Have you ever wanted to know what students, supervisors, librarians or researcher developers really think about the doctoral experience?

The Postgraduate Researcher Symposium is going to be held on 1 Nov in London. The event will bring together doctoral researchers, supervisors, librarians and researcher developers to discuss how we can improve the doctoral experience. The event isthe result of a collaboration between the UKCGE, National Union of Students, Vitae and the British Library.

About the event:

The academic apprentice model, where a doctoral candidate learns only from their supervisor, is changing. We will be discussing for the first time to what extent the doctoral experience is a collaborative process and what roles the different parties do or should play in shaping and enhancing the doctoral experience.

Using a mixture of facilitated discussion and inputs from researchers in the field, the symposium will result in a report with a matrix of recommendations for the use of students, institutional staff and external organisations.

Every student place is free when accompanied by a paying member of academic or institutional staff.

For more information and to book your place, click here.

Thought you might be interested in this:

About ASHPIT: 

ASHPIT is envisaged as a collaborative, cross-institutional and discipline-specific think tank which will enhance the ability of researcher developers to deliver innovative, discipline appropriate training and support to researchers in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (ASH).

For more information, visit the ASHPIT blog

If you’re interested in giving your feedback in this way, please contact John Igoe on 07709410135 by 01 July 2011.

Many thanks for your help.

Join this new organisation that aims to support patient and public involvement (PPI) and public engagement (PE) in health research

The Forum, which is jointly sponsored by NHS North West and the Research Design Service NW, recently held a series of launch events, which included a workshop where people were asked to think about the barriers to PPI/E and how the Forum could help to address these.

Barriers included fear, language (e.g. jargon), lack of time, funding and training, and difficulty accessing patients and members of the public to involve.

People who attended the launch felt that the Forum could help by showcasing good practice in the region and providing things like mentoring and training. They also felt that the Forum could facilitate links between patients, the public and health researchers.

The Forum welcomes interested people living or working in the North West to join us; local organisations may also join as Corporate Members.

If you are interested in becoming a member, or would like more details on the Forum, please contact Marisha Palm on 07554 413269 or at marisha.palm@northwest.nhs.uk

If you want to find out more about involving people in your research, take a look at www.peopleinresearch.org/find-people-to-involve

An exciting opportunity to get involved in the work of the Forum

The Forum is currently looking for professionals and interested members of the public from the North West to join a Training Working Group. The Working Group will meet on a monthly or bimonthly basis over twelve months, and the remit of the group will be:

1. to review the PPI/E training that is already available;
2. to identify additional training needs for patients/members of the public and researchers;
3. to explore how these needs can be met. Working Group members will be reimbursed for their time and expenses.

If you are interested joining the Working Group, please contact Marisha Palm (details above)

The deadline for applications is 6 June 2011.

Vivacious, Independent Comedy Night seeks curious Bright Sparks, GSOH, for fun, short term fling, lots of laughs, poss. leading to further intense encounters under the spotlight…

Bright Club Manchester are opening up their doors to all curious researchers, academics, artists, trades people, musicians, writers etc. who would like to try their hand at being funny about what they do.

There is a free comedy workshop this Thursday 21 April, from 6-8pm at Nexus Art Cafe, Dale St.

This is a great chance to come and find out more about the night, learn some great stand-up techniques, meet interesting people from a wide range of fields, and generally have a giggle. Dinner is provided.

Want to see the night in action? BCM6:CONNECTIONS is on Thursday 28 April at Nexus, doors at 7.30pm, show kicks off at 8pm.

Places are limited so please email hannah@nexusartcafe.com or richard.crawford@amec.com to reserve yours now!

For more information about BCM, please see our Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=313646034857&ref=ts

Preston Marriott March 28^th- April 1^st 2011

Less than 20% of PhD students end up in academia. How can you prepare for a non-University career?

Enterprise Schools help increase your employability by improving enterprise skills in a highly interactive, group working environment, tutored by experts and guest entrepreneurs. The 2011 Lancaster Enterprise School is open to any PhD student and/or researcher free of charge but places are limited.

