Live Workshops Library

The least you need to know and do to manage your research as a project, and set yourself up with the best chance of delivering on time.

What we’ll cover:

• A tiny bit of theory.
• The 5 key questions of project management.
• How to pragmatically put it into practice.

Available online  

Practitioner level skills for project managers with least you need to know and do to manage your research as a project, and set yourself up with the best chance of delivering on time. 

What we’ll cover:

• The basics of how to put project management theory into practice.
• The 5 key questions of project management.
• How to structure your project for success, and manage project people.
• How to kick off and close down your projects effectively.
• How to deal with project problems.

Available online  

Exploring leadership, collaboration and leading collaborative projects to show you how to set yourself and your team up for success.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding the importance of actively Leading your Collaborative Projects.
• How to successfully establish your collaborative projects.
• A process for leading your collaborative projects.

Available online  

Collaboration: The Hidden Research Skill
Exploring collaboration and collaborative relationships to show you how to set yourself up for success.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding the importance of collaboration.
• How to establish successful collaborations.
• A process for collaborating successfully.

Available online  

Helping you to manage the challenges facing you when working on your research alongside the other key priorities in your working and home life.

• 5 tried and tested strategies.
• How to get others to help you get your research done.
• How to have guilt-free time off.

Adding a PhD into an already busy work and home life is a significant challenge, demanding focused approaches if you are to ever achieve Guilt Free Time Off.

Now available online this programme includes exercises and resources designed specifically to support those doing a part-time PhD. Focused on supporting your research and your other priorities through the marathon that is your journey from registration to submission.

This top-rated resource for part-time PhDs takes you through the 5 key strategies that you will need to make it all possible, and shows you how to secure the critical support of key players at work, at home, and surrounding your research.

Available online  

Understanding why networking is so critical to your career, and how to network comfortably.

What we’ll cover:

• The importance of networking to our career.
• What to do to enhance your network.
• Practical steps to let you actually do it.

Available online  

Exploring what we need to do to become the best that we can be in the way that we communicate, engage with the public and connect and interact with others. 

What we’ll cover:

• The fundamentals of good communication.
• Defining our communications to achieve high impact outcomes.
• A toolkit for communication to designed to engage multiple audiences with a variety of media.

The least you need to know and do to make the most of your conferences, whether big or small, at any stage of your career. 

What we’ll cover:

• Choosing the right conference, and making the right logistical decisions.
• Making the best of sessions and the inter-sessional spaces.
• Typical ‘rooky’ errors and how to avoid them.

Exploring what stops is being as effective as we could be, and what we need to do to remove teh frustrations and migrate from good to great.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding what is possible, and what typically gets in the way.
• Generating and delivering realistic plans for your research, reading and writing.
• Fitting it all in, work effectively with your supervisors, and enjoy the process.

Taking the experiences of those with a PhD, we explore the habits that really work to make the process of doing research and getting our degree feel a little easier and more in control. 

What we’ll cover:

• The habits we need to stay motivated and productive, tackle adversity and finish on time.
• The mindset that builds effective support networks, and ensures that your supervisor is always ready to help.
• The set of useful habits you need to build a successful coping strategy for the remainder of your PhD.

Funders are increasingly asking us to define the impact of our research, and we all need to understand how to both establish and communicate the impact of our research. 

What we’ll cover:

• Impact - what it is, how we identify it and who we need to tell.
• Writing effective impact statements and case studies.
• Effectively communicating the impact of our work clearly and succinctly.

 Exploring what it takes to keep motivated and productive throughout your PhD journey.

What we’ll cover:

• Why motivation comes in peaks and troughs, and what to do about that.
• Why we procrastinate and how to use it to our advantage.
• Practical ways of making progress when the odds are against you.

Understanding what it takes to make sure that you are the best that you can possibly be at presenting yourself and your work on paper.

• Saying what you mean quickly and effectively, and obeying the rules of style and tone.
• Editing and polishing your writing.
• Avoiding the common pitfalls of academic writing. 

Available online  

Giving you the thinking and the process to enable you to write really fundable applications.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding what funders are looking for.
• A process for writing your application.
• Tips to support your writing style.

Available online  

What you need to know and do in order to get your thesis written and allow your examiners to award you your degree.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding the objectives of the examiners.
• The process for planning and writing your thesis.
• A raft of hints and tips to make the process as easy as possible.

