:

• the purpose of supervisions at Cambridge
• how to deal with common supervision scenarios
• how to provide effective feedback
• the practicalities of starting to supervise

Topics covered:

• Introduction to supervising (including what supervisions are, format, preparing for them)
• Background information for those who need it (British education system, Cambridge undergraduate system)
• Role of a supervisor
• Dealing with different supervision scenarios
• Departmental information
• Summary of what you have learnt
• Practical tips and advice
• Resources for ongoing support and information

Engage in Learning is a theory and practice informed supervisor development programme on how to build supportive learning relationships. The programme is aimed at supervisors of Cambridge students with a minimum of three to five years’ experience of teaching in higher education.

Participants will explore challenges and approaches to building supportive supervisory relationships through dialogical learning activities — small group discussions, reflection exercises based on questions, film clips, case studies and dilemmas drawn from practice. Readings will be provided prior to each workshop. The programme will emphasise building on participants’ own experiences. Between each workshop participants will be asked to observe and keep a written log of specific experiences of supervision; these will be discussed in the subsequent workshop.

Workshops (key topics covered)
A maximum of 12 participants will attend four two-hour-long workshops. Each workshop will be held between 16:30 to 18:30.


26 January 2017
Workshop 1 (Principles 1 & 2)
Relationships for learning: theory, context. Building supportive relationships

• Attachment theory
• Mindfulness
• Institutional identity
• Communication

23 February 2017
Workshop 2 (Principles 1, 2 & 3)
Empowering and facilitation growth

• Growth mindset
• Relational power
• Transformational learning
• Self-efficacy

22 March 2017
Workshop 3 (Principles 1, 2, 3 & 4)
Maintaining a supportive relationship

• Boundaries
• Balance
• Dialogical reflection

25 April 2017
Workshop 4
Engaging in learning together

• Synthesis of themes and topics

Prior to registration please make sure that you are available on each of those days.

All workshops will be held at the Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning, 25 Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QA. The map gives directions to PPD, where the Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning is located.

Beginning a PhD can be a daunting experience, but this half-day course is designed for first-year students to help you make the best start that you possibly can. It provides an overview of doing a PhD, complementary to other introductions you may attend. We examine what's involved in doing a PhD, how to usefully define 'research', and how to plan a research project.

Outcomes:

• Understand what a PhD is, and what's involved in doing a PhD
• Have a definition of 'research' that enables you to be effective
• Be able to plan

This course complements the supervising training and information your Department will provide. It is a course that consists of: an online module, which introduces practices and principles of undergraduate supervision at Cambridge, and a face-to-face workshop in which you will explore challenges and approaches to supervising.

By the end of this course you will know:

• the purpose of supervisions at Cambridge
• how to deal with common supervision scenarios
• how to provide effective feedback
• the practicalities of starting to supervise

Topics covered:

• Introduction to supervising (including what supervisions are, format, preparing for them)
• Background information for those who need it (British education system, Cambridge undergraduate system)
• Role of a supervisor
• Dealing with different supervision scenarios
• Departmental information
• Summary of what you have learnt
• Practical tips and advice
• Resources for ongoing support and information

Are you in a formal leadership role, or have you taken on leadership positions informally?

This workshop will help you to consider the variety of situations and contexts you find yourself leading in and guide you in understanding your leadership skills and abilities so that you can improve them and deploy them thoughtfully. We will look at a variety of meanings and views of leadership, discover the 4 elements of leadership, consider various leadership styles, and reflect on leadership within and out of research environment.

We would encourage you to take this workshop as a brief introduction to leadership before attending more in-depth workshops, including Postdocs: Self-Leadership and Postdocs: Leading Others.

Outcomes

• Recognise own current skills and strengths in relation to developing further as a leader.
• Review a range of definitions of, and styles of, leadership.
• Apply to your own context.

Feedback from Michaelmas 2016:

“I found it interesting to define what leadership means and to understand the different styles there are.”

“It was a very interesting and different training which was very good to attend so as to know the skills to develop.”

This introductory workshop examines the processes of preparing and giving lectures. It will encourage you to consider what makes a good lecture and what lecturing is for.

*Please note that this course is not aimed at PhD students*

Have you started a postdoc at Cambridge? Now is the time to create a plan for how you would like it to unfold. In this workshop, we will consider how to navigate the research landscape, how to think strategically about your strengths, and how to develop mental and emotional discipline for coping with how demanding and competitive the research environment can be. We will explore case studies illustrating that there’s no one recipe for success, but there are common ingredients. You will identify potential obstacles that might stand in your way as well as enablers that will aid your career progression. This workshop is for postdoctoral researchers who want to maximise their chances of succeeding in their chosen careers.

Outcomes:

• Devise an action plan for the near future including how to deal with the unexpected
• Learn how to identify enablers and obstacles to career progression and how to work with or around them
• Begin to take charge of your own career path

Feedback:

“It encouraged an overall view of thinking about my career and what I want out of it and what I am good at. It also covered examples of people who stayed in academia as well as those who did not, so that I was able to consider the pros and cons of more than just one route.”

“I'm right at the start of my post-doc and it helped me to think about what I wanted to get out of the next few years in terms of my career.”

If you’re feeling lost and uncertain about writing your first-year report – or if you want to become a more effective writer – this course has two objectives in its overall aim of helping you to improve your ability to write about your research:

1) To help you understand:

• the requirements of the first-year report;
• the writing process;
• your work patterns as a writer.

2) To help you progress your writing by working through the techniques of:

• writing warm-ups, to quell your internal editor so that you write more freely;
• writing in layers, to help you develop an overall structure to your thesis, so that writing feels less daunting and you take a step towards ending procrastination.

It’s that time of year: the report is looming on the horizon and the reality of writing is here!

Aimed at first-year PhD students, this course is designed to get you thinking and working effectively on your end-of-first-year report / Certificate of Postgraduate Studies. How do you start? What is expected? How do you make it work for you? These and many other important questions, hints and tips will be addressed in this half-day session.

Outcomes:

• Understand the form and function of the first-year report
• Start planning the structure of your report
• Experience the benefits of editing and providing feedback on writing

Increasingly, successful researchers are expected to be leaders. This one-day event introduces participants to leadership by covering the 'four elements of leadership' and a set of tools to help you lead. To deepen the learning, you are given the opportunity to apply one of these elements with an associated tool, by leading a small group in an activity, who will then provide you with constructive feedback.

Outcomes:

• Understand the four elements of leadership
• Develop the skills of: meaningful brainstorming; planning with the end in mind; listening to summarize
• Have increased confidence when leading

A good poster is worth a thousand words… but a bad poster is just a bit of messy paper. When it’s time for you to present your research, how are you going to make the most of the opportunity? Aimed particularly at second-year PhD students preparing for conferences, this session considers why we use posters to present our research, what makes a good posters, and some common mistakes. Through critiquing real examples and providing useful tips, this course helps you to present your research in style.

Outcomes:

• Understand the purpose of a research poster
• Know what contributes to making a poster good
• Feel more confident in presenting your work effectively