All Postdoc Academy courses

Would you like to get some more teaching experience? The Open University (the UK’s largest distance-learning University) would like to offer Cambridge postdocs the opportunity to gain experience tutoring on their courses. They can offer:

• Flexible teaching opportunities to suit your workload and preferences
• The chance to support students from a diverse range of backgrounds
• Training and support to teach through a variety of media, which is becoming increasingly valued on the academic job market.

Come along and find out more about what is on offer, and how you can get involved. Jane Jones, Associate Dean at the Open University, will lead the session, which will include input from former Cambridge postdocs who have taken up this experience.

Bring along your favorite/local dish to share (max. 2 portions) and enjoy all kinds of food from all around the world!

In December 2019, the University of Cambridge officially signed the new Researcher Development Concordat. The ‘Concordat’ sets out a series of responsibilities and working practices designed to create a healthy and supportive culture for research, and to increase the appeal and sustainability of research careers in the UK.

The new Concordat is structured in to three principles: Environment & culture, employment and professional & career development. Within each principle there are obligations for institutions, managers of researchers and researchers themselves, and, for the first time, funders of research.

At this open meeting, Liz Simmonds, chair of the University’s Concordat Working Group, will present further detail about the Concordat and its likely benefits and implications, and will update on progress of the working group towards an institutional implementation plan. This will be followed by a Q&A session.

The Concordat will have an impact across the whole institution, and so this session will be useful for academic staff, research staff, and professional services staff who support postdocs.

Would you like to lead tough conversations with confidence, credibility and ease?

Do you know that navigating the minefield of high-stakes situations skilfully can transform your work and life for good?

Conflicts are an inescapable part of life. They are a make-or-break factor in relationships, a workplace ecosystem and in supporting (or limiting) career success.

Learning how to resolve disagreements in effective, productive ways is a must for any serious professional. Unfortunately, many talented research practitioners make the mistake of repeating performance-limiting reactive patterns based on avoidance or attack.

By attending this training, you can equip yourself with the vital clarity, confidence and skills to succeed.

• Learn how to manage conflict constructively and make the most of challenging situations.
• Disagree in a way that actively improves relationships, trust, teamwork and creativity, and enhances your leadership qualities, professionalism and credibility.

This single critical skill can unlock lifelong benefits, including:

• Higher job and life satisfaction
• Reduced stress
• Enhanced decision-making
• Increased productivity and efficiency
• Greater personal and team engagement
• Better group cohesion
• Stronger, more trustable relationships
• Lower legal risks
• And much more.

Join us for an invaluable opportunity to take your career and life to the next level. Packed with evidence-backed insights and user-friendly skills, this interactive, experiential workshop will be a safe, supportive and welcoming atmosphere for inter-professional dialogue and peer-learning.

You will learn simple, actionable approaches that will enable you to enhance productive outcomes of conflict while reducing the likelihood of escalation or harm. Understanding your conflict style and knowing which approaches work in each scenario will give you a critical edge.

Step out of your habitual reactions into a whole new world where you expand your understanding and make refreshing new discoveries about what is possible for yourself and others.

NOTE: All activities are entirely voluntary and no one will feel pressured to participate in any of the exercises.

Are you interested in pursuing a lectureship and/or long-term career at the University of Cambridge? Then you may be interested in contributing to discussions about a review of the Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) as one of the main aims is to provide opportunities for lectureships for early career researchers.

A Retirement Policy and EJRA Review Group was set up by Council last year to consider whether the University’s current EJRA has been successful in meetings its aims and whether the terms of the University’s Retirement Policy remain fit for purpose.

The group now wishes to give members of the University community an opportunity to hear about its findings and recommendations, ahead of a final version being considered by the University Council in April, and a full report being published after that meeting. A ballot of the Regent House on the report’s recommendations is scheduled for June 2024.

To ensure that postdocs and early career researchers are able to contribute to these ongoing discussions, members of the postdoc community are invited to a dedicated online session.

Speakers will include:

• Professor Richard Penty, Chair of the EJRA Review Group
• Dr Nino Läubli, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dept of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and member of the EJRA Review Group

Please note: it is important that when you book this course, on the booking confirmation page, select Add to Calendar to start importing the appointment to your calendar.

