Development & Training APECS. Postgraduate Research Skills Development Programme

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Development & Training Services @ APECS

Postgraduate Research

Skills Development Programme

2014-2015

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Foreword

1 What can I gain from the Skills Development Programme?

2 About Us

3 Researcher Development Framework

5 Postgraduate Research Skills Award

9 Skills Development Record

9 How to Book

11 Skills Development Course Timetable

12 Epigeum Online Training Courses

22 Course Descriptions

22 Online Course Descriptions

56 Postgraduate Research Skills Development Events

59 Additional courses

64 Useful Contacts

68

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Foreword

Welcome to the Postgraduate Research Skills Development Programme within Development

and Training Services at APECS.

As a postgraduate student you have embarked upon an exciting new academic journey,

which will be both rewarding and challenging. Our role is to help you achieve the highest

standards in your research, to make the most of your postgraduate experience and to equip

you for a successful future.

We provide supportive and comprehensive training courses and advice that complement

those provided in your own Colleges/Departments. Read on for further details. We also

operate an open door policy so that you can visit us at your convenience. Our office is

situated in the Grove Extension, Room 266.

Professor Nuria Lorenzo-Dus

Academic Director, Postgraduate Research Skills Development

Development and Training Services @ APECS

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What can I gain from the Skills Development Programme?

Developing sound generic research and

transferable skills is an important part of

being a postgraduate research student. The

Skills Development Programme at Swansea

University supports research students in the

development of these skills and constitutes a

key resource for you to draw on. We provide

a wide range of short courses developed for

postgraduate

researchers

at

Swansea

University that you can attend free of charge. Courses are delivered by the Postgraduate

Research Skills Development Officer together with tutors from Swansea University and

external trainers with extensive experience of developing researchers’ skills and employability

profiles. We also offer a number of highly acclaimed online courses.

The Skills Development Programme at Swansea University provides postgraduate research

students with the opportunity to;

Develop and enhance the key skills required to help with research

Research effectively, individually and in teams

Improve their ability to write reports, conference papers and plan and structure their

thesis

Enhance personal and professional development

Acquire transferable skills necessary for future employment

Build an impressive skills development portfolio

Meet other postgraduate research students in a relaxed and engaging learning

environment

Attend courses that can be counted towards training accreditation under the KESS

scheme (Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships) (KESS students only)

Attain a Postgraduate Research Skills Award (PRSA) which will demonstrate the range

of skills you can offer to potential employers

The training courses are highly regarded by many postgraduate research students. Some of

the feedback we have received is indicated below:

Could you Start your Own Business: ‘I would like to thank the presenter, he was great, well organised and gave good examples’.

Getting Published: ‘The whole course is interesting. All postgraduates should be encouraged to attend a course like this’.

Creating the Vision and Taking the Leap: ‘All parts of the course were very interesting; the practical exercises were particularly enjoyable’.

Keep Writing, Overcome Writers Block: ‘Understanding at the beginning why I have it. This hit a nerve which I hadn’t realise. I now feel confident’.

Motivation and the Thesis: ‘I felt comfortable talking about my own experiences and it was good to hear other perspectives’

Finishing the Thesis and Surviving the Viva:

‘The course was excellent and I feel much more positive about finishing the PhD’.

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About us

The Postgraduate Research Skills Development Office is situated in Development and

Training Services at APECS which can be found in the Grove Extension, Room 266. Unless

otherwise stated, most of our courses take place in the training room next to our office

(room 273). For queries about courses or if you would like this handbook in an alternative

format or in Welsh then please email

. You can also follow us

on Twitter: @PGRskillsSwan.

Address:

Swansea University

Development and Training Services @ APECS

Postgraduate Research Skills Office

Grove Extension, Room 266

Singleton Park

Swansea, SA2 8PP

Email:

Twitter: @PGRskillsSwan

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Meet the Team

Professor Nuria Lorenzo-Dus

is the Academic Director of Development and

Training Services at APECS. She leads its Postgraduate Research Skills

Development Programme, including liaising with relevant researcher communities

across the University and beyond. She can be contacted by email

–

or by phone on ext. 6747.

Jed Chandler

is the Postgraduate Skills Development

Officer and delivers much of the skills development training

provided for postgraduate research students, as well as

developing e-learning modules and face-to-face advice. He

can be contacted Monday

– Wednesday on ext. 5876 and

email Monday – Thursday –

Sally Robb

job shares with

Danielle Mitchell

as

Administration & Development Co-ordinator. Both Danielle

and Sally co-ordinate the Skills Development Programme

for Postgraduate Research students. They are responsible

for the running of training courses and the continual

development of the programme.

Please contact Danielle or Sally if you require further

information about training opportunities provided for

postgraduate researchers

.

Sally works Monday to

Wednesday

and

Danielle

works

Wednesday

to

Friday. Contact them by phone on ext. 6747 or email:

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Researcher Development Framework

Courses available on the Skills Development Programme follow the Vitae Researcher

Development Framework. This Framework is a major approach to researcher development,

which aims to enhance the capacity to build the UK workforce, develop world-class

researchers and build the UK higher education research base.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) was developed in consultation with

academics and the public and private sectors to create a UK development framework for

postgraduate researchers and research staff in higher education institutions. Further details

about the RDF are available at

www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf

.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) describes the knowledge, skills, behaviours

and personal qualities of researchers and encourages them to aspire to excellence through

achieving higher levels of development. The RDF is organised into four key domains:

Knowledge and Intellectual Abilities; Personal Effectiveness; Research Governance and

Organisation; Engagement, Influence and Impact.

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The courses we offer as part of the Skills Development Programme have been mapped

according to the four domains of the RDF, a list of which can be found below.

