Researcher Development Programme (RDP) course timetable

This interactive workshop is designed to help you reflect on what skills you have already developed and create a new plan for developing your skills going forward.

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.

This course will be facilitated online via Zoom.

Dr Elizabeth English is offering a new Online WEEKLY MEDITATION Q&A session, Tuesdays at 1.30pm. Please visit Mindfulness at Cam for more information and updates.

The Meditation sessions are not designed as a course, they are weekly one-off sessions, and you are welcome attend as many (or as few) as you wish.

Class will be approximately 30 mins. See times and dates below.

View the Mindfulness Meditation Timetable here

When we talk about turning a thesis into a ‘book’, we are really talking about a ‘monograph’. In keeping with the etymological sense of the word, a monograph is generally considered a written work that focuses on one specialised subject with a view to contributing original insight and knowledge.

Given a doctoral thesis – particularly in the arts, humanities and social sciences – is a dedicated study on one specialised topic or area of research, it stands to reason that it is a kind of proto-monograph. This course is concerned with turning a proto-monograph into a fully-fledged and published monograph, i.e. a book. The aim, therefore, is to familiarise students with the process of, and the various issues involved with, turning their PhD thesis into a published monograph.

This course is open to all years, but is better suited for students close to completion.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

This training is for those whose research involves the use of animals in research, and who want to feel more confident to talk about it with those outside the lab. This training will be run by Understanding Animal Research.

Second Year Recharge: Reconnect with Your PhD

This four-day programme is designed to help you take a fresh and positive look at your work during the second year – a notoriously tricky stage to feel you have the clarity and motivation to keep going. This is true at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic!

We recommend that you attend all four sessions of the programme, but you are very welcome to book for single sessions, i.e. there is no requirement to sign up for the whole programme or to have completed the preceding sessions in order to book for a later one.

For those who attend the morning session, there will also be an opportunity to attend an optional afternoon session, where we delve deeper into the content in a small group. The afternoon sessions will be limited to 30 people and will be available on a first come, first served basis. (Booking links for the afternoon session will be under 'joining instructions' in your booking confirmation email).

Workshop 1: Harnessing Your Motivation and Forming Productive Habits

The year 2020 has been a strange one, to put it lightly.

In times of difficulty, and in challenging environments, perhaps the most important character trait is our ability to stay motivated and to keep going. In this short, interactive webinar we'll examine the factors around both finding and then using your motivation to achieve your goals.

We’ll also examine how to build productive habits and what efficient and effective researchers do whether they be working in isolation or in a post-vaccine new normality…

The other workshops in the series are:
Workshop 2: Finding Purpose: Your official vs unofficial CV
Workshop 3: Effective Relationships
Workshop 4: Self-Care & Resilience

Second Year Recharge: Reconnect with Your PhD

This four-day programme is designed to help you take a fresh and positive look at your work during the second year – a notoriously tricky stage to feel you have the clarity and motivation to keep going. This is true at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic!

We recommend that you attend all four sessions of the programme, but you are very welcome to book for single sessions, i.e. there is no requirement to sign up for the whole programme or to have completed the preceding sessions in order to book for a later one.

For those who attend the morning session, there will also be an opportunity to attend an optional afternoon session, where we delve deeper into the content in a small group. The afternoon sessions will be limited to 30 people and will be available on a first come, first served basis. (Booking links for the afternoon session will be under 'joining instructions' in your booking confirmation email).

Workshop 2: Finding Purpose: Your official 'vs' unofficial CV

We all like that feeling when we know why we are doing something and how it’s helping us achieve a long-term goal. When we know our own purpose and can communicate it to those around us we can find opportunities and collaboration more often.

In this session we will uncover your values and skills and see how they direct the path and purpose in your career. We will also explore how you aren’t just ‘one’ CV but are, in fact, multiple CVs depending on the situation. Come and explore the many sides of yourself and possibly uncover even more of your potential.

The other workshops in the series are:
Workshop 1: Harnessing Your Motivation and Forming Productive Habits
Workshop 3: Effective Relationships
Workshop 4: Self-Care & Resilience