Researcher Development Programme (RDP) course timetable
Wednesday 29 November
| 10:00 |
Striking the balance between good writing and following best academic practice through referencing can be a bit of a headache. In this session, we will demonstrate how referencing can help you structure your work as well as sharing techniques to support you in keeping your writing process flowing without any extra stress when it comes to submitting your thesis. We will provide a live demonstration of the reference management tool Zotero to give you an idea of how tools can do some of the heavy lifting for you. |
| 12:00 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that email does not go to your spam folder. |
| 12:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
Thursday 30 November
| 10:00 |
Working with your Supervisor
[Places]
The student-supervisor relationship is vital for success in all research degree programmes. However, the exact role of the supervisor is often unclear and sometimes it may feel as though you are not getting the support you need. This can be frustrating for students and supervisors alike, and can lead to a negative doctoral experience. |
| 12:30 |
Shut Up and Write
[Places]
Come to the Student Services Centre and settle down to enjoy some focused writing time. These sessions will run once a week throughout the Academic Writing Month, in November and are 2.5 hours long. Tea and coffee will be provided. |
| 14:00 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
| 14:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
Friday 1 December
| 10:00 |
From lab equipment to label makers, objects can help people to engage with your research in new and interesting ways. In this session we will look at how you can safely introduce objects into your public engagement, how close looking can help enthuse people and how even the most seemingly un-exciting artefact can tell stories. Sarah-Jane Harknett co-ordinates evaluation projects across the University of Cambridge Museums. Alongside this role, she also heads up the Public Engagement programmes at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where she regularly teaches with objects. |
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This practical in person session gives you opportunity to practice presenting in a supportive environment. Before attending, please prepare a 5 minute presentation. You will deliver your presentation to the rest of the participants and receive feedback. |
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| 11:00 |
This beginner’s course is designed to get you thinking about preparing your first presentation. Giving presentations is an essential skill for a researcher, be it in your department, at a major conference, or in your next job interview! During the workshop we will discuss how your story, your slides and you as a presenter contribute to the impactful presentation. |
| 14:00 |
Intercultural Communication
[Places]
Research in the 21st century is global, and research teams are intercultural. 35% of Cambridge research students are from outside the EU; and postdocs are the most diverse group by nationality, representing almost 100 countries. This diversity is one of the University’s biggest strengths. Yet intercultural communication is not without its pitfalls and misunderstandings. It takes conscious discipline to think about one’s own cultural assumptions and to try to make sense of others'. This workshop will give you some tools to help identify where national culture might be having an influence on your professional and social interactions, where common misunderstandings can occur, and how to address potential challenges, especially when the majority of it is now happening online. The content of the session is informed by research form intercultural studies and refers to culture as a framework of shared values, attitudes and behaviours. It explores the nature of generalisations and the relationship between culture and personal values. |
Monday 4 December
| 16:00 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail address does not go to your spam folder. |
| 16:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator (researcher.development@admin.cam.ac.uk). Please make sure that that e-mail address does not go to your spam folder. |
Tuesday 5 December
| 10:00 |
The last hurdle, your viva examination, but what will it be like? What will the examiners ask? How can you prepare for it? This workshop provides participants with an insight into the process, and helps them understand what to expect within a doctoral degree viva, including a discussion on the type and nature of questions most-likely to be posed by examiners. This course is not suitable for students in their first year, and we strongly advise against students in their second year from attending. |
Wednesday 6 December
| 10:00 |
Teaching Seminars
[Places]
This workshop focuses on the basics of teaching and facilitating seminars in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It is ideal for participants with little to no seminar teaching experience. You will learn how to structure a seminar, harnessing an array of design methods, thought-provoking questioning techniques and effective communication skills, and the importance of reflective practice. Likewise, you will learn how to surmount challenges associated with engagement, including with seminar-related reading materials and any other pre-sessional work. By the end of this workshop, you will have heightened confidence in designing and delivering compelling seminars that rely on pedagogical principles for creating an inclusive, engaging and cooperative learning space. This workshop aligns with D1 and A1 & A2 of the HEAs Professional Standards Framework (PSF), I.e., with the ‘Associate Fellow’ level. This workshop does not result in recognition or a qualification but can be considered as part of an application. |
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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. This ‘hands on’ workshop focuses on helping you plan to write your thesis. In this workshop we will remind you of some writing exercises, introduce techniques to help you with the planning, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and be prepared to do some writing. |
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| 12:00 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that email does not go to your spam folder. |
| 12:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
Thursday 7 December
| 10:00 |
Unlock the power of captivating research presentations with our exclusive online course: Mastering TED-Style Research Talks. In just 3 hours, gain essential skills to engage, inspire, and leave a lasting impact on any audience. Discover the art of attention-grabbing hooks that make your research impossible to ignore. Learn captivating storytelling techniques to create a narrative arc that keeps listeners on the edge of their seats. Unleash the heroes within your research, emotionally connecting your audience to your work. Our expert instructor will guide you through delivering complex research to a lay audience with clarity and depth. Master the use of simple visuals to make your data come alive and leave a lasting impression. Delve into the personal side of research, revealing why audiences want to see a glimpse of the person, not just the research findings. Forge an authentic connection that elevates your talk from informative to unforgettable. Receive personalised guidance on your talk, honing your content, delivery, structure, and engagement skills. Enroll in Mastering TED-Style Research Talks today and revolutionise how you share your transformative discoveries with the world. Join now and give your science communication skills a boost! This session will consist of two hours of training and an optional 1:1 session from 12pm. If you are interested in a 15 minute, 1:1 session with the trainer please let us know in advance by emailing Engaged.Researcher@admin.co.uk. |
| 14:00 |
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. |
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Lunch Series: Resilience in your PhD
[Places]
Let’s face it; being a researcher can be stressful! Not only are you managing the ups and downs of your PhD, but you are probably balancing work and life and also have one eye on the future and what comes after you finish… This workshop is designed to help you build your resilience. You probably already have some strategies in place so we will reflect on the highs and lows you have already experienced, learn about 3 Cs of resilience (Commitment, Challenge, Control) and consider how we can better support your coping and wellbeing. |
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A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
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| 14:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |
Monday 11 December
| 16:00 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator (researcher.development@admin.cam.ac.uk). Please make sure that that e-mail address does not go to your spam folder. |
| 16:30 |
A series of 30-minute drop-in sessions to talk with a member of the Public Engagement team. We offer expert advice to support your public engagement work, engagement processes and activities. These include:
These sessions are not workshops or taught sessions. Based on your area of expertise and depending on your School affiliation, you can book a time with one of our public engagement professionals:
The team will be available every week, each mentor offering two sessions of 30 minutes in the day and time indicated above. We will release new slots in the same days and times a couple of months in advance. Please book for the day and time you would like to attend, and you will receive closer to the session the Teams link to meet with the mentor. The link will be sent by RDP Course Administrator. Please make sure that that e-mail does not go to your spam folder. |