The majority of the courses are online, but this year we are offering students the opportunity

to study some of the modules online also, either in preparation for a face-to-face course, as

supplementary study, or as a stand-alone course. These courses are listed in the table below

as Epigeum online courses.

Domain A

Knowledge and

Intellectual Abilities

Academic Writing for STEM Subjects Interviews as a means of data collection Accidents Happen: How to make sure you don’t

inadvertently plagiarize

Market Research Information

Advanced Endnote PowerPoint for Academic Purposes

Advanced Reading and Note Making Skills Report Writing

Beyond Google Saturday Special for part-time Researchers Careers outside Academia SCOPUS: A Key Database for Researchers Cited Reference Searching – a different way to

search?

Search strategies for systematic and in-depth reviews Coal, conflict, co-operatives and the Spanish Civil

War: an introduction to the many unexpected aspects of the South Wales Coalfield Collection

Structuring your Research (P/T STUDENTS ONLY)

Data Visualisation Structuring your Writing - Part 1 Sentence to Paragraph

Effective Database Searching Structuring your Writing – Part 2 Paragraph to Thesis Endnote: Keeping your references organised Tracing Theses and Conference Papers

Finding Funding for Research, Conferences and Travel

Undertaking Successful Research in Science and Engineering

Finding Statistics and Data for the Social Sciences - Part 1

Working Smarter: Tools and Apps for Researchers Finding Statistics and Data for the Social Sciences -

Part 2

Writing for Journals Focus Groups as a means of data collection for your

research

Writing up your Qualitative Data How can Special Collections support my research? Writing your Literature Review

Epigeum online courses in Domain A

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Domain B

Personal Effectiveness

Career Pathways in Universities Mind and Concept Mapping Could you Start your Own Business Motivation and the Thesis Creating the Vision and Taking the Leap NVIVO

Creative and Lateral Thinking Proof reading and Editing Your Writing Creative Research and Problem Solving R Statistics: An Introduction

Employability Skills R Statistics: An Introduction to Statistics using R Finding Academic Careers Abroad Research Degree: A Business and Story in the

World of Entrepreneurship

How to Publish your First Journal Article SPSS 20: An Introduction to Statistical Analysis Keep Writing - Overcoming Writers Block SPSS – Drop-in

LaTeX Statistics for All

Managing Perfectionism Study Skills and How People Learn Time Management for Researchers Epigeum online courses in Domain B

Career planning in Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences

Career Planning in the sciences

Domain C

Research Governance

& Organisation

Copyright and You Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright issues as they relate to PGRs

Diversity Awareness Project Management

How to Publish your first book Research Ethics Illustrating your Research: Finding images for your

thesis and presentations without breaking copyright law

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Inclusivity in University Teaching Understanding Cultural Differences Introduction to Educational Special Needs and

Learning Difficulties

Epigeum online courses in Domain C

Managing your research project

Domain D

Engagement, Influence and Impact

Advanced Presentation Skills for Arts and Humanities Conference

Poster Presentations for Arts and Humanities Conference

Business Networking Practical Presentations

Collaborative Working Skills - Social, Cultural and Leadership

Presentation Skills

Dealing with Difficult People Public Engagement: What is Public Engagement and what do the funders really want?

Finishing the Thesis and Surviving the Viva Raising your Research Profile Getting the best from your supervisor (P/T

STUDENTS ONLY)

Running Successful Seminars How do I market my skills? Teamwork for Researchers Leadership for Researchers 3 Minute Thesis Training

Managing your Supervisor 3 Minute Thesis One-to-one (20 minute appointment)

Media Engagement The Imposter Syndrome

Negotiation Skills Turbocharge your Writing

Network Like a Pro: How to network successfully Twitter for Researchers part 1: Twitter for complete beginners

Business Engagement and Networking Training Twitter for Researchers part 2: Tweeting about your work

Poster Presentations Writing and Giving Conference Papers at the Arts and Humanities Conference

Writing and Giving Conference Papers

Epigeum online courses in Domain D

Academic entrepreneurship: an introduction Conference presenting and networking Entrepreneurial resources: people, teams and

finance

Entrepreneurial opportunities: recognition and evaluation

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Postgraduate Research Skills Award (PRSA)

At Swansea University we offer a Skills Development Award to postgraduate research

students. The Award records the transferable skills development you have undertaken

during your candidature period. The Award can be used to show to potential employers your

commitment to developing skills to enhance your employability.

The Postgraduate Research Skills Award (PRSA) is accorded to a student who has participated

in a minimum of five courses in each of the four domains of the Researcher Development

Framework as indicated on pages 5-8. This equates to attendance at 20 courses (including

online courses) during a student’s candidature period.

A student who has not attained the full award may still attain certification of attendance for

each course.

Once you have attended 5 courses in each of the RDF Domains, please contact the Research

Skills Development Office. You will then be presented with a certificate detailing the Award

which represents the skills development training you have undertaken alongside your

research.

Skills Development Record

Through attendance on the skills development courses, you will gather evidence of expertise

in those skills which your future employers will value. It is important therefore that you keep

a full record of your skills. A skills pen drive will be allocated to each student for this purpose

during the Skills Development Induction session. Inductions take place at the beginning of

each semester (see course timetable). You may also collect a pen drive by request during the

academic year, please contact the Research Skills Development Office by email

.

Certificates

A transcript of courses attended is available on request at the end of each semester. Please

email

to notify us if you would like a transcript. It is important

to keep this transcript safe to ensure you have a verifiable record of your course attendance.

Certificates for attendance at individual courses can also be produced at this time if required.

