Postdoc Academy Workshop: Navigating Uncertainty Using Improv

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Most people find it challenging to take decisions and action under uncertain conditions.

But there are practical ways to cope with uncertainty, using simple techniques which we can practise and implement in our daily lives.

Using these skills, we can make uncertainty work to our advantage, fuelling creativity, problem solving and teamwork.

This workshop is an opportunity to experience uncertainty in a safe environment and become comfortable thinking on your feet. We will borrow tools from improvisation theatre and cognitive sciences to help you experiment and learn strategies to harness uncertainty 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 say 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 liked the positive messages it gave for approaching my research - 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.”

Postdocs

If you do not have a CRSID or are otherwise unable to book via the UTBS booking system, please contact development.pda@admin.cam.ac.uk.

In this workshop we’ll be using tools from improv theatre to experiment with uncertainty and learn to make a good thing out of it.

Although this workshop borrows many tools from improvisation theatre, this is not a theatre workshop. You will not need to act, nor to have any background in theatre. All you need is a slightly open mind and some curiosity.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have in advance or afterwards.

Number of sessions: 1

2 hours for the main session, with an optional extra 30 minutes if you want to stay on for further play and practise