Available online  

Exploring the principles and requirements of the publication process, and working through a tried and tested planning and writing model. 

What we’ll cover:

• What, where and when to publish.
• An easier approach to structuring and writing your paper.
• Making collaborative writing easier.

An introduction to the fundamental concepts and skills involved in writing literature reviews. 

What we’ll cover:

• What makes a great literature review at this level.
• The importance of finding your themes and arguments.
• The significance of critical analysis in a great literature review.

The least you need to know and do to prepare an outstanding Fellowship application. 

What we’ll cover:

• What the fellowship process is looking for - and what it’s not.
• Getting you and your ideas ready.
• Writing and polishing your application effectively.

The least you need to know and do to handle your challenging and courage-requiring conversations.

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding why we need courageous conversations.
• What you need to prepare.
• A really detailed process for how, when and where to have courageous conversations.

Available online  

The least you need to know and do to develop and easy, productive and rewarding partnership when managing and supervising researchers and academic staff.

What we’ll cover:

• The key principles behind supervision and people management in an academic context.
• A simple model using the most useful style and way of thinking to make people management easy, productive and rewarding for both parties.
• The three key areas of focus for academic supervisors and line managers. 

Available online  

Helping you become even more resilient.

What we’ll cover:

• Two pragmatic resilience models so you know where to focus.
• Practical techniques for boosting your resilience
• Simple ways to boost your resilience whilst at work.

Available online  

How to recognise and manage the imposter syndrome in yourself and others.

What we’ll cover:

• Why the Imposter syndrome is so prevalent in academia.
• How the Imposter Syndrome might actually be a good thing.
• What to do when you need to get your Imposter under control.

Available online  

Establishing your Research Leadership; the least you need to know and do to establish your Future (Research) Leader credentials.

What we’ll cover:

• Exploring what leadership is, and why every one of us can be seen to be a research leader.
• How to ‘do’ leadership, particularly in our context.
• What to do now to establish and enhance your own leadership reputation & credibility.

Available online  

Exploring the elements that make up your professional reputation, and what you can do to enhance that without taking significant time away from your other commitments.

What we’ll cover:

• The elements that make up your reputation.
• How to professionally manage your reputation.
• How to use your network to enhance your visibility and reputation.

Available online  

Understanding what it takes to have an international network that really works for you.

What we’ll cover:

• The importance of networking to our career.
• What to do to enhance your network.
• Practical steps to let you actually do it.

Available online  

The Business Model You Canvas in Practice - using this innovative tool to document your employable assets.

What we’ll cover:

• Why it’s never too early to start career planning and evidencing your employable assets.
• Using the 9 key elements of the Personal Business Model Canvas to help you articulate your competencies.
• Considering a Spectrum of employment possibilities.
• How to pragmatically put it into practice.

Available online  

Using the first 3 months of your PhD to set yourself up for success. 

What we’ll cover:

• Understanding what's expected of you and what you need to do.
• Looking at how you need to work.
• Establishing great habits, and proving you're on track.

Available online  

Keeping going with your PhD and avoiding the procrastination trap.

What we’ll cover:

• Examining and strengthening your core skills.
• Emerging as a leader and a professional researcher.
• Exploring and applying the habits of successful researchers.

Available online  

Finishing your PhD and getting ready for the next stage of your career.

What we’ll cover:

• Getting to submission.
• Preparing for your viva.
• Launching your career after your PhD.

Available online  

Exploring what we need to do to make sure that we meet the challenges of change and set ourselves up to thrive through the change process and in the changed organisation. 

What we’ll cover:

• What makes change so inevitable, so difficult to deal with, and why so many changes fail.
• Working effectively with the changes around you, and make the most of any opportunities.
• The steps that we need to go through to thrive during times of change.

Whether we are managing or responding to change, there are some simple processes, techniques and tools to make managing the change, and our response to change, more effective. 

What we’ll cover:

• The inevitability of change and why it destabilises us so much.
• The six key elements of change.
• What to do if the change process isn’t as smooth as we need it to be.

Exploring what the change leader needs to effectively design, deliver and sustain effective change for their group, department or organisation. 

What we’ll cover:

• What change needs to be successful, and why change typically fails.
• The role of the change leader at each stage of the change process.
• The practical steps to design and implement a change, and bring your people along with you.