All Researcher Development Programme (RDP) courses

This interactive workshop explores how to listen with conscious intention and greater depth in both academic and everyday settings. Participants will examine the invisible drivers of communication — such as beliefs, values, needs, and assumptions — using models that illustrate what lies beneath the surface of our behaviour. The session will introduce different types of questions and listening styles, highlighting how typical conversation patterns can limit understanding. Drawing on a structured listening strategy inspired by professional negotiation practice, the course offers practical tools for improving attention, empathy, and persuasive communication.

This training is provided free of charge to postgraduate researchers, however, the cost of providing the course is £30 per participant.

Please Note: This session takes place at West Hub.

This workshop is tailored for postgraduate researchers interested in applying for small-scale funding opportunities, such as attending conferences or organizing events. Geared towards those with limited or no prior experience, it covers the essential considerations of the funding application process, and includes a hands-on exercise to provide practical insights into evaluating funding applications.

Creativity is a critical part of research, helping people look at old problems in new ways and facilitating leaps in thinking that seem logical in hindsight but are far from it in the moment. In this practical workshop we will briefly explore what creativity is, and quickly move on to exercises, tools and techniques that can boost your creative confidence so you can apply it to your own research.

A central theme will be that creativity is not a talent but a way of operating, and we will look at that way of operating. Although not essential, participants are asked to think of a particular problem or challenge in their research before the workshop so they can practice some of the tips and techniques - who knows, it could be the breakthrough you’ve been looking for!

Tea, coffee, water, & biscuits will be provided.

This training is provided free of charge to postgraduate researchers, however, the cost of providing the course is £30 per participant.

This ONLINE writing retreat is designed to offer structured sessions of academic writing for PhD students with Autism and ADHD. You do NOT need to have a diagnosis to attend this retreat. If you feel like you would benefit from an online workspace that accommodates neurodivergence, please come along!

The sessions will be run on a Discord server which allows you to engage both on video, and via text chat. Before the event, you will be sent instructions for how to join, both in written format and as a video. You can also take a look at the Discord website beforehand, if you like: https://discord.com/

We start the day with an introduction that discusses the kinds of challenges that Autism and ADHD can present in doctoral research, as well as strengths they confer. This is followed by discussion sessions on finding adaptive ways to work when handling executive dysfunction, or issues with your environment. The rest of the day is dedicated to writing, with short sessions to test out new ways to approach your work.

A full schedule for the day will be sent out at least a week in advance.

The Two-Day writing retreat is designed to offer structured sessions of academic writing for PhD students who wish to come and work in a supportive environment, and discuss strategies for good working practices that accommodate neurodivergence. You do NOT need to have a confirmed diagnosis to attend this retreat.

We start the first day with an introduction that discusses the kinds of challenges that Autism and ADHD can present in doctoral research, as well as strengths. This is followed by discussion sessions on finding adaptive ways to work when handling executive dysfunction, or issues with your environment. The rest of the first day is dedicated to writing, with short sessions to test out new ways to approach your work. The second day will be a dedicated writing retreat, with time in a comfortable environment to crack on with some writing! A full schedule for the two days will be sent out at least a week in advance.

You will be writing alongside fellow graduate students. There will be a ‘quiet room’ and a ‘noisy room’ to accommodate various working styles/activities, and attendees are welcome to bring along any fidget objects etc. that would normally help them focus. We will also bring a selection of these to try out!

If you have attended before you are very welcome to come again – feel free to skip the introductory talk or just go get settled in the ‘quiet room’ to start your work.

Lastly, although you will need to arrange your own lunch, coffee, tea, & biscuits will be provided.

Blogs and online articles are becoming ever more important as a shop window to help spread word of your work and get your message across. They can draw attention to the great things you’re doing, generate interest, build partnerships and establish you as a leader in your field. The statistics say that organisations and their staff with blogs produce significantly more potential new opportunities and collaborations than those without.

This half day, highly interactive course teaches you all you need to know to write beautiful and beneficial blogs, from the importance of a title to layouts, what to write about to build an audience, and even smartphone photography.

