Domain D

How to use the media to publicise your research

The course is designed as interactive and practical, but as the aim is to instil confidence in interaction with the media, trainees are taken through guidelines, techniques and mnemonics before engaging in practical exercises. 

These include understanding the elements of a good news story, techniques for taking control of the interview, and for handling difficult or aggressive questioning. 

The final exercise is the most exciting and challenging, a filmed TV interview, which is then analysed in playback. The trainers prepare individual interview scenarios, so it is vital they have the names and study interests of each participant before the training. 

Detailed handouts are provided to reinforce the lessons after the workshop has ended. Even if you have no plans to talk to journalists, the communication you’ll gain will help you in any situation where you need to explain your ideas to people outside your field—potential funders, cross-disciplinary collaborators or businesses.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of the workshop the participants will

• know how to identify newsworthy, 'media-friendly' elements in their research
  
• know how to 'pitch' their research to the media
  
• gain confidence in giving expert comments to the media
  
• gain confidence in giving interviews to print media, radio and TV.
  
  

Facilitator: Tim Grout-Smith and Lily Poberezhska, Media Players International
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Postgraduate writing workshop

This half or full day writing workshop explores the multiple ways in which researchers have to write in order to develop and communicate their work, from brainstorming ideas to polishing final drafts. 

Participants will be able to raise the topics that they want to work on, whether that it is honing their writing skills or overcoming barriers that inhibit their progress, with practical tips and ideas discussed to develop these areas.

The full-day workshop will look more closely at constructing arguments and understanding what makes ‘good’ academic writing, both in general and within your discipline. In the second part of the day participants will be asked to bring along some of their own writing, and offer feedback to each other. 

Published texts will also be considered, again to look at their relevant communication strengths and weaknesses, and drawing out elements that can inform our own writing.

Utilising a range of individual and group writing exercises and activities throughout, as well as creating a supportive environment to discuss topics around writing, share approaches and processes, and provide peer feedback, this workshop will kick-start your writing.

Facilitator: Learning Development Team
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff.

Course dates and times: alternate half-day (9:30–12:30) and full-day (9:30–16:00) workshops each month

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

The Writing Café 

Further writing support is available for all postgraduate students in the Writing Café (4th floor, Babbage Building) weekdays between 13:00–16:00, where you can bring and discuss your work with one of the trained writing mentors.

The Writing Café also facilitates a regular postgraduate writing group, which meets up for up to three hours, every other week. There is no writing tuition by staff, only mutual support, goal setting, and writing with a shared sense of purpose. 

Recent research has indicated that many postgraduate students who participate regularly in writing groups benefit from the protected space and time, and experience increased productivity, motivation and momentum (Mahler, et al., 2013).

Dates and times to be announced.

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Getting the most from public engagement

Public engagement is important and it has become increasingly important for researchers to communicate effectively, not only with their colleagues but with other research-interested groups outside academia. 

This session will help researchers to understand the importance of public engagement and why funders and employers of researchers, and the public, want research to be communicated. 

This session will provide practical advice and guidance for researchers to get started; how to look for and make opportunities and; getting the most of the experience of engaging with the public.

Facilitator: Dr Martin Coath
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

An introduction to research impact: Making your mark in the world

The aim of this session will be to see how your research can have an impact in the wider world beyond academia. During the session, we’ll discuss what research impact means to academics, funding bodies and other stakeholders, how it relates to your own research and the importance of embedding impact strategies into your research from the earliest stages. 

This workshop will have both a taught and practical component, where we will discuss the potential and real impact of your individual research projects and interests.

Facilitator: Jane Minett
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Presenting at conferences

This session will cover the essentials of preparing materials for oral conference presentations from a construction of slides and of the presentation itself to the physical logistics such as working with different sized audiences and different room shapes to tips when using lapel microphones and on throwing one’s voice.

Facilitator: Dr Rich Boden
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Leadership and management

Understanding and developing leadership and management skills is essential for early career researchers wishing to embark on careers involving research management and team leadership.

This Leadership and Management course has been designed as a package. Research students and research staff can pick and mix any or all of the five individual sessions to best suit their development needs.

