All Postdoc Academy courses

This practical course on networking and research profile building offers participants the opportunity to learn effective tools for successfully growing and nurturing their networks and to put their skills into practice with researchers from other universities, as well as with a number of other guest professionals.

The six sessions (running in pairs on Tuesdays between 4th and 18th October) were designed to be complementary and are meant to be attended as a series. Visit this website for further details about the six sessions:

• Session 1: Introduction to the principles of networking
• Session 2: Building confidence to network and taking first steps
• Session 3: Networking session hosted on Kumospace
• Session 4: Collaboration & partnering
• Session 5: Social media for networking (Twitter, LinkedIn)
• Session 6: Wrap-up and guest speaker (new!)

This course was created as a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast, Queen Mary University London, University of Cambridge, King’s College London, University of Nottingham, Imperial College London, University of Glasgow and University of Cardiff and postdocs will have the opportunity to network with early career researchers from across these institutions.

Registration closes on 18th September 2022.

The postdoc RD team offer 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 will be conducted online using MS Teams.

Please Note: If you wish to discuss your career options specifically then, in the first instance, we advise that you look at the Postdoc Careers Service website for further information: https://www.careers.cam.ac.uk/careers-support-postdocs

World Mental Health Day Event:

Dr Petra Boynton, Social Psychologist and author of Being Well In Academia will discuss the key concerns facing the wellbeing of postdocs including; mental health issues, overwork, confidence, career progression, stress, bullying/harassment, and exclusion.

Please fill in this form (https://forms.gle/5s2AEpZCjGHyhFxe7) to indicate which topic/topics you'd like to be covered during the session.

@drpetra on Twitter

@petraboynton on Instagram

www.theresearchcompanion.com

Zoom meeting details:

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84844328773?pwd=TXBvVnNaZnBMcTBDbWdvUEg5QnlkQT09

Meeting ID: 848 4432 8773

Passcode: 310126

Have you heard of the new 'Narrative CV' structure? Funders are increasingly using it in their calls, and you may begin to notice it in job recruitment, too.

If you have not worked with this format before, or if you have but feel there is room to improve, this workshop is for you.

We will:

• discuss what to put in each section
• help you develop your writing style
• introduce various tools and approaches to deal with the block of a blank page
• work with peers to help shape a successful narrative.

Crucially, you will leave this writing retreat having started an initial draft that you can polish and use for future applications.

A must-attend virtual session with information tailored to postdocs in Cambridge, whether University-based or employed by Colleges or Research Institutions.

At this event, you will be given information about:

• Your contract
• Professional development and the Careers Service
• How to connect to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge
• You will also meet representatives from various University services who may be helpful to you while you are working in Cambridge.

The Postdoc Academy provides welcome events specific to postdocs joining the University of Cambridge - these are open to postdocs affiliated with the University, Colleges and University Partner Institutes.

These sessions include presentations from the Postdoc Academy, PdOC, Careers Service and HR, followed by a Q&A and then themed networking.

You will be given information on how to navigate life as a researcher in Cambridge and then have the opportunity to network with other new postdocs and University services.

During the session, postdocs will learn about:

• interacting with the Postdoc Academy
• attending professional development activities and accessing the Careers Service
• connecting to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge
• accessing resources available to postdocs as staff members.

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.

If you have any questions or problems with signing-up, please email welcome.pda@admin.cam.ac.uk.

A must-attend virtual session with information tailored to postdocs in Cambridge, whether University-based or employed by Colleges or Research Institutions.

At this event, you will be given information about:

• Your contract

• Professional development and the Careers Service

• How to connect to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge

You will also meet representatives from various University services who may be helpful to you while you are working in Cambridge.

Philip Guildford, Director of Research for the Department of Engineering will offer a unique perspective on the life of postdocs during this engaging interactive session.

A series of discussions with Cambridge University Press. Find out about the University’s own publisher and hear first-hand how the world of publishing has changed. Be surprised by the innovative products that are being developed here in Cambridge. Meet the people leading these developments and have your opportunity to shape their plans.

A brief overview of Cambridge University Press, top tips on getting your book or journal article published, and a chance to tell us how you would like to shape publishing in the future.

Cambridge Enterprise

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.

Researchers are often faced with dilemmas and questions which put their integrity at risk. In these situations, how do you decide what is important for you and how to apply your awareness of good research principles into responsible conduct?

This workshop follows on from the self-taught online research integrity courses. It will provide you with additional resources, facilitate further discussion of the case studies, and explore the questions and challenges you face in your own research work.

