Researcher Development Programme (RDP) course timetable

The student-supervisor relationship is vital for success in all research degree programmes. However, the exact role of the supervisor is often unclear and sometimes it may feel as though you are not getting the support you need. This can be frustrating for students and supervisors alike, and can lead to a negative doctoral experience.

In this course, we look at practical methods for building a strong and effective working relationship with your supervisor.

Please not that these courses are only for University of Cambridge students (undergraduate and postgraduate), who are affiliated to a Cambridge college.

This course will be facilitated online via Zoom.

This is one of four "Mindfulness Workshop" sessions. You can attend one - four of these sessions as you wish, in any order. Although not designed as a course, the four sessions are complimentary and cover different aspects of mindfulness.

Please do not book on to the same session twice.

View complete timetable here. Please visit Mindfulness at Cam for more information.

The other sessions are as follows:
Mindfulness for Exams 2: Improving Attention
Mindfulness for Exams 3: Better Sleep
Mindfulness for Exams 4: Productive Decisions

Children are our next generation of researchers and as an audience for Research Engagement, they can be both rewarding and challenging. More than ever, online content plays an important role in reaching and inspiring children of different age groups for research. With so much content already out there how to make new and relevant content online? What are parents and teachers looking for? What safeguarding considerations should you have? This course will aim to answer these and other questions and provide guidance in creating content.

This course is designed for all STEMM PhD students who believe that writing an academic paper is challenging. It takes an evidence-based approach and examines the 10 main processes involved over three sessions. Once the course is completed, participants will have greater confidence when faced with any writing assignment.

This course will run over three sessions as follows:

Session 1 (Mon 22 Feb):

• Introducing the 10 steps involved in writing an academic paper
• Understanding the conventional features of an academic paper
• Understanding the marketing approach to writing an academic paper
• Challenging participants to examine what they expect from writing an academic paper

Session 2 (Weds 24 Feb):

• The importance of message development and how that drives the writing of a paper
• Setting a brief that all interested parties will buy into before the writing starts
• Choosing a journal
• Organising the information

Session 3 (Fri 26 Feb):

• Writing a plan
• Writing a first draft
• Editing
• An opportunity to ask the trainer and questions you may have

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.

Children are our next generation of researchers and as an audience for Research Engagement, they can be both rewarding and challenging. More than ever, online content plays an important role in reaching and inspiring children of different age groups for research. With so much content already out there how to make new and relevant content online? What are parents and teachers looking for? What safeguarding considerations should you have? This course will aim to answer these and other questions and provide guidance in creating content.

This course is designed for all STEMM PhD students who believe that writing an academic paper is challenging. It takes an evidence-based approach and examines the 10 main processes involved over three sessions. Once the course is completed, participants will have greater confidence when faced with any writing assignment.

This course will run over three sessions as follows:

Session 1 (Mon 22 Feb):

• Introducing the 10 steps involved in writing an academic paper
• Understanding the conventional features of an academic paper
• Understanding the marketing approach to writing an academic paper
• Challenging participants to examine what they expect from writing an academic paper

Session 2 (Weds 24 Feb):

• The importance of message development and how that drives the writing of a paper
• Setting a brief that all interested parties will buy into before the writing starts
• Choosing a journal
• Organising the information

Session 3 (Fri 26 Feb):

• Writing a plan
• Writing a first draft
• Editing
• An opportunity to ask the trainer and questions you may have

This session aims to give you tools to manage your relationships with business and industry, charities, and other non-academic partners. The session is suitable for researchers and facilitators looking to future-proof their impact partnerships and co-creation relationships. We will use case studies from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

We’ll cover the basics of intellectual property management, licensing of co-created resources and research outputs, and academic consultancy. Above all we want to support you to ensure a sustainable, fair, future-proof foundation for scalable real-world impact.

It may be helpful to bring your own cases and questions to the session.

The sessions on Friday, 26 February and Monday, 1 March gives the opportunity to the participants to have a 30-minute one-to-one session with the trainer to discuss issues and queries relating to their own project.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

Children are our next generation of researchers and as an audience for Research Engagement, they can be both rewarding and challenging. More than ever, online content plays an important role in reaching and inspiring children of different age groups for research. With so much content already out there how to make new and relevant content online? What are parents and teachers looking for? What safeguarding considerations should you have? This course will aim to answer these and other questions and provide guidance in creating content.

Do you get the results you want from your communication with others at work? Are you able to talk with confidence in meetings and interviews? Do you have a high level of impact when speaking in public?

This individually focused and completely confidential one-to-one coaching session will help you refine your presentation skills, help you speak more confidently as an emerging leader in your research field, and develop new approaches to your communication in a wide range of professional situations.

