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University of Cambridge Training

All-provider course timetable

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Fri 4 Dec 2020 – Wed 9 Dec 2020

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Friday 4 December 2020

09:00

A series of 30 minute drop-in sessions to talk with one of the Simplifying our Processes team. We offer expert, impartial advice relating all things process improvement and want to support our colleagues on their own continuous improvement journeys

The Simplifying our Processes team will be available 9-10 and 4-5 every Tuesday and Friday - each hour can be split into two sessions of 30 minutes depending on demand.

12:00
Medicine: Zotero Q & A new Finished 12:00 - 13:00 Cambridge University Libraries Online

An introductory session showcasing how to manage your references using Zotero.

UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

12:30
JTC: Arabic Conversation Hours new charged (3 of 3) CANCELLED 12:30 - 13:30 Zoom Video Communication Software

Please note that the Conversation Hours will be delivered online

This conversation hour offers learners with an independent conversational ability (B2/C1 level upwards) a chance to practice speaking Arabic with others in a relaxed and informal group led by a native-speaker facilitator. The language used in the sessions will be mostly Egyptian Arabic/ Modern Standard Arabic. The content of the sessions is decided by the participants, with members taking turns to propose a topic and source materials (newspaper articles, web links, videos etc.) to use as a basis for discussion. The groups are ideal for those who wish to retain or improve upon the language skills they already have or for those studying for a language degree who would like another forum for interaction at upper-intermediate to advanced level.

If the course is already 'in progress' please click on 'register your interest' in order to book a place.

16:00

A series of 30 minute drop-in sessions to talk with one of the Simplifying our Processes team. We offer expert, impartial advice relating all things process improvement and want to support our colleagues on their own continuous improvement journeys

The Simplifying our Processes team will be available 9-10 and 4-5 every Tuesday and Friday - each hour can be split into two sessions of 30 minutes depending on demand.

17:00
CULP: Spanish Basic 1 - SEMI-INTENSIVE charged (15 of 15) Finished 17:00 - 19:00 Zoom Video Communication Software

The Programme offers general language tuition with a focus on communicative competence.

At a basic level, the focus is on every day and real-time, oral/aural communication. Each course features a functional-notional syllabus and grammar points are analysed in context.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

Monday 7 December 2020

09:30

This 1-week course provides an introduction to data exploration of biological data. It provides a learning journey starting with learning about how we can automate processes that can be reproduced to analyse our biological data.

The course will begin with discussing what opportunities and challenges are associated with aspects of bioinformatics analyses. We will address a subset of them in greater detail in the central part of the course and provide time for participants to practise using some of the associated bioinformatics tools.

Focusing on solutions around handling biological data, we will cover programming in R, version control, statistical analyses, and data exploration. The R component of the course will cover from the foundations of programming in R to how to use some of the most popular R packages (dplyr and ggplot2) for data manipulation and visualisation. No prior R experience or previous knowledge of programming is required. At the end of the course we will address issues relating to reusability and reproducibility.

More information about the course can be found here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

These sessions are aimed at those who are brand new to HEAT (Higher Education Access Tracker) and who will want to be added to the live database as their institution’s Operational Lead or User with all Reports. 

If you are only going to need Read Only or Read Only with Export permissions this training is not required.

Virtual - How to Excel - Part 1 & 2 (For Finance Staff) (1 of 2) Finished 09:30 - 11:30 Finance Division, At Participant's Desk

This course will enable the participants to practice existing spreadsheet skills and develop more advanced skills within the context of UFS data. There will be the opportunity to extract data from the system and learn to manipulate, analyse and use it for reporting purposes. The course runs over two sessions and participants will need to attend both of these sessions.