Research ethics is critical when working with human participants. Unethical research may put participants at risk or damage the validity of your findings. During this workshop, you will learn the principles underpinning ethical research and how to manage issues like seeking informed consent, recruiting vulnerable people, balancing participants’ interests with societal obligations, respecting participant autonomy and reacting to unexpected events. Using case studies and group discussion, this course will explore best practice for working with human participants for you to share your experiences and learn from others

Using personal data in academic research can create a range of legal and ethical challenges. 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.

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).

Postdocs are invited to an interactive and engaging discussion with the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning. This is a rare opportunity to have a conversation with someone who has successfully navigated the worlds of academia and industry.

Academic Writing Month, or ‘Writefest’, encourages researchers across career stages and institutions to come together in the spirit of collaboration and to foster a supportive, safe, and sustainable writing environment. Working within that collaborative ethos, the University of Cambridge and King’s College London are pleased to invite you to a new panel event that explores the different stages of the publishing cycle and provides a forum for doctoral and early career researchers to bring their questions to an expert panel including:

• Sam Stranks - University Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology and the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Associate Editor at Science Advances; Editorial Advisory Board at ACS Energy Letters
• Meagan Simpson - Editor for Anthropology at Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Liz Colquhoun - Global Head of Portfolio for Heritage and Library & Information Science Journals at Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Marina Picciotto - Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University; Editor-in-Chief at The Journal of Neuroscience
• Rosalind Galt - Professor in Film Studies, King's College London

The event will feature a discussion between our panellists and plenty of time for questions from the virtual floor.

• What are the considerations a researcher needs to take for thinking about the appropriate vehicle for an output when in draft stage?
• What are editors and publishers looking for, and what are the pressures on them?
• What are the benefits of sharing our various perspectives?
• What are the transitions between an idea in its infancy and a book on the shelf?

An official welcome from the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPdA), there will be a brief interactive presentations from the Careers Service and Personal and Professional Development (PPD) whose principal role is to support the University's research staff.

An official welcome from the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPdA). This event consists of two sessions so as to give postdocs an opportunity of attending either a morning OR an afternoon session as best suits. Both sessions will include brief interactive presentations from the OPdA, Careers Service and Personal and Professional Development (PPD) whose principal role is to support the University's research staff.

Introductory forum on Impact, specifically user engagement, focused on enhancing awareness of media relations, public engagement and policy engagement.

The seminar will provide you with a roadmap of practical steps and issues to consider when submitting a research ethical application for review by a University research ethics committee. It will provide an overview of the research ethics structure at Cambridge and signpost the relevant guidelines and sources of support. It will take you through the application journey from who should apply for ethical review, how to prepare and submit an application to what factors research ethics committees consider during their review.

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

Good practice in research: authorship and publication ethics

Have you ever faced any issues related to authorship within your research group or making a submission to a journal? Using case studies and group discussion, this course will explore best practice in authorship and publication from deciding how authorship of a paper is decided to managing the challenges that can arise when working with publishers or editors. Discussions will include ‘grey areas’, common issues and navigating a fictional authorship dispute, and you will be given the opportunity to share your experiences and perspectives.

Have you ever faced any issues related to authorship within your research group or making a submission to a journal? - Who gets to be an author? - How do you start a conversation on authorship with your research team? - What approaches can be used to resolve an authorship problem? - How are mistakes handled in a published paper? - In what circumstances will a paper be retracted from a journal?

Publishing research, and getting fair credit for publishing, can lead to difficulties and pitfalls (especially if you’re unsure about how to best manage various aspects of the process).

Using case studies and group discussion, this course will explore best practice in authorship and publication from deciding how authorship of a paper is decided to managing the challenges that can arise when working with publishers or editors. Discussions will include ‘grey areas’, common issues and pitfalls, and you will be given the opportunity to share your experiences and perspectives.

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

Please note this is now a virtual session.

Have you ever faced any issues related to authorship within your research group or making a submission to a journal?

• Who gets to be an author?
• How do you start a conversation on authorship with your research team?
• What approaches can be used to resolve an authorship problem?
• How are mistakes handled in a published paper?
• In what circumstances will a paper be retracted from a journal?