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Pen Drive Contents

1. Course Planner

In this section you should keep an electronic record of transferable skills courses organised

through the Skills Development Programme which you have attended and all Epigeum online

courses you have studied. Once you have completed 5 courses in each of the RDF domains

you will be eligible for the Skills Development Award. Please remember to sign the register

at each course you attend to ensure your attendance can be verified. To receive the Award

please submit your electronic record of attendance at courses or successful completion of

online courses to

. Your attendances will be verified and you

will be contacted to let you know when the Award will be available to collect.

2. Supervisory meeting record

There is no prescribed pattern or frequency of supervisory meetings during your candidature

period, but the university requires a minimum of three formally recorded meetings each

year. This section allows you to maintain a record of your supervisory meetings.

3. Key Research Milestones Record

This section enables you to record any information about particular achievements during

your candidature. These include: conferences you have attended or presented at; awards

and prizes you have received; any publications you have authored or co-authored.

4. Resources

Keep a record of any useful electronic skills training resources in this section.

5. Handbook

A copy of the handbook is available to access for further information about available courses.

6. Course Timetable

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How to book

The course timetable is available on pages 12-22

of this handbook, on our website at

http://www.swan.ac.uk/dts/researcher-development/researchstudents-skillsdevelopmentprogramme/

and

also through Blackboard. Please note you will be informed about any changes/additions to

the Skills Development Programme through your

student email account

so it’s important to

check your email regularly. Full descriptions can be found on pages 22-58.

All courses are open to full-time and part-time research students of all disciplines (unless

otherwise specified) and are provided free of charge.

Courses must be booked in advance

and you are advised to book early as there are a limited number of places available

. To

register on any course please take the following steps:

1. Visit the link provided which can be found next to each course on the course

timetable

2. Click the join button

3. In the section entitled name, please insert your first name and surname

4. In the section entitled email, please insert your student email address

5. If the course is full, please email

to be placed on the

waiting list.

Email reminders will be sent to your student email account prior to a scheduled course if

spaces are still available.

Please get in touch by emailing us at

if you require assistance

with accessing the teaching venue or have any other special requirements that will enable

you to attend our courses.

Course Etiquette

Please ensure that you switch off your mobile phone when attending any skills development

courses.

Please also ensure you arrive in time for the course. We cannot guarantee that latecomers

will be admitted to the training room once the course has started.

Courses get fully booked relatively quickly. If you can no longer attend a course please

ensure that you inform the Skills Development Office at least 24 hours before the course is

scheduled to take place. This will enable other students to take your place on the course.

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Online Training Courses

We are pleased to offer researcher development courses through an award-winning online

skills development provider Epigeum. Epigeum online courses are designed to be

interactive, practical and flexible. You can:

Explore the interactive activities, videos and polls which help to bring activities to life

Revisit topics that you find difficult

Consolidate your learning

Access the course in which you have enrolled at a time that is convenient for you

A number of the online courses complement the face-to-face courses and this has been

identified with the

symbol in the course description.

If you would like to study an online course, you will need to register through the booking

links listed on page 22. These can also be found on our website at:

http://www.swansea.ac.uk/dts/researcher-development/researchstudents-skillsdevelopmentprogramme/coursesbydomainandbookinglinks/

When you have registered for the course you will receive an email confirming when the

course will be available. At the end of the course you will need to print off the page showing

your mark as this will be required by the Skills Development Office to validate your skills

certificate and transcript.

Skills Development Course Timetable

Please find overleaf details of courses available to postgraduate research students from all

disciplines (unless stated otherwise). To book onto these courses please visit the link next to

each course and follow the booking instructions indicated on page 11.

IMPORTANT:

If you can no longer attend a course inform the Skills Development Office at

least 24 hours before the course is scheduled to take place. This will enable other students

to have the opportunity to take your place on the course.

Failure to attend a course without

an explanation may result in you or your department being charged a fee.

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Course Date Time Booking Link Domain A,B,C,D Academic Careers Overseas 19 March 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wzerp B Academic Writing for Arts and

Humanities

15 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pwgpc A Academic Writing for Arts and

Humanities

26 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rsrxv A Academic Writing for Arts and

Humanities

28 April 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vhxbf A Academic Writing for STEM

Subjects

10 November 2014 10.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nwryl A Advanced Endnote 10 February 2015 14.00 - 15.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lixoj A Advanced Presentation Skills for

Arts and Humanities Conference

16 September 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ielur D Advanced Reading and Note

Making Skills

03 December 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ibzjd A Advanced Reading and Note

Making Skills

10 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/njwtx A Archives – an untapped resource?

A general introduction to Archives material

28 January 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/jhxha A

Beyond Google 09 February 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/arrqd A Business Engagement and

Networking Training

13 November 2014 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pvpim D Business Engagement and

Networking Training

27 April 2015 9.30 – 12.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/opuwp D Careers in Academia 06 November 2014 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/cwphr B Careers outside Academia 15 January 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zworc A Cited Reference Searching – a

different way to search?

