The University of Essex is holding a series of free, bitesize masterclasses with the aim of developing researchers’ collaboration and engagement with industry.
Exploring and Preparing for Roles within Industry (PhD students only) - Thursday 17th June, 12pm-2pm
Delivered by Dr Danielle White, Danielle White Coaching and Rachel Valentine, Executive Coach Book hereMake them Care: Storytelling for Researchers - Wednesday 23 June, 10am-12pm
Delivered by Delivered by Laura Evans, Director of Nifty Fox Creative and Duncan Yellowlees, Presentation Coach Book here
Communicating and Networking with Industry - Thursday 1st July, 12pm-2pm
Delivered by Dr Danielle White, Danielle White Coaching and Rachel Valentine, Executive Coach Book here
Make them Care: Storytelling for Researchers - Tuesday 6 July, 10am-12pm
Delivered by Delivered by Laura Evans, Director of Nifty Fox Creative and Duncan Yellowlees, Presentation Coach Book Here
Understanding Business for Researchers - Design Thinking using the Business Model Canvas -Thursday 8th July, 2pm-4pm
Delivered by The Weave Book here
Understanding Business for Researchers - Know, Understand and Deliver the Most Value to Customers - Thursday 15th July, 10am-12pm
Delivered by The Weave Book here
For any further enquiries or information about these masterclasses, please contact iaa@essex.ac.uk
Please note that these sessions have a maximum capacity, which will be allocated on a first come first served basis. In order to attend, you are required to be a Social Sciences Early Career Researcher or a PhD student currently based at one of the SeNSS Institutions.
These sessions have already been successfully delivered as part of this programme.
How to Publicise your Research to Industry - Monday 26th April 1pm-2pm
Delivered by Dr Hannah Roberts, Associate Trainer, Skillfluence
Researching and Understanding a Business - Wednesday 5th May 1pm-2pm
Delivered by Zach Sorrells, Head of Innovation & Industry Engagement, SkillfluenceLinkedIn for Researchers – How to Network and Build Influence - Wednesday, 19th May 2021 10am–12pm
Delivered by Kate Everett, Managing Partner TWIPresentation Skills: A Practical Guide to Presenting Online - Tuesday 25th May, 11am-1pm
Delivered by Kayla Conley, Public Speaking and Presentations Skills Coach
CONSULTANCY TRAINING PROGRAMME
April 15 to June 10 2021
The University of Sussex, have developed and will be delivering a Consultancy training programme for Post graduate and early career researchers.
This online course will give you a good understanding of consultancy. You’ll learn how to approach networking with confidence and how to manage your consultancy projects so that they succeed. You’ll also benefit from group coaching and action learning to develop a peer-to-peer support network. The programme will consist of two elements:
1. FOUR INTENSIVE TRAINING WORKSHOPS:
15 APRIL 2021
Introduction to consultancy – Facilitated by the University’s Consultancy Manager, Alessandro Silvestri, the workshop will introduce you to types of delivery/engagement; channels to market; costing and contractual issues
29 APRIL 2021
Meet the consultants – A chance to meet with a panel of individuals who, having completed their doctoral studies, have set up successful consultancy businesses.
13 MAY 2021
Building Your Brand – Translating your skills and background into a specific career path, whether it be advisory, participatory, coaching-based or something else.
27 MAY 2021
Know how to approach networking with confidence – · Kate Thorpe, Deputy Head of Business Engagement, will guide participants through the why, what and how of building relationships with a business.
2. FOUR FACILITATED GROUP DISCUSSION SESSIONS
22 APRIL
06 MAY
20 MAY
10 JUNE
These sessions will provide a space for participants to explore their consultancy ideas and challenges, whilst simultaneously equipping the group with the knowledge and tools to continue to provide peer support for each other beyond the programme. The group discussion sessions will last two hours with a maximum 8 people per group.
CONNECTING WITH INDUSTRY TRAINING COURSE
Wednesday 17th February to Wednesday 24th March
This dynamic and interactive programme was aimed at giving early career researchers and PhD Students, working and studying primarily in areas eligible for ESRC funding, a working knowledge of critical business issues that impact commercial organisations. It provided researchers with a set of tools and skills to help them become immediately more effective working in, and with, industry.
The participants learnt about career routes into industry, and they gained the know-how that let them engage with industry with more confidence by using the “language of business”.
An additional ‘Conversation with…’ took place after sessions on week two, three, four and five. The “Conversations” were live, interactive forums with diverse guests who provided context, inspiration and real-world stories that brought key learnings to life.
Please note that this course has now finished. We received some really positive feedback from all 27 attendees, which you can read about here.
You can also find out more about this course by watching the Connecting with Industry video
Please note that we are planning to run a follow up sessions for attendees from this course on Wednesday 9th June, 9.30am-12.30pm. If you attended this course and are interested in the follow up workshop, then please email iaa@essex.ac.uk to register your interest.
WORK SHOPS AND SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
AUTUMN 2020 / SPRING 2021
The university of Surrey will be delivering a suite of bite-sized sessions, which will focus on a variety of business engagement topics and their related skills. The workshops and short courses, will be delivered and developed by experts from the University of Surrey, including sessions from the Surrey Doctoral College, University of Surrey Academics and the Research and Innovation Team.