Please come with an idea for a blog you might write, which will be used as the basis for the exercises.

Tea, coffee, water, & biscuits will be provided.

This training is provided free of charge to postgraduate researchers, however, the cost of providing the course is £30 per participant.

This session is hosted by the Postdoc Academy, but is open to and suitable for Postgraduate Researchers

Students must book a place through the Researcher Development page.

There are a limited number of places available for Postgraduate Researchers on this session. If session is full please add your name to the waiting list. If you book through the wrong page, you may not be guaranteed a place, and your booking may be cancelled.

Students are not permitted to book a place through the Postdoc Academy page.

About this session

Are you able to express yourself clearly and appropriately so you can ask for what you want and be heard?

Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to others but ‘no’ to yourself? Or perhaps you feel as though you have to shout at others to get things done?

Join us to explore what assertiveness looks and sounds like, and have the opportunity to practice.

This interactive workshop will give you the opportunity to:

• understand what being assertive means
• recognise the differences between assertive, passive and aggressive behaviour/communication styles
• develop awareness of your own communication style
• understand and apply strategies for communicating assertively.

You will also have access to additional tools and resources if you want to extend your learning and practice beyond what is covered on the day.

This session is hosted by the Postdoc Academy, but is open to and suitable for PhD students

PhD students must book a place through the Researcher Development page.

There are a limited number of places available for PhD students on this session. If session is full please add your name to the waiting list. If you book through the wrong page, you may not be guaranteed a place, and your booking may be cancelled.

Students are not permitted to book a place through the Postdoc Academy page.

Are you able to express yourself clearly and appropriately so you can ask for what you want and be heard?

Do you find yourself saying ‘yes’ to others but ‘no’ to yourself? Or perhaps you feel as though you have to shout at others to get things done?

Join us to explore what assertiveness looks and sounds like, and have the opportunity to practice.

This interactive workshop will give you the opportunity to:

• understand what being assertive means
• recognise the differences between assertive, passive and aggressive behaviour/communication styles
• develop awareness of your own communication style
• understand and apply strategies for communicating assertively.

You will also have access to additional tools and resources if you want to extend your learning and practice beyond what is covered on the day.

This session is hosted by the Postdoc Academy, but is open to and suitable for Postgraduate Researchers

Students must book a place through the Researcher Development page.

There are a limited number of places available for Postgraduate Researchers on this session. If session is full please add your name to the waiting list. If you book through the wrong page, you may not be guaranteed a place, and your booking may be cancelled.

Students are not permitted to book a place through the Postdoc Academy page.

About this session

The root cause for 20% of those who suffer from chronic procrastination is perfectionism. Other causes include overwhelm and over complexity of your workload.

This workshop will help you better understand and create mechanisms to manage the experience and impact of procrastination and perfectionism.

During this workshop, you will:

• understand your root causes of procrastination
• try out three different approaches to overcome procrastination
• understand how you can manage the downside of perfectionism.

Join Natacha Wilson, leadership development consultant, coach and founder of Cambridge Insights, in this interactive workshop focusing on the best approaches to build and nurture your network in Academia and beyond. During the workshop you will be able to identify the benefits of building a strong network; develop a personal strategy to grow your network, aligned with your research/career goals; create a “network map” to visualise and track your current and desired connections; share best practice and ways to overcome challenges with your peers; share best practice on using platforms like LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Twitter/X to build your online presence and network; apply techniques to follow up and maintain professional relationships meaningfully.

This workshop will cover key themes relating to procrastination. Participants are encouraged to reflect and share experiences with others and take part in discussion groups and activities. The session covers the common causes of procrastination, how to recognise personal procrastination traits and techniques to dig deep to find the real cause of procrastination in order to banish it for good.

Tea, coffee, water, & biscuits will be provided.

This training is provided free of charge to postgraduate researchers, however, the cost of providing the course is £30 per participant.

This session is hosted by the Postdoc Academy, but is open to and suitable for Postgraduate Researchers

Students must book a place through the Researcher Development page.

