Workshop directory

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January, May, September
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Maximise your chance of making the shortlist by ensuring your CV is professional, targeted and well written.

Don’t know where to start when it comes to writing a cover letter? Not sure that your cover letter is highlighting your notable/relevant achievements?

This session will address academic CVs and cover letters. It will cover do’s and don’ts to consider when crafting your CV. We will also look at tips on how to structure your cover letter.

Please bring your CV with you to this workshop and any academic role you are looking at applying to.

• Tutor: Bernie Babel, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: April, October
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

The aim of this pop-up is to give you a better understanding of what assertiveness is and identify those situations where assertiveness skills are required. We will also explore how to behave assertively in appropriate situations.

You will get to try out being assertive using case studies as examples.

• Tutor: Dr Victoria Crossley, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

The College has a new process in which to formally recognise the valuable contribution that postdocs make towards the student-supervisor partnership.  Subject to completion of mandatory training requirements, postdocs can be recognised as Assistant Supervisors.  

The following documentation provides information on how to obtain formal recognition as an Assistant Supervisor:

• Appointment Process for Assistant Supervisors (pdf)
• Framework for the Support and Development of Assistant Supervisors (pdf)
• Roles and Responsibilities Document for Assistant Supervisors (pdf)

This pop up will explain the process and the benefits of becoming an Assistant Supervisor – there will be a presentation, followed by a Q&A session. 

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January, May, September
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Unlock your potential - explore career goal setting - an essential tool for time management, personal and professional progression.

During this session, you will reflect on your career and set individual career goals while looking at ideas to use for your 10 Development Days.

• Tutor: former Researchers from Imperial
• Usually scheduled: monthly
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

ECRI invites former Imperial Postdocs and Fellows to talk about their new roles, their motivations and transition period and to share their experience of applying and interviewing for a role other than research in academia.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: April, October
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

You know who you are and what are your achievements and successes, but how do you communicate them to others?

This workshop aims to strengthen your ability to promote yourself and your research in interviews and funding applications, for jobs through the CV, as well as on social media.

There will be time to cover interview pitches and the use of social media beyond science communication. We are going to cover the why and how to increase your visibility and some strategies to overcome perceived or real barriers, both online and offline.

This workshop will have some interactive aspects as we will work on short pitches with the aim of getting people to the stage of wanting to know more about you.

• Tutor: ECRI team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: September, March
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

One-to-one CV evaluation – Updating your CV? Receive specific feedback on it from a member of the ECRI team in these 30 min sessions. 

• Tutor: Robert Scott, Data Protection Officer, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: October
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This session will be an introduction to GDPR and how the College has been implementing the required changes with a particular focus on research activities. It will explain the law in brief, the relevance to postdocs and fellows, and what the College is doing to assist staff to ensure their compliance. 

• Tutor: Societal Engagement Team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Come along to this pop-up session to discover more about what public engagement is, why it is important and how it can benefit you and your work. We will focus on how engaging with members of the public, schools, patients, and community groups can help you to achieve research impact.

Find out tips on how to plan for impact through engagement, as well as achieve it and evidence it. Ideal if you are thinking about research proposals or fellowship applications, we will look at what the big funders think about engagement and impact, as well as having some time to consider what it all means for your own areas of research.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January, June
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

If you are thinking about applying for a fellowship, you should become familiarised with the different styles of CV templates different funders require.

In this session we will cover some of the major funder templates and you will have an opportunity to work on showcasing your own successes and achievements and receiving feedback from your peers.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: March, September
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Most fellowships require you to have an interview to show how you can carry out the proposed research and why they should give you the funding.

During this workshop, you will look at examples of ‘invitation to interview’ letters from a variety of funders. Importantly, you will look at interview questions and prepare answers, developing answers that showcase your achievements.

• Tutor: External funding bodies and the ECRI team
• Usually scheduled: as appropriate
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

ECRI will hold or invite funding bodies to funder sessions which highlight the fellowship opportunities individual funders have to offer, as well as providing the opportunity for current fellowship holders to share their expertise and experiences of the fellowship application process through to interview top tips.

The funder showcases last about two hours and are open to all researchers from across the College.

• Tutor: Press office team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Sharing the results of your research and gaining media coverage is an excellent way to show impact, as well as potentially bringing you new opportunities for collaboration and funding. During this workshop you will learn how the press office can help you promote your research to the media, what we consider when promoting stories, and how news stories and press releases are put together. You will have a chance to try it out for yourself by summarizing your research and pitching it for a press release.

In addition, if you’ve ever considered science communication as a career, we’ll talk a little about the different roles we’ve had in our careers, with plenty of time for Q&A at the end of the session.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: February, August
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This session will introduce you to the different requirements for lectureship applications, including hints and tips as to what to include in your cover letter, CV, research and teaching statements. It will also cover how you can highlight your evidence of esteem and ideas on how to gain further experience to enhance your application. 

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May, November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that can be used to increase your online visibility. A professional online presence is important as 64% of employers check future employees' LinkedIn profile during the recruitment process. 