11:30
Automated writing in the age of Machine Learning new (1 of 2) Finished 11:30 - 13:00 Cambridge Digital Humanities Online

Computer programmes which predict the likely next words in sentences are a familiar part of everyday life for billions of people who encounter them in auto-complete tools for search engines and the predictive keyboards used by mobile phones and word processing software. These tools rely on “language models” developed by researchers in fields such as natural language processing (NLP) and information retrieval which assign probabilities to words in a sequence based on a specific set of “training data” (in this case a collection of texts where the frequencies of word pairings or three-word phrases have been calculated in advance).

Recent developments in machine learning have led to the creation of general language models trained on extremely large datasets which can now produce ‘synthetic’ texts, answer questions, summarise information without the need for lengthy or costly processes of training for each new task. The difficulties in distinguishing the outputs of these language models from texts written by humans has provoked widespread interest in the media. Researchers have experimented with prompting GPT-3, a language model developed by OpenAI to write short stories, answer philosophical questions and apparently propose potential medical treatments -although GPT-3 did have some difficulty with the question “how many eyes does a horse have?”. Meanwhile, The Guardian ‘commissioned’ an op-ed from GPT-3.

This Methods Workshop will explore the generation of ‘synthetic’ texts through presentations, discussion and demonstrations of text generation techniques which participants will be encouraged to try out for themselves during the sessions. We will also report back from the Ghost Fictions Guided Project, organised by Cambridge Digital Humanities Learning Programme in October and November this year. The project looks at how ideas about the distinction between ‘fact’, ‘fiction’ and ‘nonfiction’ are shaping the reception of text generation methods and aims to stimulate deeper critical engagement with machine learning by humanities researchers.

Prior knowledge of programming, computer science or Machine Learning is not required. In order to try out the text generation techniques demonstrated during the course you will need access to Google Drive (accessible via Raven login for University of Cambridge users).

12:00
Race Awareness - School of Biological Sciences new (1 of 2) Finished 12:00 - 13:00

Come along to this session if you’d like to develop some practical tools for becoming a white ally and build a strong antiracist identity. The training will be split into two 1h sessions. This will allow us to make space for discussion while not making the zoom meeting too long.

While the session may be most helpful to white colleagues, everyone is warmly invited to attend.

YOU MUST BE AVAILABLE TO ATTEND BOTH SESSIONS.

Joining instructions will appear on your booking confirmation emails.

12:30
WSN: Chat with the Co-Chairs Finished 12:30 - 13:00

Jenny and Amy would like to invite WSN members to share your thoughts about the Network and help shape the events, activities and networking opportunities you would like to see in the future. They are holding two sessions on the following dates and would love you to join them:

Monday 7th December 12:30-13:00

Wednesday 9th December 12:20 - 13:00

14:00
Automated writing in the age of Machine Learning new (2 of 2) Finished 14:00 - 15:30 Cambridge Digital Humanities Online

Computer programmes which predict the likely next words in sentences are a familiar part of everyday life for billions of people who encounter them in auto-complete tools for search engines and the predictive keyboards used by mobile phones and word processing software. These tools rely on “language models” developed by researchers in fields such as natural language processing (NLP) and information retrieval which assign probabilities to words in a sequence based on a specific set of “training data” (in this case a collection of texts where the frequencies of word pairings or three-word phrases have been calculated in advance).

Recent developments in machine learning have led to the creation of general language models trained on extremely large datasets which can now produce ‘synthetic’ texts, answer questions, summarise information without the need for lengthy or costly processes of training for each new task. The difficulties in distinguishing the outputs of these language models from texts written by humans has provoked widespread interest in the media. Researchers have experimented with prompting GPT-3, a language model developed by OpenAI to write short stories, answer philosophical questions and apparently propose potential medical treatments -although GPT-3 did have some difficulty with the question “how many eyes does a horse have?”. Meanwhile, The Guardian ‘commissioned’ an op-ed from GPT-3.