There are a limited number of places available for Postgraduate Researchers on this session. If session is full please add your name to the waiting list. If you book through the wrong page, you may not be guaranteed a place, and your booking may be cancelled.

Students are not permitted to book a place through the Postdoc Academy page.

About this session

Collaboration is highly valued in research today and is responsible for many of the most important modern advances in knowledge and understanding.

This webinar aims to help you plan and maintain your research collaboration successfully, so both you and your collaborators can enjoy and benefit from the journey.

In this 2-hour online masterclass, we’ll consider:

• the advantages and barriers to a collaborative approach
• what drives successful collaborations
• the ‘rules’ and process of planning, establishing, managing and working together
• partnerships outside of academia
• what you can do if things aren’t working out.

This session will require your input so you should have your camera and microphone on and come prepared to be an active participant.

An interactive and informal session addressing:

• What assertiveness is and isn’t.
• Your own assertiveness – where are you starting from, and what do you want to work on?
• The assertive and the unassertive you – when are you assertive and unassertive, and why?
• Some theory and hints & tips that will help you to work your assertiveness.
• Putting it all into practice.
• Actions for your assertiveness practice.

To enable everyone attending the chance to work and meet each other, the session will contain a mix of small and large group work, and some individual work. The small groups will be changed throughout the session.

Tea, coffee, water, & biscuits will be provided.

This training is provided free of charge to postgraduate researchers, however, the cost of providing the course is £30 per participant.

This session is hosted by the Postdoc Academy, but is open to and suitable for PhD candidates in their final year

PhD students must book a place through the Researcher Development page.

There are a limited number of places available for PhD students on this session. If session is full please add your name to the waiting list. If you book through the wrong page, you may not be guaranteed a place, and your booking may be cancelled.

Students are not permitted to book a place through the Postdoc Academy page.

This short, interactive workshop will introduce you to practical tools that will help you test and refine how you are articulating your research vision.

We will not generate ideas for new research projects in the session but, rather, explore what makes a potential research topic compelling. We will also explore how you can assess whether your ideas add up to a vision that is bold, exciting, coherent, and – hopefully – fundable.

This session would benefit researchers at the initial stages of developing a proposal for funding, and may work well as preparation for one of our sessions on Writing Fellowship Grants with Impact.

We will not review specific funding schemes or application materials in this workshop.

The Diversity Fresco is a collective intelligence workshop that allows participants to experiment with the cognitive mechanisms at work when it comes to discrimination, to discover approaches aimed at reducing it, to debate their scope and their limits, while acquiring a common vocabulary to engage in constructive dialogue and bring about a more inclusive and peaceful society.

Please follow this link for more information: https://fresquedeladiversite.org/en/

Please arrive 5-10 minutes early so the workshop can start at exactly 10:00pm. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided during the event.

So, you’ve got a first draft (of a section, of a chapter, of the whole thesis…) – what now? Well, unlike at undergraduate level where you can pull an all-nighter to write an essay, this doesn’t tend to lend itself as an approach at postgraduate level – one of the reasons being that texts tend to be much longer. But the far more significant reason is that at postgraduate level editing plays a far greater role in the research and writing process than at undergraduate level. For example, the average Cambridge academic goes through a 10-15 edit cycle when writing a paper for publication. So, whilst writing is important, editing is more important – although the number of edit cycles does differ across the disciplines (for reasons I’ll go into in the session itself).

So, in this session, we’ll start by looking at what to focus on when editing, before exploring one of the main reasons why we do this – namely, to show empathy for our intended reader. The story of our text doesn’t end when we click submit or upload – how successful our text is depends on how it is accessed by our reader(s). And so, in the final stages before clicking submit/upload, we, the writer, need to interrogate our writing as a reader – with our intended readers in mind. And to conclude we’ll look at some linguistic tools (largely related to the fact that English is a writer-responsible language, as discussed in the first session) that you can employ when your writing is starting to get a little unwieldy: so, Characters & Actions; Old before New; Simplicity First, Complexity Last; Passive; and Nominalisations.

This is an in-person event.