Using case studies and group discussion, this course will explore best practice from how authorship of a paper is decided to managing the challenges that can arise when working with publishers or editors. Discussions will include ‘grey areas’, common issues and pitfalls, and you will be given the opportunity to share your experiences and perspectives.

This talk will take place on Friday 27th September at 13:00 in room AG03b Exams hall, Student Services Centre

Topics covered:

• Mission and values of the University
• Principles informing governance at Cambridge
• Overview of governance bodies
• Senior University offices and officers
• Key governance bodies: Regent House, Council, General Board, Board of Scrutiny
• Key governance resources: Statutes and Ordinances, Reporter, Governance hub

The Postdoc Academy has reopened its hot-desking space to postdocs for quiet working at Postdoc Centre, Eddington and we are now offering slots in the early morning and in the evening. Your patience and understanding is appreciated as we continue to reopen this facility in a safe manner.

Please read the below notes carefully before booking:

• Before booking a hot-desking space at Eddington, please complete the short online induction form here:

https://bit.ly/HotDeskingPdA

• Postdocs can book one of six hot-desks available, in 1hr 45 minute slots
• Your booking will be checked by a member of our team and upon approval your University card will be activated for access to the postdoc centre at the time of your booking(s).
• Please book your session at least one working day in advance in order for your card to be activated.
• If you do not have a University card, please note this in the 'special requirements' section of the booking form, and we will provide information on access when we confirm your booking.
• If you don't have a CRSid, please complete the following form to request your booking: https://www.postdocacademy.cam.ac.uk/forms/utbs-external-booking
• Time slots for the next week's sessions are released for booking on Wednesdays, at approximately 3pm
• The days on which hot-desking is available may vary week by week

If you have recently started peer reviewing, or are ready to get involved, the OSC invites you to this unmissable session, where you will pick up tips and best practices from PLOS, publishers of the world's largest multi-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal.

This session provides valuable career advice to science postdocs from the speaker's own experience, expressed with a good deal of humour.

Postdoctoral Researchers are typically employed on relatively short-term contracts, and are funded by so-called 'soft money' to carry out a specific project for a PI. This creates an immediate tension. The specific project will have research objectives and deliverables that must be met to satisfy whoever is funding the work, and the PI will be assessed on whether these goals have been met. However, a postdoctoral researcher will often have their own research interests and also career objectives. A really successful postdoctoral project is one in which everyone's goals are met. The talk will cover a little about Dr Flewitt's own experience of this process from the perspective of both sides and try and draw out some general thoughts for discussion.

With ever developing complexities in the UK’s immigration system, Graeme Ross, the University’s Head of Immigration for staff matters, conducts termly briefing sessions for non-UK postdocs holding UK visas. These commonly cover the ‘basic’ work visas, such as Skilled Worker and Global Talent, and how to switch into or extend these in order to remain in the UK. However additional guidance on applications for dependents and Indefinite Leave to Remain/Settlement is also covered. There will be an opportunity to ask questions about other immigration matters; not all of these may be answered on the day but would be followed up individually as needed.

Following the UK government’s announcement of a ‘new’ visa route, known as the Global Talent Visa, Graeme Ross, the University’s Head of Immigration for staff members, will conduct a presentation on what this means for postdocs and how to apply for this visa. There will also be a short presentation on other relevant visa routes, such as dependant visas and Indefinite Leave to Remain/Settlement, and an opportunity to ask questions about other immigration matters.

With ever developing complexities in the UK’s immigration system, Graeme Ross, the University’s Head of Immigration for staff matters, conducts termly briefing sessions for non-UK postdocs holding UK visas.

These commonly cover the ‘basic’ work visas, such as Skilled Worker and Global Talent, and how to switch into or extend these in order to remain in the UK.

However additional guidance on applications for dependents and Indefinite Leave to Remain/Settlement is also covered.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions about other immigration matters; not all of these may be answered on the day but would be followed up individually as needed.

Please note this session is held online via Teams.

Please note: It is important that when you book this course, on the booking confirmation page, click on Add to Calendar to start the process of importing the course appointment to your calendar.