All the sessions will be supported in part with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development resources that are relevant to the context of researchers in a higher education setting. This profession-based approach will provide the context for learning and discussion groups. Each session will comprise a half day workshop. Participants will be able to engage in debates and discussions about the principles and practice of managing and leading professionally.

Research students and research staff should be able to:

• Apply their understanding of leadership and management practice to different settings and contexts.
  
• Use a range of questioning and listening techniques to ensure effective communication.
  
• Plan, structure and deliver effective interviews.
  
• Apply a range of behaviours to the effective management of performance.
  

Facilitator: Chris Parkin Hughes and Sally Hanks
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Leadership and management: Exploring leadership

The course will be interactive and practical but will also include theoretical discussion of leadership in a range of organisational settings. The aim is to explore the role of leaders in higher education and to use scenarios to consider alternative actions and responses. 

Effective leadership is important to organisational success and increasingly professional organisations are formally recognising the need to develop leaders. The workshop discussions will include the use of power, communication styles, influencing skills and ethics.

Intended learning outcomes
By the end of the workshop participants will:

• Understand key theoretical principles of leadership
  
• Explain the practice underpinning leadership
  
• Recognise a range of leadership responses to scenarios
  
• Be familiar with contemporary literary sources.
  

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Leadership and management: Questioning and listening techniques

The course will explore the theory and practice underpinning effective listening and questioning. These fundamental skills form the basis of effective management and underpin good practice in communicating, interviewing, negotiating and coaching. 

The workshop is largely practical in focus and participants will have opportunities to engage in role plays and scenarios during which they can practice their skills. Use will be made of video material. 

Scenarios will be practical to higher education and other relevant settings. Peer and tutor feedback will be provided during the session.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of the workshop the participants will be able to:

• Plan and structure an effective questioning technique.
  
• Deliver a range of questioning techniques as appropriate to the setting.
  
• Engage in active listening and understand the skills involved.
  
• Understand the applications of effective questioning and listening techniques in a range of settings.
  

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced- Tutor Sally Hanks
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Leadership and management: Selection interviewing

Behavioural interviewing is a mainstream technique used by recruiters to explore in more detail the past experiences and competences of candidates. 

Participants will understand the principles of behavioural interviewing and be able to plan and prepare behavioural questions. The workshop will enable participants to practice their skills as interviewers and interviewees providing valuable confidence in the labour market.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of the workshop the participants will be able to:

• Understand the principles of effective interviewing
  
• Plan, prepare and deliver a behavioural interview
  
• Review and evaluate their own performance.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Leadership and management: Coaching and mentoring 

Increasingly the role of the line manager is gaining in importance. Line Managers are considered by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) to be a vital link in organisational learning and development. 

Line managers are an essential conduit in the development, retention and engagement of staff. Core to the role of line managers is coaching and mentoring. 

This workshop is designed to explore the practice and principles of coaching and mentoring at work. The workshop will explore the theoretical principles involved before introducing practical exercises during which participants can develop their skills.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of the workshop the participants will be able to:

• Explore the principles underpinning coaching and mentoring.
  
• Appreciate the complexity of behaviour and the range of responses available.
  
• Be in a better position to evaluate line management behaviour.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Leadership and management: Performance management

The management of performance is a core organisational skill. From strategic to line management levels there needs to be a high level of understanding about expected standards of behaviour and an ability to support and develop appropriate behaviours. 

This workshop is designed to give participants an understanding of the theory underpinning performance management as well as practical opportunities to practice their skills.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of the workshop the participants will be able to:

• Understand the principles involved in performance management.
  
• Understand the links between organisational strategy and performance management.
  
• Plan and deliver a performance management interview.
  
• Prepare development plans.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Open access to publishing: Introduction to Symplectic Elements and the University's Open Access policy

This session is intended for staff and research students who have publications.

This workshop will provide a brief overview of the university’s internal publications management tool, Symplectic Elements.  In a PC lab, participants will be able to log on to their Elements account, check their search settings and connect other profile systems (or Identifiers) e.g. ORCiD and Scopus, to their Elements account.  Participants with an external PPP will be able to set up a feed from Elements to automate the update of latest publications to an external audience.