Through small group discussion, you will have the chance to reflect on your experience and share best practice with fellow participants.

By the end of the course, you will understand:

• the core principles and practices of research integrity
• the difference between research misconduct and questionable research practices
• the various factors that influence research behaviour and your own responsibilities
• how researcher responsibilities outlined in the Concordat to Support Research Integrity relate to real-world situations
• what good research practice means in the context of your own work.

Please note: This workshop is the in-person version of the online Research Integrity Case Study Workshop offered via Zoom.

Researchers are often faced with dilemmas and questions which put their integrity at risk. In these situations, how do you decide what is important for you and how to apply your awareness of good research principles into responsible conduct?

This workshop follows on from the self-taught online research integrity courses. It will provide you with additional resources, facilitate further discussion of the case studies, and explore the questions and challenges you face in your own research work.

Through small group discussion, you will have the chance to reflect on your experience and share best practice with fellow participants.

By the end of the course, you will understand:

• the core principles and practices of research integrity
• the difference between research misconduct and questionable research practices
• the various factors that influence research behaviour and your own responsibilities
• how researcher responsibilities outlined in the Concordat to Support Research Integrity relate to real-world situations
• what good research practice means in the context of your own work.

This session is also scheduled to run in-person on 15th March and can be booked here.

The Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellows (DHFs), will discuss their experience with the Royal Society’s funding schemes.

This talk will be relevant to final-year PhD students and researchers from postdoctoral level upwards working in life and physical sciences (excluding clinical medicine) and engineering. The presentation will cover Early Career Fellowship schemes, Senior Fellowship schemes, Innovation schemes, Research Capacity/Infrastructure schemes, and Collaboration and Travel schemes.

Academic writing can be a challenging endeavour often carried out in isolation. Writing groups can offer a supportive environment of peers working toward similar goals, as well as structure and dedicated time and space conducive to writing productively. Regular participation in a writing group can hone your skills and keep you accountable to your goals via regular peer feedback. It can also create networking opportunities within and across subject disciplines.

The focus of this workshop is on creating and running writing groups, but it is also suitable for those who are interested in participating in writing groups and want to get the most out of their experience. We will cover the potential formats and aims a writing group might wish to pursue and provide some tips and tools for facilitating writing workshops and managing group dynamics.

During this workshop, you will also have the opportunity to network with participants from King’s College London.

Facilitators: This workshop will be delivered by Tom Rusbridge (King’s College London Centre for Research Staff Development) and Nicole Horst (University of Cambridge Postdoc Academy). They will be joined by Camice Revier (Department of Psychiatry) who will share her experiences of setting up and running the successful Cambridge Virtual Academic Writing Group.

A fun evening of networking, pizza and beer. Postdocs will quickly pitch their current research ideas to other postdocs using a “speed-dating” format, followed by networking. Express your research ideas to postdocs who might be from outside of your field and potentially forge new interdisciplinary collaborations! The Head of Office of Postdoctoral Affairs will provide information on funding for interdisciplinary research.

Would you like to make professional connections with postdocs across the University of Cambridge?

Join our facilitated speed networking event to build your own network and make interdisciplinary connections with fellow researchers around the University.

This session will include:

• advice and guidance on networking
• allocated groups to allow participants to meet each other
• ice-breaker themes and conversation-starters at each networking station
• time to talk afterwards with people you have met during the session.

There will also be the opportunity to have a tour of the Postdoc Centre and information about other Postdoc Academy events and resources.

Do you have a deadline coming up or a piece of writing that’s long overdue? Or maybe some data analysis that just keeps slipping to the bottom of your to-do list?

Alongside everything else that needs to fit in with our busy research lives, it can be hard to schedule devoted time in which to sit, think, and write. Our online retreats give you time, peace, and space to fend off procrastination and beat writer's block. Each session will provide a friendly and constructive environment in which to meet like-minded peers, discuss challenges and work in a focused way using the established Pomodoro technique.

These virtual retreats are being hosted collaboratively across a number of institutions over the summer months. You can book to attend as many or as few as you like. The table below lists the retreats that are currently planned. Additional dates and times will be added as they become available.

Most people find taking decisions and action under uncertain conditions challenging, and some find it daunting. There are practical ways to cope with uncertainty and make it less crippling, including simple techniques which can be trained and implemented in our daily lives. Once these skills have been acquired, we can even learn to have uncertainty work to our advantage, using it to fuel creativity and problem solving and to boost team work.