27 October 2014 11.00 – 12.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/origz A Coal, conflict, co-operatives and

the Spanish Civil War: Introduction to the S. Wales Coalfield Collection

03 November 2014 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zkuxx A

Collaborative Working Skills - Social, Cultural and Leadership

20 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/eqhed D Copyright and You 01 May 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gznzl C Could you Start your Own

Business

29 April 2015 09.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/arpju B Creating the Vision and Taking

the Leap

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Creative and Lateral Thinking 11 November 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xluqb B Creative and Lateral Thinking 02 February 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/smlnb B Creative Research and Problem

Solving

21 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lntwo B Creative Research and Problem

Solving

09 February 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dvszr B Data Visualisation 20 November 2014 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nsrsp A Data Visualisation 05 March 2015 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qdazy A Dealing with Difficult People 17 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kciae D Diversity Awareness 02 December 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/cjwbn C Diversity Awareness 15 April 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gllas C Effective Database Searching 20 October 2014 11.00 – 12.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dqaud A Effective Database Searching 20 November 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zwtok A Employability Skills 04 March 2015 10.00 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/thbqt B Endnote: Keeping your references

organised

22 October 2014 17.00 - 18.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/yfwbe A Endnote: Keeping your references

organised

23 October 2014 13.00 - 14.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/coozk A Endnote: Keeping your references

organised

29 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/prppz A Endnote: Keeping your references

organised

24 April 2015 9.30 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mwtdv A Finding Funding for Research,

Conferences and Travel

19 November 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hfbzq A Finding Funding for Research,

Conferences and Travel

03 February 2015 14.00 - 15.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/aiket A Finding Statistics and Data for the

Social Sciences - Part 1

05 February 2015 13.00 - 14.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mxfwc A Finding Statistics and Data for the

Social Sciences - Part 2

05 February 2015 14.30 - 15.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/oodks A Finishing the Thesis and Surviving

the Viva

02 December 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ffxxi D Finishing the Thesis and Surviving

the Viva

06 February 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/scqii D Finishing the Thesis and Surviving

the Viva

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Finishing the Thesis and Surviving the Viva

11 June 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wyuih D Focus Groups as a means of data

collection for your research

05 December 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zomho A Focus Groups as a means of data

collection for your research

17 April 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pqhri A Getting the best from your

supervisor (P/T STUDENTS ONLY)

20 October 2014 18.00 - 19.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gurmr D Getting the best from your

supervisor (P/T STUDENTS ONLY)

19 January 2015 18.00 - 19.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ullgx D Grammar and Style Revision for

STEM Subjects

17 March 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nrhyq A How can Special Collections

Support My Research

16 March 2015 10.30 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qxnlr A How do I market my skills? 02 April 2015 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/movmg D How to Publish your first book 05 March 2015 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/cqrgm C How to publish your first journal

article

13 March 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ttpvd B Illustrating your Research: Finding

images for your thesis and presentations without breaking copyright law

06 May 2015 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/likrb C

Inclusivity in University Teaching 12 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bouxb C Induction and Starting your

Research

08 October 2014 10.00 – 12.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/yxhwj n/a Induction and Starting your

Research

07 January 2015 10.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/waqvz n/a Induction and Starting your

Research

01 April 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kxtul n/a Induction and starting your

research for Part-time Students

14 October 2014 18.00 - 19.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rypxg n/a Intellectual Property Rights and

Copyright the Libraries as they relate to PGRs

23 February 2015 10.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ibiwu C

Interviews as a Means of Data Collection for your Research

24 October 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/iglra A Interviews as a Means of Data

Collection for your Research

05 February 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vgbyn A Introduction to Educational

Special Needs and Learning Difficulties

28 April 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/sdyxa C

Keep Writing - Overcoming Writers Block

01 December 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rtgic B Keep Writing: Overcoming

Writers Block

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Keep Writing: Overcoming Writer's Block

19 May 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ovtkd B LaTeX 29 January 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xvofl B LaTeX 09 April 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pkwdb B Leadership for Researchers 12 March 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wbzdi D Managing Perfectionism 17 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wqhkr B Managing Perfectionism 11 February 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rzvjn B Managing Perfectionism 12 May 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qodec B Managing your Supervisor 14 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/djmat D Managing your Supervisor 19 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rhktn D Managing your Supervisor 21 April 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/sndsw D Managing your Supervisor 09 June 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kdqkt D Market Research Information 23 April 2015 14.00 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/jssmq A Media Engagement 14 November 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vmnzc D Media Engagement 27 March 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/htsfz D Mind and Concept Mapping 28 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tmeeb B Mind and Concept Mapping 09 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/iyuoc B Mind and Concept Mapping 18 May 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lrrwi B Motivation and the Thesis 25 November 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bdyez B Motivation and the Thesis 19 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bdini B Motivation and the Thesis 23 March 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/umcpk B Motivation and the Thesis 19 May 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/fuohq B Negotiation Skills 07 May 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/yahgy D Network Like a Pro: How to

network successfully

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New to Swansea? What the Library can do for Researchers

08 October 2014 17.00 - 18.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ugcge n/a New to Swansea? What the

Library can do for Researchers

15 October 2014 17.00 - 18.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ypfgs n/a New to Swansea? What the

29 January 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/uzntg n/a New to Swansea? What the

Library can do for you

20 April 2015 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/uyegr n/a NVIVO 22 January 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ubqbq B NVIVO 17 June 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/htooi B Plagiarism: How to make sure you

don’t inadvertently plagiarize

05 November 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tcxqi A Plagiarism: How to make sure you

don’t inadvertently plagiarize

23 February 2015 14.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ffjca A Poster Presentations 11 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/uhvzt D Poster Presentations 08 December 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wklrj D Poster Presentations 06 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nibma D Poster Presentations 20 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hugur D Poster Presentations 23 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ribgf D Poster Presentations 21 April 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ajbno D Poster Presentations 08 June 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/elccg D Poster Presentations for Arts and

Humanities Conference

16 September 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/otico D PowerPoint for Academic

Purposes

05 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qryzd A PowerPoint for Academic

Purposes

06 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zeadu A PowerPoint for Academic

Purposes

16 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bomcw A Practical Presentations 04 June 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bpdll D Presentation Club 21 October 2014 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gthfi D Presentation Club 18 November 2014 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bndij D Presentation Club 13 January 2015 12.30 - 13.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hgxay D

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Presentation Club 10 February 2015 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gzuhw D Presentation Club 10 March 2015 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/knvfs D Presentation Club 14 April 2015 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bwoxh D Presentation Club 12 May 2015 12.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ckcus D Presentation Club 09 June 2015 12.00 - 14.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nqrby D Presentation Skills 15 October 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vlesx D Presentation Skills 01 December 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bxfqs D Presentation Skills 13 April 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xgxvt D Professional Project Management

Skills

30 April 2015 09.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dvoaz C Proof reading and Editing Your

Writing

09 December 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tgjpe B Proof-Reading and Editing your

Writing

20 April 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xufpd B Public Engagement: What is

Public Engagement and what do the funders really want?