Constructive feedback will give you insight into your speaking style, how you come across to others, and how well your ideas are communicated. Coaching will focus on your individual requirements ranging from practical points about elocution and vocal projection, to holding the attention of a room, to structuring a compelling presentation.

This course is designed for all STEMM PhD students who believe that writing an academic paper is challenging. It takes an evidence-based approach and examines the 10 main processes involved over three sessions. Once the course is completed, participants will have greater confidence when faced with any writing assignment.

This course will run over three sessions as follows:

Session 1 (Mon 22 Feb):

• Introducing the 10 steps involved in writing an academic paper
• Understanding the conventional features of an academic paper
• Understanding the marketing approach to writing an academic paper
• Challenging participants to examine what they expect from writing an academic paper

Session 2 (Weds 24 Feb):

• The importance of message development and how that drives the writing of a paper
• Setting a brief that all interested parties will buy into before the writing starts
• Choosing a journal
• Organising the information

Session 3 (Fri 26 Feb):

• Writing a plan
• Writing a first draft
• Editing
• An opportunity to ask the trainer and questions you may have

This session aims to give you tools to manage your relationships with business and industry, charities, and other non-academic partners. The session is suitable for researchers and facilitators looking to future-proof their impact partnerships and co-creation relationships. We will use case studies from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

We’ll cover the basics of intellectual property management, licensing of co-created resources and research outputs, and academic consultancy. Above all we want to support you to ensure a sustainable, fair, future-proof foundation for scalable real-world impact.

It may be helpful to bring your own cases and questions to the session.

The sessions on Friday, 26 February and Monday, 1 March gives the opportunity to the participants to have a 30-minute one-to-one session with the trainer to discuss issues and queries relating to their own project.

This week-long training will focus on Public Engagement and Policy. The week will start with a first session introducing the policy sector, possible forms of policy collaboration for researchers and professionals, the skills and competences needed and practical tips to immediately start your policy engagement. Because of the current context requiring many of us to work from home, the second session will be specifically dedicated to "branding" yourself online when reaching out to relevant policy actors. The third session will consist of an interactive meeting during which participants will pitch their research to stress its policy relevance. Instructions will be circulated during the week. There will also be available slots for personal and group mentoring. The training is open to early and mid-career researchers and professional staff willing to enhance their understanding of policy engagement.

This training will be led by Dr. Maja Spanu, Junior Research Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer to the Department of Politics and International Studies in Cambridge and postdoc lead for Humanities and Social Science fort the University’s Public Engagement Advisory Group.

This week-long training will focus on Public Engagement and Policy. The week will start with a first session introducing the policy sector, possible forms of policy collaboration for researchers and professionals, the skills and competences needed and practical tips to immediately start your policy engagement. Because of the current context requiring many of us to work from home, the second session will be specifically dedicated to "branding" yourself online when reaching out to relevant policy actors. The third session will consist of an interactive meeting during which participants will pitch their research to stress its policy relevance. Instructions will be circulated during the week. There will also be available slots for personal and group mentoring. The training is open to early and mid-career researchers and professional staff willing to enhance their understanding of policy engagement.

This training will be led by Dr. Maja Spanu, Junior Research Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer to the Department of Politics and International Studies in Cambridge and postdoc lead for Humanities and Social Science fort the University’s Public Engagement Advisory Group.

For this event, we are joined by Clare Trowell, Marshal Librarian at the University of Cambridge. The focus will be on Accidental Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism and techniques for avoiding both.

This is the first of two workshops designed to develop your understanding of the technicalities and the process of getting your research published.

In this workshop, we examine the technical aspects of writing up your research in a format appropriate for publication. You will learn about the importance of following journal guidelines and house style, and the value of using a clear structure to frame your paper. You will also receive guidance on how to produce clear writing in a register appropriate for the readership.

It is possible to attend this course as an individual workshop, although we would encourage you to attend the second workshop in the series Getting published II: Impact and Peer-review.

Please note: The course does not offer bespoke or 1-1 support for manuscript preparation.

This week-long training will focus on Public Engagement and Policy. The week will start with a first session introducing the policy sector, possible forms of policy collaboration for researchers and professionals, the skills and competences needed and practical tips to immediately start your policy engagement. Because of the current context requiring many of us to work from home, the second session will be specifically dedicated to "branding" yourself online when reaching out to relevant policy actors. The third session will consist of an interactive meeting during which participants will pitch their research to stress its policy relevance. Instructions will be circulated during the week. There will also be available slots for personal and group mentoring. The training is open to early and mid-career researchers and professional staff willing to enhance their understanding of policy engagement.

This training will be led by Dr. Maja Spanu, Junior Research Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer to the Department of Politics and International Studies in Cambridge and postdoc lead for Humanities and Social Science fort the University’s Public Engagement Advisory Group.