All workshops and sessions in the programme will be accessible to post graduate and early career researchers and will cover a wide variety of topics in a flexible format where you can choose which sessions are applicable to you and when. You will be able to register for individual sessions when they are open for registration, but in the mean time you can register your interest in the programme below and be the first to hear about sessions and registration.
The University of Surrey are keen to expand the bitesize programme and welcome interest from SeNSS academics and professionals to share their expertise. Please click here for more information on how you can get involved and support this initiative.
PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS
Back to the Future – Industrial Strategy for Social Science Researchers
WHEN: 25 March - 10.00 - 11.00
Michael Reilly, Research Bid Development Manager
In recent years there was been a profound change in the distribution of UK public R&D funding towards a ‘mission-orientated industrial strategy’. From 2017-2021 well over £400m each year has been allocated - mostly through UK Research and Innovation - towards a variety of research, innovation and scale-up activity. This change has significant consequences for post-graduate researchers who wish to continue their work in either the public or private sectors and for early career researchers who require grants to sustain a career in academic research. Although these new public R&D allocations have so far been weighted towards technological change the career-defining opportunities for social sciences have often been overlooked. This session will analyse what has driven this secular shift in public R&D policy and explore what can usefully be learned about the future from the spending so far. Most importantly, we will discuss what opportunities and challenges this represents for social science researchers at the beginning of their careers
The Importance of Sustainability and Social Impact in Business
WHEN: March 19 12.00 - 13.00
Kat Mack, Student Enterprise Manager.
In this session we look at why and how you can bring social impact into your future roles and some examples from within our Surrey ecosystem.
“Experiences of Working with Businesses & Stakeholders”
WHEN: 02 December 2020 - 1330 – 1500
Panel discussion with Bonnie Buchannan, Head of the Department of Finance and Accounting and Professor of Finance, Sabine Benoit, Professor of Marketing and Glenn Parry, Professor of Digital Transformation, CoDirector DECaDE: Centre for the Decentralised Digital Economy, Surrey Business School Impact Lead. Facilitated by Andy Adcroft, Professor, Deputy Dean of Surrey Business School and Director of SurreyIDEA.
Join us for an informal discussion with three of Surrey Business School’s academics with vast experience of working with businesses and stakeholders. Deputy Dean, Andy Adcroft, will be facilitating the discussion. We will be welcoming questions during the session via chat on Zoom with a live Q&A at the end.
If you’d like a read before the session, Professor Sabine Benoit co-authored an article last year ‘Bridging the data divide between practitioners and academics: Approaches to collaborating better to leverage each other’s resources’ https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JOSM-05-2019-0158/full/html
“Writing with Impact for Professional Audiences”
WHEN: 30 November 2020 - 1100 – 1330
Facilitators: Dr Alison Yeung Yam Wah (Academic Writing Consultant, Purely Academic Ltd.) and Dr Nadya Yakovchuk (Teaching Fellow in Academic Writing, Doctoral College, University of Surrey).
The aim of this online workshop is to equip participants with valuable writing strategies for producing impactful text for professional and business audiences. In this highly interactive session, we will analyse social science-related professional/trade magazines to highlight some of the key differences between writing academic and professional texts, and to identify strategies used in professional writing to ensure that text is impactful. To maximise interaction, participants will be encouraged to discuss questions relating to three main themes: Motivations, Drafting and Writing for the Genre. The session will be structured around a balanced blend of input in the form of dialogue between the two facilitators, break-out room activities and individual tasks.
‘Knowledge Exchange – Importance of Industry Engagement’
WHEN: 24 November 2020 - 0930 – 1030
with Jenny Ritchie, Senior Business Manager, & Dan Bance Business Manager, Enterprise Programmes Innovation.
This Bitesize Series event will look at the benefits of ECR & PGR engagement with industry such as research validation and research application to solve real-world problems. Facilitated by the University of Surrey’s Business Enterprise Programmes Team, and supported by Senior Academics and ECRs, participants will gain insights into Knowledge Exchange, and the benefits of industry engagement to the academic, the institution and the company. The briefing will provide a top-level overview of various ways to engage and offer ideas on how to initiate or further develop industry relationships.
Conversations and Connections - The Art of Virtual Collaborative Networking with Dr Elaine Hickmott, Career Adventurer
When: 09 September 2020 - 14.00 - 15.00
Are you a social science post graduate or early career researcher from one of the SeNSS universities looking to Develop your virtual networking skills?
By the end of the session you will
- Be ready to explore, identify and create broader-reaching opportunities
- Have fresh perspectives on networking and your own networking aspirations
- Have practical tools and tips to apply to your own networking mix
Check out the other sections for Business Boost 2020 below
Facilitated Engagement with Businesses - a series of training opportunities which will cover a range of areas relating to commercialisation of research/working with business
Funding to support projects - a variety funding schemes which will provide small grants to enable projects between PGR/ECR and specific businesses.