28 November 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xejam D

Public Engagement: What is Public Engagement and what do the funders really want?

08 May 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vtgtm D

R Statistics Part 2: An

Introduction to Statistics using R

26 February 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/owfal B R Statistics: An Introduction 26 November 2014 10.00 - 15.15 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hvolg B R Statistics: An Introduction 22 April 2015 10.00 - 15.15 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dfaej B R Statistics: An Introduction to

Statistics using R

10 June 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zusym B Raising your Research Profile 19 February 2015 13.00 - 14.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/cjklf D Report Writing 07 November 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ksqbz A Report Writing 13 February 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qnmvk A Research Degree: A Business and

Story in the World of Entrepreneurship

21 May 2015 10.00 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/knlop B

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Research Ethics 16 April 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mdihn C Research Student –led

Symposium Information Session

09 October 2014 14.00 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/evrep n/a Returning to Swansea? What the

09 October 2014 17.00 - 17.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hzsuk n/a Returning to Swansea? What the

13 October 2014 17.00 - 17.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mivda n/a Running Successful Seminars 10 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pptig D Running Successful Seminars 12 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ekwjt D Running Successful Seminars 05 May 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/imlhg D Saturday Special for part-time

Researchers

15 November 2014 09.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/daion A SCOPUS: A Key Database for

Researchers

24 November 2014 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xpuff A SCOPUS: A Key Database for

Researchers

03 February 2015 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dejuy A Search strategies for systematic &

in-depth reviews

27 April 2015 14.00 - 15.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ylwkk A Self and Collaborative

Publications - the basics

18 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ejcqe C Self and Collaborative

10 February 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/oeyfe C Self and Collaborative

01 June 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zfjtf C SPSS – Drop-in 08 January 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qxtbg B SPSS – Drop-in 15 April 2015 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/jhkyx B SPSS 20: An introduction to statistical analysis 19 November 2014 09.15 - 17.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kbqhv B SPSS 20: An introduction to statistical analysis 12 February 2015 09.15 - 17.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/syndp B SPSS 20: An introduction to statistical analysis 14 May 2015 09.15 - 17.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/icqcn B Statistics for All 10 December 2014 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/crhsv B Statistics for All 18 March 2015 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zvfiv B Structuring your Research (P/T

STUDENTS ONLY)

17 November 2014 18.00 - 19.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tugbw A Structuring your Writing - Part 1

Sentence to Paragraph

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Structuring your Writing – Part 1 Sentence to Paragraph

05 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kmduf A Structuring your Writing – Part 1

11 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zfymn A Structuring your Writing – Part 1

02 June 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wbhna A Structuring your Writing – Part 2

Paragraph to Thesis

27 October 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/yvhtl A Structuring your Writing – Part 2

Paragraph to Thesis

26 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bwtip A Structuring your Writing – Part 2

Paragraph to Thesis

25 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/earou A Structuring Your Writing – Part 2

Paragraph to Thesis

15 June 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/unvqc A Study Skills and How People

Learn

21 October 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ojvkj B Teamwork for Researchers 27 November 2014 10.00 - 13.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/pikky D The Imposter Syndrome 27 January 2015 10.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dpuqk D 3 Minute Thesis One-to-one (20

minute appointment)

21 January 2015 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kyemw D 3 Minute Thesis One-to-one (20

minute appointment)

28 January 2015 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mdyru D 3 Minute Thesis One-to-one (20

minute appointment)

04 February 2015 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/gahlm D 3 Minute Thesis Training 10 December 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/fvfnp D 3 Minute Thesis Training 07 January 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ttskl D 3 Minute Thesis Training 13 January 2015 14.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kcyzm D Time Management for P/T

Researchers

13 April 2015 18.00 - 19.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/uczly B Time Management for

Researchers

12 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rdxhy B Time Management for

Researchers

21 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mndco B Time Management for

Researchers

14 April 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rspbm B Time Management for

Researchers

08 June 2015 10.00 - 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hhbwb B Tracing Theses and Conference

Papers

29 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qidut A Tracing theses and Conference

Papers

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Turbocharge your Writing 27 January 2015 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/glvzf D Twitter for Researchers part 1:

Twitter for complete beginners

06 November 2014 14.00 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/eporw D Twitter for Researchers part 2:

Tweeting about your work

03 December 2014 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ltpar D Understanding Cultural Differences 28 October 2014 1.30 - 3.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/vzfng C Understanding Cultural Differences 16 June 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ebzsn C Undertaking Successful Research

in Science and Engineering

08 December 2014 10.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qyfyo A Working Smarter: Tools and Apps

for Researchers

30 October 2014 10.00 – 11.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/notbs A Working Smarter: Tools and Apps

for Researchers

24 February 2015 11.00 – 12.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lsgkz A Workplace Presentation Skills 29 October 2014 09.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lxskc B Writing and Giving Conference