The Enterprise School offers opportunities to:

• gain important knowledge and experience of enterprise
• develop the personal skills to support a variety of career options
• practice developing enterprising approaches to new ideas
• experience of the process of developing and pitching a business plan
• understand the characteristics of a social enterprise

Lancaster University’s NWES-2011 is an intensive residential course lasting four days in a 4 star hotel set in its own beautiful grounds on the edge of Preston (food and accommodation included). You will be part of one of four teams of eight lead by a tutor and supported by a different business/social enterprise mentor each day, widening the range of coaching and support on offer.

Sessions include:

• generating ideas      
• team-working                      
• business planning
• pitching ideas          
• networking               
• social enterprises

Activity/action based learning will help you understand approaches to being enterprising with a final competitive Dragons’ Den style session where ideas developed during the School will be judged by our expert panel.

A previous Enterprise School participant summed up her experience like this: ‘The new skills I acquired and the existing ones that I strengthened will be invaluable to my future career, whether that be inside or outside academia’. Her complete reflections on attending are at: 

http://virtual-doc.salford.ac.uk/jennacondie/category/comfort-zone/

For more details, and to apply contact:

Esti Mardiani-Euers (School Administrator) (mardiane@exchange.lancs.ac.uk) or

Christopher May (School Director) (c.may@lancaster.ac.uk)

Hi All,

Thought some of you might be interested in this free event being run in Hull on 16 March:

An Introduction to Science Policy

• Would you like to contribute to the decisions that shape science and society in the future?
• Do you want to know how your research could be used to inform public policy?
• Have you ever wondered how the regulatory and policy processes work?

The University of Hull will be hosting the first Newton’s Apple workshop in the North on the 16th of March, 2011 during National Science and Engineering Week.

This ‘Introduction to Science Policy’ workshop will give you the chance to find out more about the policy process and the methods by which you can contribute to it. The workshop will also give you the chance to put your questions to people who work with science, engineering and policy.

Who is the Event Aimed at?

• Early career researchers and academics
• Postgraduate and PhD students

Workshop Structure:

The maximum group size is 30 and workshops run for 2 hours. The workshop entails;

• An introduction to Science Policy; supplemented with educational materials explaining the field of Science Policy.
• Guest Panellists; providing information from their own unique perspective on ways in which scientists can communicate their research to a policy audience.
• Discussion; Participants are given the opportunity to question the panellists on science policy issues and how the science-into-policy process can be improved, including how information about the policy process can be given more effectively to them through funding bodies, Government and other organisations.

This is a free Workshop with refreshments and lunch provided

Newton’s Apple

Newton’s Apple is a UK charity which helps to bridge the gap between the science and policy communities. It enables stakeholders - charities, Government, businesses and others - to use science when developing solutions for tackling issues faced by society. It also helps researchers to understand how the policy process works and affects their research and how their research shapes policy.

Guest Panelists

• Dr. Michael Elves
  • Welcome and Introduction
  • Dr. Elves is the Chairman of Newton’s Apple. He was formerly the Director of Scientific and Educational Affairs for Glaxo Wellcome and Special Adviser from 1997-2005.
• Dr. Brian Iddon
  • Science in Parliament
  • Dr. Iddon is a Reader in Chemistry at the University of Salford. He is also an MP and member of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee from 1997-2010.
• Dr. Monica Darnborough (CBE)
  • Science in Government
  • Dr. Darnborough is a Member of the Board of Trustees at Newton’s Apple and is an independent consultant. She was formerly the Director of Biotechnology, Department of Trade and Industry (1998-2005), and former civil servant in the Cabinet Office.
• Dr. Stephen Benn
  • Science Policy – the role of Learned Societies
  • Dr. Benn is Parliamentary Officer at the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is very experienced in the provision of input into parliamentary and Government policies by Learned Societies.
• Mr. Tim Lovett
  • Influencing Government
  • Mr. Lovett of the British Bee Keepers Association on how they influenced Government and changed policy on funding for bee research

NOTE; There are a limited number of places available, so reserve your place early!

For further information or to reserve your place contact Theresa Mercer or Linda Love

Please complete and return the booking form below by email. Alternatively, you can mail a hard copy to the address shown.