The session will also include a brief introduction to the University's Open Access policy as full-text versions of published works can be uploaded to Elements and then deposited to Pearl, the university's Open Access Research Repository, in accordance with publisher copyright policies.  

Facilitator: Kate Russell

Applicability: Research students at any stage who have publications.

Course dates and times:

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Being an 'open researcher': Tools and strategies for increasing the visibility and impact of your publications

This workshop will cover potential strategies for managing your online research presence by considering the pros and cons of a variety of available online tools for disseminating research and curating an online profile.  

We will look at tools such as ResearchGate; Kudos; ORCiD etc. and strategies for maximising access to published research i.e. Open Access of publications and underlying research data. 

We will also look briefly at tools for tracking the effectiveness of these strategies e.g. altmetrics and citation tracking.  

Facilitator: Kate Russell
Applicability: Research students at any stage.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Introduction to podcasting and panopto

What is a podcast?
A podcast is an enhanced piece of digital media (video and/or audio) which is made available for download for use on mobile devices and computers. It offers the opportunity to deliver course materials, lectures and presentations, news outside a conventional classroom environment. This session will introduce podcasting and give you the opportunity for hands on.

What will I learn?
You will have a good introductory knowledge of podcasting and be able to record and publish online.

Course content

• introduction to podcasting
  
• what equipment do you need?
  
• recording a podcast using Audacity
  
• narrating a PowerPoint presentation and saving as video
  
• distributing your resources to students and staff
  
• copyright and other issues
  
• handy hints to assist you in creating a professional podcast
  
• bring any ideas you would like to work on to the session.

Intended learning outcomes: By the end of the course you will have a good introductory knowledge of podcasting and be able to record and publish online.

Facilitator: Ed Bremner
Applicability: This course is designed for research students and research staff that need to record or produce a podcast to publish online for students, staff and members of the public.
Prerequisites: to get the best out of the course you must have basic PC skills (ie. be able to use a mouse and keyboard).

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Designing an effective research poster

The session will explain why compelling a research poster is an essential job skill for academics. You will receive training on how to put together a compelling poster that will make your colleagues pay attention.

If you have already designed a poster and want to get feedback and feel comfortable to discuss it within the class please bring a copy to the session with you or email researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk.

Facilitator: Daniela Oehring
Applicability: All research students

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Presenting to an audience - part 1

This session aims to provide participants with the skills and confidence they need in order to give presentations to an audience. The session will enable participants to prepare for, manage and practice presenting. 

By the end of this workshop, students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to give confident and professional presentations to large or small audiences.

Intended learning outcomes:

• The session covers personal presentation.
  
• The use of visual aids.
  
• Avoiding potential pitfalls.
  
• Dealing with nervousness and much more.

Facilitator: Terri Rees and Sarah Kearns
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Presenting to an audience - part 2

The aim of this workshop is to enable participants to gain confidence in oral presentation skills and to improve their presentation performance. The workshop, as well as providing an overview of oral presentation skills, also gives participants and opportunity to analyse and improve their own presentation skills.

Intended learning outcomes:
By the end of this workshop, participants will be equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to enable them to prepare and deliver an oral presentation with confidence, to a professional standard.

Course participants are required to prepare a six minute presentation on their research subject and to bring their prepared materials to the workshop.

Facilitator: Terri Rees and Sarah Kearns
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff
Prerequisites: Although not mandatory, completion of Presenting to an audience - part 1 workshop or an equivalent introduction to presenting is desirable for those wishing to attend this course.

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Getting published in journals - meet the editor sessions

This session will give researchers an opportunity to hear from an editor and find out what they look for in a publication and what it takes to get published. Participants will additionally have an opportunity to meet with the editor and, gain tips for getting published.

Intended learning outcomes:

·        Hear about how to get published.

·        Take away tips from an editor to help your chances of publication.