Papers

24 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ulvta D Writing and Giving Conference

Papers

02 March 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/zpeyg D Writing and Giving Conference

Papers

06 May 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/oeipt D Writing and Giving Conference

Papers

03 June 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qwfuz D Writing and Giving Conference

Papers at the Arts and Humanities Conference

15 September 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/fimed D

Writing for Journals 15 June 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rjwzs A Writing Surgery (45 minute one

to one)

26 November 2014 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mmmw t

n/a Writing Surgery (45 minute one

to one)

10 December 2014 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/izeek n/a Writing Surgery (45 minute one

to one)

10 February 2015 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/yaztq n/a Writing Surgery (45 minute one

to one)

14 April 2015 13.30 - 16.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dpmjc n/a Writing Surgery (45 minute one

to one)

26 May 2015 10.00 – 12.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/njkfk n/a Writing up your Qualitative Data 15 January 2015 13.30 - 16.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/xpmps A Writing your Literature Review 22 October 2014 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/sszjv A Writing your Literature Review 25 November 2014 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/eqzvl A

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Writing your Literature Review 14 January 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/nsphh A Writing your Literature Review 03 March 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wlcib A Writing your Literature Review 12 May 2015 10.00 – 11.30 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/fgamx A Writing your Literature Review 02 June 2015 13.30 - 15.00 http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tsgeu A

Online Course

Booking link

Domain

A,B,C,D

Academic entrepreneurship: an

introduction

http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/iloco D Career planning in the Arts and Social

Sciences

http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ztazt B Career planning in the Sciences http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/wxrhy B Conference presenting and networking http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/uossm D Entrepreneurial opportunities:

recognition and evaluation

http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/rkuoh D Entrepreneurial resources: people, teams

and finance

http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/bgvfc D Managing your Research Project http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ecwts C Research Methods in the Sciences http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/hrynx A Working with your supervisor http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/kvzdn D

Course Descriptions

Academic Careers Overseas

This session will help participants to consider how to source vacancies and opportunities and look at academic employment trends in other countries. It will provide hints and tips on how to prepare your CV in relation to job hunting in other countries. It will also provide information on international job hunting websites to consider when searching for academic vacancies overseas.

By the end of the session participants will be able to: Understand how to make decisions

Consider where and how to look for international academic vacancies

Find out more about information about the type of academic CV they might need for international job hunting.

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Academic Writing for Arts and Humanities

This course is interactive. It includes group discussion and involves the individual in planning your structure. It will cover the following topics:

What IS academic writing?

What is a thesis and what does it involve? Structuring your thesis

Sketching your thinking Draft-writing skills

Examples of structures for discussion Yourstructure

Examiners’ pet hates. Some common errors and how to avoid them On successful completion of the unit you should be able to:

demonstrate an understanding of the structure of a thesis

demonstrate an understanding of the variety of writing tasks involved in researching and writing a thesis

demonstrate an awareness of common errors in academic writing at structural, paragraph and sentence levels, and be able to avoid these errors in your own writing

Target Audience: This course is intended for students at the early stages of research.

Academic Writing for STEM Subjects

Successful research produces a contribution to knowledge that is communicated as a written document. Often the importance of how this is presented this is underestimated by STEM students. This course aims to show you how to maximise the impact of your writing for a thesis or publication. It covers:

Conveying a ready and precise meaning Dictating vs. writing

Plagiarism

Identifying novel aspects of your work The peer review process

Outline plan of STEM thesis Timely generation of the text Experimental issues

Improving your writing The importance of titles Writing a good abstract Writing a good introduction

Defending one’s approach and findings Choosing an appropriate journal.

Students will be able to recognise the importance of: Starting with a skeleton plan for a document Writing a good abstract

Writing a good introduction

Defending one’s approach and findings Choosing an appropriate journal Understanding what referees look for.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students in all stages of research from science and engineering disciplines

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Prerequisites: Students should prepare a one page outline of their proposed publication with a list of potential journals and submit it by email to [email protected] one week before the course.

Accidents Happen: How to Make Sure you Don’t Inadvertently Plagiarize

This session will help the researcher understand academic conventions used in writing up papers, such as how and what to cite, and provide an overview of bibliographic referencing styles

Advanced EndNote

Take your EndNote skills a step further using term lists, smart groups, editing styles and other useful features. The session will look at some ways to avoid problems when working with EndNote and how to use it to help to organise your research.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students at any stage of research.

Prerequisites: A basic knowledge of EndNote is essential to attend this course.

Advanced Presentation Skills for Arts and Humanities Conference

This course examines presentation skills which fall particularly into the Arts and Humanities domain, and it particularly recommended for students who will be taking part in the Arts and Humanities Conference.

We will be discussing the characteristics, in terms of presentation style, method, and content, of an effective and engaging presentation in these disciplines. You will be developing, and delivering a short group presentation.

Students who attend this course will typically be able to:

describe, and put into practice, the elements of a good presentation in their discipline plan a presentation

understand, and be able to use, methods to reduce presentation nerves

use appropriate presentation stylistics, body language, register and audience engagement.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students at any stage of research

Prerequisites: This course is intended for students presenting at the Arts and Humanities Conference

Advanced Reading and Note Making Skills

People read for different purposes and with different objectives, and they all use various techniques and strategies for these different types of reading tasks. As a researcher you need to be able to read a great deal of material very quickly, and you also need to be able to extract specific information from the text very accurately. This course explores different strategies for effective reading and note making for students who have a great deal to read. The course includes

What is speed reading and how can I learn it?