This Methods Workshop will explore the generation of ‘synthetic’ texts through presentations, discussion and demonstrations of text generation techniques which participants will be encouraged to try out for themselves during the sessions. We will also report back from the Ghost Fictions Guided Project, organised by Cambridge Digital Humanities Learning Programme in October and November this year. The project looks at how ideas about the distinction between ‘fact’, ‘fiction’ and ‘nonfiction’ are shaping the reception of text generation methods and aims to stimulate deeper critical engagement with machine learning by humanities researchers.

Prior knowledge of programming, computer science or Machine Learning is not required. In order to try out the text generation techniques demonstrated during the course you will need access to Google Drive (accessible via Raven login for University of Cambridge users).

Tuesday 8 December 2020

09:00

A series of 30 minute drop-in sessions to talk with one of the Simplifying our Processes team. We offer expert, impartial advice relating all things process improvement and want to support our colleagues on their own continuous improvement journeys

The Simplifying our Processes team will be available 9-10 and 4-5 every Tuesday and Friday - each hour can be split into two sessions of 30 minutes depending on demand.

09:15

The course is designed to give participants an overview of the history and principles of the Lean methodology, and an explanation of some of the basic tools used to make improvements to processes. This session will provide some basic tools that can be used immediately to facilitate a continuous improvement way of working

This course is accredited with the LCS (Lean Competency System), a certificate will be provided on completion of a short assessment.

Details regarding LCS can be found here - https://www.leancompetency.org/

09:30

This 1-week course provides an introduction to data exploration of biological data. It provides a learning journey starting with learning about how we can automate processes that can be reproduced to analyse our biological data.

The course will begin with discussing what opportunities and challenges are associated with aspects of bioinformatics analyses. We will address a subset of them in greater detail in the central part of the course and provide time for participants to practise using some of the associated bioinformatics tools.

Focusing on solutions around handling biological data, we will cover programming in R, version control, statistical analyses, and data exploration. The R component of the course will cover from the foundations of programming in R to how to use some of the most popular R packages (dplyr and ggplot2) for data manipulation and visualisation. No prior R experience or previous knowledge of programming is required. At the end of the course we will address issues relating to reusability and reproducibility.

More information about the course can be found here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

Virtual - How to Excel - Part 1 & 2 (For Finance Staff) (2 of 2) Finished 09:30 - 11:30 Finance Division, At Participant's Desk

This course will enable the participants to practice existing spreadsheet skills and develop more advanced skills within the context of UFS data. There will be the opportunity to extract data from the system and learn to manipulate, analyse and use it for reporting purposes. The course runs over two sessions and participants will need to attend both of these sessions.

10:00
The Efficient Remote Researcher (Webinar) new Finished 10:00 - 11:30 Phoenix 2, Phoenix Building, New Museums Site

The current health situation has led to a radical change in professional and personal circumstance for everyone. But research goes on. And in the new reality of remote working and professional distancing we all need to rethink how to maximize our research effectiveness and efficiency.

This short webinar (with prethinking to help you get the most from the time) will address the routines, habits and tactics of effective and efficient remote researching. We’ll consider practical approaches for working efficiently (including ideas on self motivation) and we’ll shed some light on how to create environments, relationships and connections to help you not just professionally survive, but *maybe* even thrive as a remote researcher.

We’ll consider how to better:

  • Work in isolation (including self motivation)
  • Handle our time productively
  • Manage a research project
  • Realise the right kinds of support and supervision
  • Manage our resources

The sessions will be run by an independent academic consultant who’s been a leader in the field of researcher development for nearly twenty years.

This course will be facilitated online via Zoom

11:45
Getting ready for SRD: Introductory training session for UIS line managers new Finished 11:45 - 13:15 UIS Online Courses - instructor-led

The Staff Review and Development (SRD) process provides the opportunity for Line managers to engage in constructive discussion with their staff about current and future work and their learning and development. This interactive online course will focus on an overview of the process, practical advice and useful reminders of good practice to help you to make the most of SRD.

12:00
Race Awareness - School of Biological Sciences new (2 of 2) Finished 12:00 - 13:00

Come along to this session if you’d like to develop some practical tools for becoming a white ally and build a strong antiracist identity. The training will be split into two 1h sessions. This will allow us to make space for discussion while not making the zoom meeting too long.

