Browse or search for courses

This course gives an introduction for researchers working in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Clinical subjects into how to engage with the public through media. It will cover the differing types of media, what makes research newsworthy, how to work with the communications office to gain media coverage, what to expect from an interview (print, pre-recorded, live) and how to communicate well in interviews. It will be delivered by the University Communications team.

Speaking to the media can seem daunting, but with preparation and practice, you can make sure that even the most challenging interview goes smoothly. In this workshop, you will learn to prepare for an interview and how to ensure you get your messages across clearly to your audiences.

Colleagues from the Office of External Affairs & Communications will help you put into practice what you learn, with the opportunity to try your hand at mock ‘live’ radio and TV interviews.

What is impact? This training will disentangle academic and non-academic impact and explore the different types of impact and why impact is important. There will be opportunity to discuss your research in small groups, and consider the types of impact that you could generate. The session will consider how to incorporate impact into a research proposal and provide some useful tools. You will also understand where Public Engagement sits in the wider Impact agenda. You will have the opportunity to analyse impact case studies that feature Public Engagement as a way of achieving impact.

The training will be led by Caroline Reynolds, Impact Facilitator at the Research Office.

Everyone who works with children has a responsibility for keeping them safe. This safeguarding training has been designed specifically to support researchers who may be new to working with children and schools. In this introductory session, we will understand what safeguarding and child protection means and what it involves, discuss potential signs that a young person might be being abused and what to do if you have a safeguarding concern. We will look at some general good practice as well as how to plan events and sessions with safeguarding in mind.

This course will be led by Michelle Tang. Michelle currently works as the Deputy Head of Widening Participation for the University (within the Cambridge Admissions Office). In her role, she oversees a team who work with over 200 schools and 5000 school-aged students each year in a number of widening participation programmes including the University’s flagship HE+ programme, the Sutton Trust Summer Schools and the Insight programme. She has also previously worked as a Schools Liaison Officer, travelling and visiting schools all over the UK but particularly in Yorkshire, Berkshire and Scotland. Michelle completed the Teach First Leadership Development Programme in 2016, during which she worked as a primary school teacher in north London, and holds a PGCE from the Institute of Education. She is passionate about social mobility and the transformative power of education in closing equality gaps.

Engaging young people with your research can be very worthwhile and rewarding. This training session will support you with your public engagement work with schools by introducing you to the UK school system and discussing how public engagement work can fit with existing school priorities. We will consider ways in which your work can make an impact and briefly consider how public engagement can work with underrepresented groups and contribute to diversity and inclusion initiatives. You’ll be introduced to ways in which the University already works with schools to provide you with ideas for collaboration. Lastly, we’ll begin to think about how to plan and design activities suitable for school audiences.

At the end of this session, you’ll hopefully feel more confident about how to work effectively with schools and can start thinking about your own public engagement work. The group session will be followed by the opportunity for a one-to-one 15-minute session with the trainer where you can discuss your projects, ideas and questions and get project specific help.

This course will be led by Michelle Tang. Michelle currently works as the Deputy Head of Widening Participation for the University (within the Cambridge Admissions Office). In her role, she oversees a team who work with over 200 schools and 5000 school-aged students each year in a number of widening participation programmes including the University’s flagship HE+ programme, the Sutton Trust Summer Schools and the Insight programme. She has also previously worked as a Schools Liaison Officer, travelling and visiting schools all over the UK but particularly in Yorkshire, Berkshire and Scotland. Michelle completed the Teach First Leadership Development Programme in 2016, during which she worked as a primary school teacher in north London, and holds a PGCE from the Institute of Education. She is passionate about social mobility and the transformative power of education in closing equality gaps.

This session builds on the introductory ‘Working with Schools’ session and dives deeper into the landscape of schools and primary/secondary education in the UK today. In the first half, we will consider: what are the key issues and challenges in schools today? With this understanding, we will talk about ways in which universities work with schools and what effective partnership looks like. In the second half, we will consider how to plan programmes and activities using pedagogical principles including constructing Theories of Change, embedding evaluation and implementing some popular teaching theories which may influence our practice.

This course will be led by Michelle Tang. Michelle currently works as the Deputy Head of Widening Participation for the University (within the Cambridge Admissions Office). In her role, she oversees a team who work with over 200 schools and 5000 school-aged students each year in a number of widening participation programmes including the University’s flagship HE+ programme, the Sutton Trust Summer Schools and the Insight programme. She has also previously worked as a Schools Liaison Officer, travelling and visiting schools all over the UK but particularly in Yorkshire, Berkshire and Scotland. Michelle completed the Teach First Leadership Development Programme in 2016, during which she worked as a primary school teacher in north London, and holds a PGCE from the Institute of Education. She is passionate about social mobility and the transformative power of education in closing equality gaps.