Note-making v. note-taking: how to make really effective notes Electronic note-making systems

On successful completion of the unit you should be able to:

Distinguish two types of reading and understand which is appropriate for different academic reading purposes.

Start applying and polishing the techniques for speeding up the reading process through phrase recognition.

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Understand the Cornell method of note-taking

Use a variety of strategies for purposive note-taking both, including handwritten notes and electronic information management systems.

Archives: An Untapped Resource? A General Introduction to Archives Material

Archives staff will introduce you to the archives collection held in Swansea University Library, and explain how to locate archives collections held elsewhere in the UK and how to reference archive material.

A Research Degree, a Business and a Story in the World of Entrerpreneurship:

Valuing your

Research Degree Whilst Learning How to Marketing Yourself and Your Expertise Creatively

and Practically.

The course will help you focus on your degree as a business. This assists you in responding to your research degree from a different perspective. We look at story marketing as a way to engage your chosen market enthusiastically; key talents for being an entrepreneur, transferable skills from the challenges and triumphs of the research degree. The use of story creates interest and a rich language to describe your area of expertise. The course helps you value your talents and teaches you how and why to view the degree as a sellable commodity. You will uncover how to create a marketing message and create a marketable skills profile just by doing this course. This one aspect of business planning is equally effective whether your route is through academia, or a career pathway or starting your own business.

You will learn how to:

Appreciate that organising your progress through a degree is similar to managing a business. You are in charge of your degree with its challenges and triumphs and the key skills to being an entrepreneur will help you view your degree with renewed respect.

Build an ongoing portfolio of new experiences that showcase your talents to sell your expertise and gain credibility during the degree and afterwards.

Gain an understanding that seeing your degree as a business will give you an edge to plan and strategise through your chosen pathway now and for the future.

Beyond Google

Are you getting the most out of Google? Which search engines have features which Google doesn’t? What’s in the deep web? Does Google Scholar offer a reliable way of finding trustworthy and scholarly information? This workshop has the answers!

Business Engagement and Networking Training New for 2014/15

Want to learn how to better engage with business and industry? How to make first contact and follow up on a contact?

Come along and learn:

The basics in how you should approach business and industry with you research. How to behave, dress and which language to use

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effectively.

Careers in Academia

This session will cover the typical career pathways available in UK universities. It will help participants consider how they make decisions and how to develop the skills required for an academic career. The session will look at the transferable skills required for careers within academia and how to gain them. It will also provide hints and tips on how to develop your academic CV. By the end of the session students will be able to:

Have an understanding of the Vitae researcher development framework. Understand and evaluate their own approach to decision making.

Have an understanding of careers in academia and the competitive nature of the labour market.

Know where to begin looking for academic vacancies on a national and international level. Understand how to develop an academic CV.

These online courses are complementary to our Careers in Academia course:

Career planning in the Arts and Social Sciences Careers Planning in the Sciences.

Careers Outside of Academia

This session will help participants consider the transferable skills they have and how to evidence them outside of academia. The session will look at the types of skills employers might look for in applicants who possess a PhD qualification. The session will consider the transferable skill set of the applicant with a higher level qualification can evidence. The session will provide career case studies of academics who have moved into careers outside academia.

By the end of the session students will be able to: Understand how they make decisions

Consider how to identify their transferable skills

Develop their knowledge of Vitae Researcher Development Framework Increase their knowledge of the labour market

Understand the skills employers are seeking in careers outside of higher education

Discuss specific case studies and look at career paths of individuals who have made the transition into careers outside of higher education

Develop thoughts on where and how to look for vacancies in an ever changing labour market.

These online courses are complementary to our Careers outside of Academia course:

Career planning in the Arts and Social Sciences Careers Planning in the Sciences.

Cited Reference Searching – A Different Way to Search?

Cited reference searching allows you to take a paper or book on your topic which is well known and find out who has cited that paper in their own work – the likelihood is that they are working on the same or a related topic. It can lead you to useful material which you would not have found using

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ordinary keyword searching.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students at any stage of research

Course Pre-requisite: You must have attended the Effective Database Searching course.

Coal, Conflict, Co-operatives and the Spanish Civil War: An Introduction to the Many

Unexpected Aspects of the South Wales Coalfield Collection

This archive collection is held between the Richard Burton Archives and the South Wales Miners’ Library and provides a unique picture of life in the coalfield valleys during the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century. Come and find out more about this internationally important Collection.

Collaborative Working Skills – Social, Cultural and Leadership

How many jobs have you seen advertised which ask for ‘leadership skills’ and need you to be a ‘good team worker’? And how many research posts require you to collaborate with researchers in your team, with other disciplines or other universities?

This course addresses these important areas of ability, examining styles of leadership and the roles people adopt in teams. It is a highly interactive course, and will involve all who attend in leading a team in discussion and planning and in being a team member. It will cover the following topics:

leadership styles and preferences: the relative merits of each giving and receiving effective feedback

active listening

chairing and participating in discussions

outline the theories of leadership style covered in the course

identity and understand the implications of your leadership style and how you can best start to develop your skills as a leader

identify what type of team member you are, its implications for how you participate in activities and how best to develop your skills

understand the premise and basic practice of active listening give feedback effectively and sensitively

Target Audience: This course is intended for students at the early stages of research

Copyright and You

What is copyright? How does it affect you when writing your thesis? This session will give you the confidence to deal with the everyday copyright issues that you may encounter in the academic environment. It will also introduce you to a wide range of resources that can be used to assist you in developing good copyright habits.

Could You Start Your Own Business?

Who is this for?

Researchers who are looking to commercialise an idea or offer themselves as a freelance consultant in the future. It’s also suitable for those who are simply curious about what starting their own business would involve.