While the session may be most helpful to white colleagues, everyone is warmly invited to attend.

YOU MUST BE AVAILABLE TO ATTEND BOTH SESSIONS.

Joining instructions will appear on your booking confirmation emails.

14:00
Advanced Presentation Skills (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) new Finished 14:00 - 16:00 Phoenix 2, Phoenix Building, New Museums Site

This interactive workshop is designed for people who already have some experience of presenting and the basic principles involved, but would like to develop their skills in this area to a higher level. There is a particular focus on presenting online

During the workshop, you will be given time to design and deliver a short (5-10 minutes) online presentation to a small audience comprised of your fellow researchers.


This course is designed for students with some presentation experience and/or for students that have completed the Basic Presentation Skills course.

Postdocs: Researcher Development & Support (one-to-one sessions)

The postdoc RD team are offering one-to-one meetings online for all postdocs. These meetings will be tailored to your individual needs and provide an opportunity to consider and discuss a variety of topics relating to learning, skills and personal development. This is not an exhaustive list but areas for discussion could include:

  • Managing your time whilst working from home
  • Collaborating effectively
  • Maintaining resilience and coping strategies
  • Reflecting on and identifying your key areas for development

Each meeting will last for up to 45 minutes and, given the present circumstances relating to Covid-19, will be conducted online using Teams.

16:00

A series of 30 minute drop-in sessions to talk with one of the Simplifying our Processes team. We offer expert, impartial advice relating all things process improvement and want to support our colleagues on their own continuous improvement journeys

The Simplifying our Processes team will be available 9-10 and 4-5 every Tuesday and Friday - each hour can be split into two sessions of 30 minutes depending on demand.

LinkedIn Learning: Curation Tools Practice Session 1-to-1 new Finished 16:00 - 17:00 UIS Online Microsoft Teams 1

You have...

  • Attended the training
  • Read the guidance
  • Found and evaluated some learning content to meet a particular objective

...but would now like to practice using the LinkedIn Learning Curator tools in a safe space?

These 1-to-1 practice sessions are a chance to try it out with some guidance, as needed, from a more experienced user of the tool.

Please Note: It is important that when you book on this course, on your booking confirmation page, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

17:00
CULP: Introduction to the Persian (Farsi) Language and Culture charged (14 of 15) Finished 17:00 - 19:00 Zoom Video Communication Software

The Introduction to Languages and Cultures courses feature some less taught languages and are designed to offer a sneak preview into the world of these important civilisations.

While learning the basics of the language, you will be able to view and appreciate the ancient as well as the modern character of the lands and peoples.

These courses will not be formally assessed and students who attend regularly (12/15 sessions) will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

For more detailed information about the course please visit our website.

Wednesday 9 December 2020

09:00

This is a City and Guilds accredited course which will provide delegates with an understanding of the risks and the legal requirements under the Approved Code of Practice Legionnaires' disease. The control of legionella bacteria in water systems 2013.

09:15

The course is designed to give participants an overview of the history and principles of the Lean methodology, and an explanation of some of the basic tools used to make improvements to processes. This session will provide some basic tools that can be used immediately to facilitate a continuous improvement way of working

This course is accredited with the LCS (Lean Competency System), a certificate will be provided on completion of a short assessment.

Details regarding LCS can be found here - https://www.leancompetency.org/

09:30

This 1-week course provides an introduction to data exploration of biological data. It provides a learning journey starting with learning about how we can automate processes that can be reproduced to analyse our biological data.

The course will begin with discussing what opportunities and challenges are associated with aspects of bioinformatics analyses. We will address a subset of them in greater detail in the central part of the course and provide time for participants to practise using some of the associated bioinformatics tools.