Click here to download:

Newton's_Apple_Workshop_flyer,_Hull.pdf (380 KB)

Click here to download:

Newton's_Apple_Workshop_Booking_Form.doc (32 KB)

I have just finished running a training session for New Academics at the University of Manchester on building your digital profile. I think it went very well and we had some really interesting discussions. I have uploaded on Slideshare the slides and handout which takes you though some exercises in case you are interested.

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on how you have developed your own digital profile.

We are running a 1 day workshop about this on 10 March in Liverpool, click here for more details. It got me thinking there must be alot of good practice out there already to answer the following questions:

• How do you persuade researchers to attend your skills development courses?
• How do you reach the hard-to-reach?
• How do you convince supervisors and PIs of the benefits their researchers gain from your programme?
• How do you manage the profile of your programme in your institution and beyond?

I have worked on several projects where one of my main objectives is to raise the profile of them nationally and internationally. My top 10 tips for raising the profile of researcher development programmes would be:

1. Have a snappy title: Hugh Kearns runs courses for us that have some great titles and we are always overwhelmed by the demand for places. My personal favourite is 'Turbocharge your writing'.
2. Include some quotes from previous participants if you have run the course before.
3. Use every network possible to promote e.g. University staff update systems, websites, Twitter, JISC lists, your regional Vitae Hub Manager.
4. Personal recommendations from participants to their colleagues always work a treat.
5. Get buy in from senior management - invite them along to lunchbreaks or see if they will present a case study as part of the course.
6. Use concise bullet points in the course information.
7. Have a clear key message on what participants will gain from attending.
8. Put up posters in lifts and toilets and leaflets in coffee areas.
9. Personalise the courses to participant needs by asking them when they register what they hope to gain from the course - this also helps in evaluation of the course because it creates a baseline. GoogleDocs forms is a great way of sending out prequel questionnaires
10. Ask participants to contribute something before the course to help with no shows e.g. a personal statement, online discussion or something related to the course e.g. submit an abstract for a writing skills course.

Well that's my top ten but what do you do to help pull in the punters?...

Like everyone else, I have been guilty of letting professional development (and maintenance of a record of that development) fall by the wayside. That is until I apply for a new job then I wish I had always done a better job of recording my achievements! I am completing a management course at the moment where I HAVE to keep an updated personal development plan so I'm determined that this time I will keep the plan up even after the course ends. By being more aware of my skills and having a plan for future development I am hoping I can make the right choices at the right times in my future career.

As you know, I work for Vitae and in the past few months I have been involved in the Researcher Development Framework project. In particular I head up the tool development group for this project which is about making the huge framework useable for researchers. I thought it might be worth sharing with you a bit more about the RDF and how it can help researchers in their own personal and professional development planning so here goes...

The RDF describes the knowledge, behaviours and attitudes of researchers at all stages of development from first year postgraduate researchers through to high profile research leaders. It has been developed from first principles through interviews with successful researchers in a range of disciplines and is fully endorsed by Research Councils UK.

What does the RDF look like?

How to use the RDF

You might want to use the RDF to:

•  prepare for one-on-one reviews with your supervisor, research manager or principal investigator where you will be discussing your professional or career development

•  identify strengths and areas to focus on

•  prioritise the most appropriate formal and informal development opportunities provided by your institution and/or external bodies

•  consider skills and experiences that will enhance your prospects of success in particular career areas.

Vitae have also launched a personal CPD tool to help you map yourself against the RDF. The self reflection tool is available to download now from www.vitae.ac.uk/rdftool. It uses Microsoft Excel as a platform and allows you to:

•  select which areas of the RDF you are interested in

•  record where you are currently and what your next target for development is

•  record evidence of your current skills and experience

•  complete an action plan to reach your target

•  save individual versions at different time points to track your own progress

For more information or if you have any feedback or ideas for future developments using the RDF, visit www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf or contact rdf@vitae.ac.uk. If you have any ideas about what tools we should develop further for the RDF, just drop me a line at nwhub@vitae.ac.uk.