During this workshop we will: 

• discuss the sections of a LinkedIn profile, top tips on creating an effective profile, and what makes LinkedIn a great platform to showcase your career goals and achievements. 
• practise writing some sections of your own profile and thinking about what to include in others. 
• receive hints and tips on how to network with potential employers and how to take advantage of job adverts that you can find on LinkedIn. 

You don’t need to have a LinkedIn profile already, but it would be helpful if you set up an account in advance.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: February, August
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Your research is very important to you, but how do you make sure others look at it and understand its importance?

Can you clearly articulate the different types of impact you are making? How do you maximise your chances of really having an influence in your areas of interest?

In this session, we will look at what research impact is and why it matters and how you can create and maximise impact.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: March, September
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

What is networking? Why is it important in your career? How can you network effectively?

The aim of this pop-up workshop is to help you understand how to network effectively and make you confident and happy about going out and networking to advance your career!

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June, December
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Are you considering a different career? Have you ever wondered how to translate your current postdoc skills to fit a job description? 

During this session, you will: 

• Look at how to write non-academic CVs and Cover Letters
• Learn how your research skills can be translated to non-academic roles
• Learn how to interpret a job description and how to draw on your current skills to give evidence of your expertise

You should have with you a copy of your own CV and any non-academic job descriptions that you have seen and that may be of interest.

• Tutor: Educational Development Unit Team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Would you like to know more about teaching and learning opportunities at Imperial? 
Thinking about a teaching qualification, but unsure how to start? 
Want to know more about the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)?

The Educational Development Unit (EDU) will be able to answer all your questions about teaching and learning at Imperial. During this session, EDU will talk about the STAR Framework and how you can start working toward a Higher Education Academy accreditation, as well as all the other workshops that will help you supervise students and carry out tutorials and lectures.

• Tutor: RCS & RSE Team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This session will be an introduction to the Research Computing Service and the training, resources and support the team provides. Find out more about the Research Software Engineering service and how to engage with them to further your research.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: March, July, November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Not sure how to identify the skills you need for a job? 
Want to find out how you can demonstrate or develop the skills required? 
Need help in recognising your existing skillset? 

In this pop-up, you will work in groups to identify the skills employers most commonly ask for. You will discuss what evidence you have that demonstrates that you have these skills and how you can develop them further.

This session will also include time to get feedback on your individual skills analysis and consider how you can build and develop your skills to help you get the job you’ve always wanted!

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: January, June
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

You know who you are and what your achievements and successes are, but how do you increase your visibility as a researcher?

Is social media a tool for visibility increase, science communication, or a bottomless pit of time wasting?

In this session, we are going to cover the why and how to increase your visibility, social media use, and some strategies to overcome barriers, both online and offline.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May, November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This pop-up introduces postdocs to the process of making a fellowship application. During the session, you will learn where to look for appropriate fellowship funding, how to apply and how to prepare a written application.

• Tutor: Library Services Team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This workshop will critically discuss the use of metrics in research assessment, including the Journal Impact Factor and the h-index and will present evidence for their flaws as well as broader citation and publication biases. Responsible metrics concepts, in particular The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and the implications of DORA for decision making at the funders and research organisation level will be introduced.

Some practical ways that postdocs can embed these recommendations when presenting their own research or making applications will be offered and participants are encouraged to share experiences from their own research fields. 

• Tutor: Hackspace Fellows team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: July
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

This session will be an introduction to the Advanced Hackspace part of the College’s Enterprise division. This is an opportunity to understand how Hackspace can support Postdocs and Fellows.

In this session you will get to know about the resources, facilities and expertise available to support your current research or future fellowships.

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: April, October
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

A clear idea of your research vision is essential as you progress on the academic career path.

• Do you have a defined research vision?
• How well can you articulate why your research is important? 
• Can you explain how your research fits into the bigger picture? 
• What will change in the field because of your research? 

An explanation or discussion of your research vision is often required in both fellowship and lectureship applications and in interviews. 

This Pop-up will provide the opportunity for you to explore key questions to help you develop and map out your research vision and provide you with time to get feedback on your answers and to give feedback to peers.

• Tutor: Research Data Management, Library Services team, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: May, November
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

In this session, the Research Data Management team will provide you with top tips on what to include in your data management plan.

Whether you are writing a fellowship application or just want to know what to consider for the sustainability and reproducibility of your data this session will provide you with basic information about what to include on your plan and time to start writing it!

• Tutor: Dr Inês Perpétuo, Imperial College London
• Usually scheduled: June, December
• Visit our online calendar to find out about scheduled workshops

Turning your carefully thought-out research programme into simple, concise English in order to be accountable to the general public – it’s become a standard part of funding and fellowship applications, and it’s the stuff of many a researcher’s nightmares. But the lay summary matters. It demonstrates neatly how clear your ideas are; the funders need it to evidence which projects they have invested in; and on a practical level, your lay summary may be the only part of your application, which is read by the entire panel.

This bite-sized, interactive session will look at what goes in a lay summary, which bits to leave out, and how to pitch your language.