Focusing on solutions around handling biological data, we will cover programming in R, version control, statistical analyses, and data exploration. The R component of the course will cover from the foundations of programming in R to how to use some of the most popular R packages (dplyr and ggplot2) for data manipulation and visualisation. No prior R experience or previous knowledge of programming is required. At the end of the course we will address issues relating to reusability and reproducibility.

More information about the course can be found here.

Please note that if you are not eligible for a University of Cambridge Raven account you will need to book or register your interest by linking here.

Leadership Essentials new (2 of 2) Finished 09:30 - 12:30 N/A - MS Teams


Leadership Essentials is a key programme suitable for those with responsibilities for others’ work, behaviour and development, which aims to help managers refresh and build their skills and experience in this area. As well as clarifying key responsibilities, it focuses on critical areas that some can find more difficult, such as giving and receiving feedback effectively and handling challenging conversations. The programme incorporates tutor input; opportunities for discussion, reflection and sharing of good practice with others with similar responsibilities. It also includes curated e-learning resources to support managers with their ongoing learning and development.

Participants are required to attend both half day sessions.

Before attending, please take some time to review the short Leadership Essentials: Management Responsibilities Films of other University colleagues talking about their role as a manager.

Want to practice giving Teams Live Events? Then join us in this informal introductory session to manage and deliver a webinar. The course is not about presentation skills, it is to master the mechanics of managing the smooth transition between different presenters and content. The maximum number of participants for this course is limited to 2.

You must have the following items installed or available on your computer to participate:

1. The Teams desktop app installed on your computer.
2. The Teams Calendar available on the Teams interface. (You must be using Microsoft Exchange Online for your email to enable the Teams Calendar). Details on how to migrate from Hermes to Exchange can be found here.
3. The button on the Teams Calendar interface necessary to create a Teams Live Event. (To enable the button on your system you need to request the ability to create Live Events via the Self Service portal). Note! this can take up to 48 hours for the change to come into effect.

You will also need a working webcam, speakers (or headset) and mic.

You will:

  • Learn about Teams Live Events
  • Practice schedulling and delivering a Live Event. Please have a short PowerPoint and one other application ready to demonstrate, e.g a web site with video content

Please Note: It is important that when you book on this course, on your booking confirmation page, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

10:00
Virtual - Cognos Introduction (1 of 2) Finished 10:00 - 11:30 Finance Division, At Participant's Desk

Cognos is a reporting tool that utilises data from CUFS to provide users with additional reports and options. This introductory course is designed for new reporters - covering everything from running a report successfully as well as a number of useful tips and shortcuts.

Note: This course is mandatory in order to attend either of the following two courses below.

What this introductory course does not do is go through in detail the outputs of each individual report. Report outputs are explained in further detail in the courses above.

Medicine: Introduction to Literature Searching (for University) new Finished 10:00 - 12:00 Cambridge University Libraries Online

A course specifically for University of Cambridge staff and students. Attendees will learn how to search medical/healthcare databases accessed with a Raven login (such as Medline and Embase) effectively and efficiently, to learn how to save searches and references, and to create and maintain a bibliography. This course is delivered at an introductory/refresher level, and assumes you have had no prior training in how to search databases.

All attendees are required to have a Raven login. NHS staff wanting to learn similar material should book onto our 'Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching' course instead.

UPDATE: Please note that this session is taking place remotely, not in the Medical Library as previously advertised. Please do not go to the Medical Library training room. You will be contacted by the training team with information about how to join the session remotely.

Please note: this session may be recorded. By signing up for the session, you register your consent for recording to take place. Please email librarytraining@medschl.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions about this.

Ethics of Research Involving Personal Data new Finished 10:00 - 11:00 Online

Using personal data in academic research creates a range of legal and ethical challenges for the researcher. This session will provide a short overview of the key things that researchers must do to ensure that their research remains ethical and legal. On this course, you will learn what constitutes personal data, the principles of processing personal data and re-using personal data and how to comply with the data protection legislation in research.