This workshop is an opportunity to experience uncertainty in a safe environment and learn to get comfortable with thinking on our feet. We will borrow tools from improvisation theatre and cognitive sciences to help you experiment with uncertainty and learn strategies for harnessing it to your benefit.

Feedback from postdocs who attended the training in July 2021:

• Really great experience. Mostly, I think it helps a lot with confidence and also with tuning your listening skills and your respect for what others said and do. You can't predict things and need to embrace them as they come, and this is so useful in both personal and work life.
• I found this workshop was a very fun way to spend two hours. But more than that I liked the positive messages it gave for approaching my research - e.g. sometimes it’s best not to overthink but go with the obvious, or if things go wrong (even repeatedly) just forget about them and keep trying something new.

The Speaker: Ron Jortner is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and professional improviser. He completed his PhD at Caltech and the Hebrew University, and held positions at the Max Planck Society and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology. He lives in Cambridge, is founder and CEO of Aspire Biosciences, managing director of Masthead Biosciences, and artistic director of the Cambridge University Science Improv Society.

Most people find taking decisions and action under uncertain conditions challenging, and some find it daunting. There are practical ways to cope with uncertainty and make it less crippling, including simple techniques which can be trained and implemented in our daily lives. Once these skills have been acquired, we can even learn to have uncertainty work to our advantage, using it to fuel creativity and problem solving and to boost team work.

This workshop is an opportunity to experience uncertainty in a safe environment and learn to get comfortable with thinking on our feet. We will borrow tools from improvisation theatre and cognitive sciences to help you experiment with uncertainty and learn strategies for harnessing it to your benefit.

The Speaker: Ron Jortner is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and professional improviser. He completed his PhD at Caltech and the Hebrew University, and held positions at the Max Planck Society and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology. He lives in Cambridge, is founder and CEO of Masthead Biosciences, and artistic director of the Cambridge University Science Improv Society.

Be sure to check out the other sessions in our Postdocs Masterclass series in the "Related Courses" section below!

If you are considering applying for an early career fellowship (postdoc fellowship and/or career development fellowship), this is the event for you. Dr Candace Hassall, Head of Researcher Affairs at the Wellcome Trust, will share insights gained from working for one of the UK’s top funders of academic research and from sitting on a range of selection panels for research funding. You will learn which questions to ask yourself both when thinking about applying and when preparing your application. Her advice is general and relevant to all disciplines.

Nicole Horst (RD/PdA) and Anne Forde (Careers Service) will co-host.

This workshop, facilitated by the Faculty of Education’s Library Team, will take you from the basics to best practice, while offering advice and support. The team will demonstrate how to navigate the conversations and interactions that are developing within and linking the academic community. These connections are not just among individuals, but also include conference and event pages, journals, institutes and research bodies.

Representatives from the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Human Resources, the Researcher Development Programme and the Careers Service are hosting another Zoom session to address your questions as the coronavirus situation continues to develop. ​We have already been fielding questions about contract / funding extensions and furlough, life after lockdown, balancing working from home with parental duties, how to work effectively from home and many other topics, so please ask us anything that you would like to know.

Whether or not you are able to join us, we welcome your questions via slido (www.slido.com, event code #V0100) between now and 7th July, as these will give us valuable insight into how our postdoc community is coping during the current situation and whether we can be providing further clarity, reassurance and support.

Representatives from the Postdoc Academy, Human Resources, the Researcher Development Programme and the Careers Service are hosting another Zoom session to address your questions as the coronavirus situation continues to develop. ​We have already been fielding questions about contract / funding extensions and furlough, life after lockdown, balancing working from home with parental duties, how to work effectively from home and many other topics, so please ask us anything that you would like to know.

Whether or not you are able to join us, we welcome your questions via slido (www.slido.com, event code #V0101) between now and 2nd October, as these will give us valuable insight into how our postdoc community is coping during the current situation and whether we can be providing further clarity, reassurance and support.

Representatives from the Postdoc Academy, Human Resources, the Researcher Development Programme, Accommodation Services and the Careers Service are hosting another Zoom session to address your questions as the coronavirus situation continues to develop. ​We have already been fielding questions about furlough, life after lockdown, balancing working from home with parental duties, how to work effectively from home and many other topics, so please ask us anything that you would like to know.

Whether or not you are able to join us, we welcome your anonymous questions via this form https://forms.gle/vMLZGctn1AADCaS86 between now and 5th February, as these will give us valuable insight into how our postdoc community is coping during the current situation and whether we can be providing further clarity, reassurance and support.