Postdoc Academy course timetable

A must-attend virtual session with information tailored to postdocs in Cambridge, whether University-based or employed by Colleges or Research Institutions.

At this event, you will be given information about:

• Your contract

• Professional development and the Careers Service

• How to connect to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge

• You will also meet representatives from various University services who may be helpful to you while you are working in Cambridge.

Have you ever struggled with other colleagues’ styles of communication? Have you ever wondered why some people seem to use more formal language, or are more direct than others? Culture plays a big part in how we communicate: research in the 21st century is global, and research teams are intercultural. At the University of Cambridge postdocs are the most diverse group by nationality, representing almost 100 countries. Communicating across cultures means more than learning a foreign language. It takes conscious discipline to think about one’s own cultural assumptions and to try to make sense of others’.

This two-hour workshop will give you 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 most of it is now happening online. The content of the session is informed by research from 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. Join this workshop to learn more about the importance of cultural competence in interactions - find out more about the impact of cultural (national, regional, interdisciplinary etc.) differences on management styles, team dynamics, communication and more.

About the Speaker: Kasia graduated from the Technical University of Dresden where she gained a master’s degree in German as Foreign Language, French and Polish. As a result of her first-hand experience of seeing academic performance and work relationships flourish through greater appreciation of the different perspective of how we see the world, she helps students, researchers and staff fully embrace the potential of Cambridge’s international diversity through training and coaching. This involves design and delivery of talks, lectures and workshops for specific audiences (undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, visitors and staff) and supporting individuals on a one-to-one basis by helping them develop agile interpersonal skills. Outside the University, she works as a trainer and coach which enables her to bring the practical experience from training in the international corporate world into academia.

Postdocs: Researcher Development & Support (one-to-one sessions)

The postdoc RD team are offering one-to-one meetings online for all postdocs. These meetings will be tailored to your individual needs and provide an opportunity to consider and discuss a variety of topics relating to learning, skills and personal development. This is not an exhaustive list but areas for discussion could include:

• Managing your time whilst working from home
• Collaborating effectively
• Maintaining resilience and coping strategies
• Reflecting on and identifying your key areas for development

Each meeting will last for up to 45 minutes and, given the present circumstances relating to Covid-19, will be conducted online using Teams.

This event is for postdocs near the mid-point of their current contract at Cambridge.

The session has been designed specifically for postdocs at this key career stage and the aim is help you to position yourself for the next stage of your career (in academia or otherwise). The session provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your professional development activities so far and share experiences with others at a similar stage. The session will include information, guidance and tools to support you in your next steps by focusing on future goals and how you can use the remainder of your time to work towards them.  

This interactive online session will be broken down into 3 sections: 

1. Reflecting on your professional development activities to date and identifying further development you would like to achieve during the rest of your contract.

2. Sharing ideas of how to achieve your development goals with other mid-contract postdocs whilst focusing on key professional development topics specific for postdocs and sources of information, advice and support across the university.

3. Creating an individual action plan to ensure you know when and how to take the next steps during the remaining time as a postdoc.   These 3 sections will be covered in the first hour of the session. The final half hour will be open for those who wish to ask related questions and engage in informal discussion with the facilitators and other participants.

The event will be facilitated by members of the Postdoc Academy, the Postdoc Researcher Development Team and Postdoc Careers Service. By the end of the session, you will have created your own set of actions to help guide you in your next steps.    Please complete this form: https://forms.office.com/r/dc6Fn39Q9U so that we can learn a bit about you and where you are in your career planning/professional development journey in advance of the event. This will help us to tailor the session to suit the current needs of participants. Your registration for this session will be approved upon our receipt of this form

Postdocs: Researcher Development & Support (one-to-one sessions)

The postdoc RD team are offering one-to-one meetings online for all postdocs. These meetings will be tailored to your individual needs and provide an opportunity to consider and discuss a variety of topics relating to learning, skills and personal development. This is not an exhaustive list but areas for discussion could include:

• Managing your time whilst working from home
• Collaborating effectively
• Maintaining resilience and coping strategies
• Reflecting on and identifying your key areas for development

Each meeting will last for up to 45 minutes and, given the present circumstances relating to Covid-19, will be conducted online using Teams.

A must-attend virtual session with information tailored to postdocs in Cambridge, whether University-based or employed by Colleges or Research Institutions.

At this event, you will be given information about:

• Your contract
• Professional development and the Careers Service
• How to connect to the wider postdoc community at Cambridge
• You will also meet representatives from various University services who may be helpful to you while you are working in Cambridge.