Using case studies and group discussion, this course will explore best practice for working with personal data and provide opportunities for you to share your experiences and learn from others. The session will also provide the opportunity for a Q&A on topics of interest to attendees.

You may also wish to attend the first course in this series, Ethics of Research Involving Human Participants, which will be held on 2nd December at 10am (register here: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/opda/event/3685586).

The instructor is Dr Rhys Morgan, Research Governance and Integrity Officer, or Dr Sinead Healy, Research Governance Facilitator, of the Research Strategy Office (RSO).

12:00

Want to practice giving Teams Live Events? Then join us in this informal introductory session to manage and deliver a webinar. The course is not about presentation skills, it is to master the mechanics of managing the smooth transition between different presenters and content. The maximum number of participants for this course is limited to 2.

You must have the following items installed or available on your computer to participate:

1. The Teams desktop app installed on your computer.
2. The Teams Calendar available on the Teams interface. (You must be using Microsoft Exchange Online for your email to enable the Teams Calendar). Details on how to migrate from Hermes to Exchange can be found here.
3. The button on the Teams Calendar interface necessary to create a Teams Live Event. (To enable the button on your system you need to request the ability to create Live Events via the Self Service portal). Note! this can take up to 48 hours for the change to come into effect.

You will also need a working webcam, speakers (or headset) and mic.

You will:

  • Learn about Teams Live Events
  • Practice schedulling and delivering a Live Event. Please have a short PowerPoint and one other application ready to demonstrate, e.g a web site with video content

Please Note: It is important that when you book on this course, on your booking confirmation page, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

12:30
WSN: Chat with the Co-Chairs Finished 12:30 - 13:00

Jenny and Amy would like to invite WSN members to share your thoughts about the Network and help shape the events, activities and networking opportunities you would like to see in the future. They are holding two sessions on the following dates and would love you to join them:

Monday 7th December 12:30-13:00

Wednesday 9th December 12:20 - 13:00

13:00
RD Live: Publishing new Finished 13:00 - 14:00 Phoenix 2, Phoenix Building, New Museums Site

RD Live brings Researcher Development to life with sessions featuring a specialist presentation, discussion and Q&A. Hosted by the RD team fortnightly via Zoom, each event focuses on a particular theme relevant to postgraduate students such as re-planning your PhD, funding & registration, and more.

For our last event of the calendar year, we are joined by Professor Richard Rex (Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge) and Dr Hannah Clarke (Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience). Professor Rex and Dr Clarke will provide insight into the world of academic publishing, with a view to offering practical advice and guidance to PhD students interested in publishing their work.

LinkedIn Learning: Curation Tools Practice Session 1-to-1 new Finished 13:00 - 14:00 UIS Online Microsoft Teams 1

You have...

  • Attended the training
  • Read the guidance
  • Found and evaluated some learning content to meet a particular objective

...but would now like to practice using the LinkedIn Learning Curator tools in a safe space?

These 1-to-1 practice sessions are a chance to try it out with some guidance, as needed, from a more experienced user of the tool.

Please Note: It is important that when you book on this course, on your booking confirmation page, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

13:30

The University’s Immigration and Compliance Manager will look to try and provide some guidance and perspective on this complex and rapidly changing topic.

14:00

This course seeks to help students develop their critical reading skills, and to deploy tactics and strategies that can accelerate the process of literature-based research without sacrificing detail and depth necessary for a doctoral thesis.


The course is aimed at first year students, but all are welcome.

14:30
Shut Up & Write! (for Third Year PhD Students) STEMM new Finished 14:30 - 15:30 Phoenix 2, Phoenix Building, New Museums Site


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. How are you going to start writing your thesis and submit on time?


This ‘hands on’ session focuses on helping you plan and start to write your thesis. In the first 15 minutes, we will introduce techniques to help you with that planning and in the remaining time you will have the opportunity to work on your thesis and write.


Please note: The zoom link to join the course can be found under the 'joining instructions' section, in your booking confirmation email.