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What’s included?

Differences between having a job and running a business Assessing your idea - will your product or service work? How to register and get started

How money works in a business The three essentials to a good start-up

Overview of mechanics - 12 key questions - tax, vat, insurance, expenses etc. Overview of marketing - finding the people who will buy your product or service Is it right for me? - how to work out whether starting a business is for you The cash funnel - how to stay in business

Surviving the dragons - how to create a convincing plan (Optional) - advice from venture capital providers Where to go for further help and advice

By the end of the day students will have a much better idea about whether they want to

start their own business.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students in all stages of research.

This course is complemented by the online courses:

Academic entrepreneurship: an introduction

Entrepreneurial opportunities: recognition and evaluation

Entrepreneurial resources: people, teams and finance.

Creating the Vision and Taking the Leap –

Discover How to Harness the Power of ‘Story,’

Values and Vision to Communicate Your Research Degree Easily, So An ‘Audience’ Willingly

Engages With You.

Learning how deep the power of a story reaches and how to use this knowledge to communicate your research degree and your expertise. The course will show you how to summarise your degree in story themes, so you understand how to be an engaging communicator in your chosen market (academia, business, career). Learn about your values (the ‘inner’ story) and why this is an important facet of your marketing in how you present yourself. Learn how to create a vision map for your research degree and beyond. Take that information and create action steps to propel you along your chosen pathway. By the end you will have a strong summary narrative for your research degree, supported by clear Values and driven by a vision map that motivates you into your next steps.

Understanding how the power of a narrative communicates effectively and simply and how numbers and statistics create stories too!

You will learn:

How to use the course modules to create a strong summary marketing narrative that can be used to describe a research degree in simple terms for the Viva, for their career path, or setting up a business, or for easy communication about complexity for funders, speaking engagements, symposiums, radio etc.

How values drive and define a person and understand how this vital information will help with appropriate decision making for their degree and life. It will be shown that it doubles as great marketing copy where appropriate.

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especially if no steps seem possible at present. It is also a valuable tool as a reflective check on the steps they are taking in their degree.

How to bring the learning together so there is a strong theme of narrative, vision and values that create a solid foundation for decision making and reflective learning at each stage of their degree and in their career path.

This course is complemented by the online courses

Academic entrepreneurship: an introduction

Entrepreneurial opportunities: recognition and evaluation

Entrepreneurial resources: people, teams and finance.

Creative and Lateral Thinking

Sometimes you run out of ideas when you are researching. This course helps you to think outside the box and to generate new ideas and to combine different approaches with the questions you have been working on.

Describe the thinking styles known as creative and lateral thinking, and the correspondences and the distinctions between the two.

Recognise the stages of the creative process research and incorporate these into your research.

Engage group creativity through appropriate ideas exploration activities. Utilised individual creativity techniques.

Develop creative solutions and generate plans to implement the solutions in your research.

Creative Research and Problem Solving

This course provides you with a practical basis from which you can bring your creative mind into full play when you are solving problems and untangling research conundrums.

We will explore

Your perspective: where are you approaching your problems from?

Biases: we all have ingrained biases, but do you know where your lie? How do your preconceptions help and hinder you?

Idea generation through brainstorming and groupstorming and other techniques to release your spontaneity

IQ and all that: left and right brain thinking and multiple intelligences

Thinking it through: getting your ideas down on paper and into your group discussions The workshop will enhance your skills to:

Define creative problem solving.

Be familiar with common mental blocks to creative thinking process. Explore ways to be more creative.

Know the steps to the creative problem solving process. Be familiar with Brainstorming and mind mapping Apply tools to solve a problem.

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Data Visualisation

Many computing processes result in large, complex, time-dependent data sets. Over the past three decades, the sizes of common data sets have exploded ranging from several gigabytes to terabytes in size.

The exciting and vibrant field of visualisation is an increasingly important area due to its wide range of applications in many disciplines. Data visualisation is vital in gaining an understanding of large, complex data sets by exploiting the human visual system. Data visualisation leverages modern computer graphics in order to provide a visual overview, explore, analyze, and present phenomena which is often difficult to understand.

This course provides both a theoretical and practical introduction to data visualisation. We will introduce information visualisation for abstract data.

Some of the topics we will discuss are: purposes and goals of visualisation, applications, challenges, sources of data, data dimensionality, time-dependent, data types.

Information visualisation topics Include: abstract data, hierarchical data and visualisation, focus and context techniques, graphs and graph layouts, multi- and high-dimensional visualisation, interaction techniques, linking and brushing.

On completion of this course, students will be able to: Analyse and identify the properties of abstract data

Identify appropriate visualisations and visualisation tools to represent abstract data

Identify available off-the-shelf visualization tools to work with in order to create their own visualizations.

Target Audience: This course is intended for students in all stages of research.

Dealing with Difficult People

Have you ever had a day ruined by a difficult colleague or research contact? It can be stressful researching in a competitive environment, and the university environment can often accommodate a more diverse range of difficult people than that of other corporate settings.

This practical course investigates ways of coping with difficulty. It will help you to:

Increase your awareness of, and so your acceptance of, how other people feel and behave Defuse tricky or confrontational situations

Understand the specific difficulties and potential flash points of academic culture and the research environment

Manage expectations and create positive experiences Handle complaints

Say no to people – cultivate polite assertiveness Influence others, set limits

Give feedback sensitively

On successful completion of the unit you should be able to: recognise your own profiles as potentially difficult people;

identify your reaction style and the factors which have contributed to this pattern of behaviour;

describe the characteristic behaviour patterns of a variety of conflict-prone or negative personality types and conditioned behaviours’