This training will introduce you to the world of visual communication. We will look at visualising data versus visualising abstract concepts and think about appropriateness! How can you simplify a huge body of research into something that is visually enticing to people outside of your field? In this training you will learn how to create visual metaphors that illustrate your research as well as the basics of frame by frame and stop motion animation so that you may turn these illustrations into short animated gifs.

This is an in-person event.

Are you a confident engager starting to explore more collaborative engagement with communities? Are you supporting researchers who are collaborating with communities in new ways? This exploratory session offers both practical and theoretical foundations for researchers looking to embed inclusive and meaningful community engagement in research into their practice.

Have you ever wanted to get creative with your research? To discover how writing can bring a new perspective to your work? How your words can engage with new audiences about the academic research that you are passionate about?

This training will enable you to develop creative ways by which you can use writing to engage with the public; providing you with the resources to be more confident in developing and sharing creative writing responses to your area of research.

The course will introduce creative writing for poetry and prose, and textual writing for exhibition / display. It will discuss developing writing for performance.  The aim is to work with you to bring out the creative responses that lay within your own work. There will be the opportunity to receive written feedback throughout the week, and to discuss your work in a 1-to-1 session with the course tutor (if requested in advance).

The training will be led by David Cain. David’s most recent book, Truth Street, was shortlisted for the prestigious Forward Prizes for Poetry (2019). David brings his writing experience together with a passion for public engagement - he currently leads the delivery of the Cambridge Festival.

Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are integral to effective and impactful public engagement. Effective public engagement requires intentional and thoughtful interactions with relevant parties, such as your intended audiences and engagement partners. This means public engagement that is accessible, inclusive and relevant to your audiences and engagement partners context.

In this course, we introduce and explore EDI concepts and guidelines for public engagement that can help you achieve this.

This course will be led by Dr. Tana Joseph, Public Engagement and Impact Manager for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The session will give an overview of key concepts in Knowledge Exchange, how to engage different audiences and stakeholders with your research and will enable you to find out about the support available within the University. The training is open to researchers as well as colleagues in professional services.

Communicating your research via the media can be an effective way of reaching a wide audience. This workshop will help you understand what makes a news story and what to expect when engaging with the media. It will provide tips to help you tell your story most effectively and ensure your research is reported accurately, as well as explaining how the University can support you.

LinkedIn Training (especially for people who think they hate LinkedIn)

Do you want to get over the ick of LinkedIn and start using it successfully? Do you want to stop wasting time wondering if you’re using social media in the right way - but without it taking up too much of your time? Perhaps you have a love hate relationship with social media in general and wouldn’t be on it if you didn’t have to be…

In this session we will start by looking at how the platform works - optimising your profile, how the hungry algorithm works and what it likes most, how to find your people and how to make it for you.

We will go on to explore the impact of being on platforms like LinkedIn - how to disagree well, how to communicate effectively, what to do if things go wrong and right. We can look at the etiquette of engagement, how to engage well so your personal brand is enhanced by your online presence

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.

From lab equipment to label makers, objects can help people to engage with your research in new and interesting ways. In this session we will look at how you can safely introduce objects into your public engagement, how close looking can help enthuse people and how even the most seemingly un-exciting artefact can tell stories.

Sarah-Jane Harknett co-ordinates evaluation projects across the University of Cambridge Museums. Alongside this role, she also heads up the Public Engagement programmes at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where she regularly teaches with objects.

Would you like to find out what audiences think about your activity but want to try something other than a questionnaire? Want to move beyond ‘any other comments’? In this session, find out about alternative evaluation techniques used in the University of Cambridge Museums, and how you could apply them to your own situation.

Sarah-Jane Harknett co-ordinates evaluation projects across the University of Cambridge Museums. Alongside this role, she also heads up the Public Engagement programmes at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Kate Howlett coordinates evaluation across the University of Cambridge Museums, including of permanent and temporary exhibitions, public programmes and events, and specialist inclusion programmes. In addition, she helps collect, collate and analyse data from across the UCM for reporting to Arts Council England and other funders