Course dates and times: 

• ·      2019/20 dates to be announced

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

The Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT)

The Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT) enables postgraduate research students to present their research topic to a non-specialist audience. Participants will have just three minutes and one static PowerPoint slide to present an engaging presentation on their thesis and its significance. Three Minute Thesis was developed by The University of Queensland, Australia in 2008 and is being used by Universities world-wide to promote communication of research.

The competition at the University of Plymouth will be held on (dates to be announced) and all participants have a chance to win a research or training related travel prize to the amount below:

• 1st prize £300
  
• 2nd prize £200
  
• 3rd prize £150.

Plymouth competition eligibility: Current University of Plymouth research students (MPhil/PhD, Professional Doctorate, Research Masters)
To register your entry please email your name, School and presentation title to researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk by TBC.

Competition rules:

• A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description, the slide is to be presented from the beginning of the speech).
  
• No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
  
• No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
  
• Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
  
• Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
  
• Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through movement or speech.
  
• The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Judging criteria

• Communication Style - was the thesis topic and its significance communicated in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience?
  
• Comprehension - did the presentation help the audience understand the research?
  
• Engagement - did the presentation make the audience want to know more?

Please note: The best 3MT presentation by a Plymouth PhD or Professional Doctorate student will be entered into the UK 3MT competition for 2019. MPhil and Research Masters students are eligible only for the University of Plymouth competition.
Facilitator: Sarah Kearns
Competition dates and times: 2019/20 dates to be announced

Postgraduate Research Showcase

The Postgraduate Research Showcase is a platform for postgraduate student presentations. The showcase adopts a balanced approach where a presenter shares their knowledge with the audience and in return, the audience provides valuable feedback on their work.

The Doctoral College invites all postgraduate students to present their research findings and work in progress and to exchange ideas and experiences, showcase the excellent work of postgraduates and share best practices at the University of Plymouth.

We wish to invite all postgraduate students who are interested in communicating their research to join us and participate in this great event.

To register your interest to present, show a poster, exhibition or demonstration please contact researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk.

The successful selection of abstracts will be based on the appeal to both a wider and non-specialist audience.

Enquiries and audience bookings: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk.

Dates: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk 

Open access publishing: REF and funder policies explained

This workshop will focus particularly on the Research England Open Access Policy for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF) as it relates to published papers – the ‘green’ route to open access – and will guide you through the 'Act on Acceptance' process of self-archiving your research outputs via Elements into PEARL (Plymouth’s Open Access research repository) including navigating complexities such as publishers' open access policies and copyright.

A general overview of what open access is and its intended benefits will also be provided as well as highlighting the ‘gold’ route to open access: available to recipients of RCUK grant awards.

If you are EU or Wellcome Trust funded, you may also find this session useful to find out more about the specific Open Access publishing policies that relate to your funder.

Please contact your Information Specialist directly should you wish to arrange a bespoke workshop for your research group: informationspecialists@plymouth.ac.uk

Facilitators: Information specialists
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times:

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Identifying where to publish and measuring the impact of your publications: an introduction to bibliometric and altmetric tools

Participants will be introduced to research metrics tools that can help to answer questions such as 'which are the influential journals in my field?'; 'how do I determine my H Index?'; 'what are altmetrics and how do I find them?'

This session will consider the benefits and limitations of these tools for identifying highly cited journals and authors in your field.  We will also explore ‘altmetrics’ tools which can help to identify research which is being shared and discussed online.  

Facilitators: Information specialists
Applicability: Suitable for most research students and research staff

Course dates and times:

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Shut up and Write Together

Shut Up and Write is a movement that started in San Francisco in 2007. It is for writers who want to carve out dedicated time for writing in a way that is both structured and that turns it from a solitary to social experience.

During this session we will write in silence together for 2 twenty-five minute timed periods. In between, we’ll have a 5 minute break.

You can write anything you want - from a journal article to a thesis chapter to a blog! You don’t have to tell anybody what you are writing, what you hope to achieve or what you do achieve during the session. During the break and after the two timed periods,you can talk about how you felt about writing – or not! We can just socialise a bit and spur each other on by being together.

This session is open to any staff member (including post doc ECRs) and PGR student at the University of Plymouth. It is free of charge.

You need to bring whatever you need to write – whether that’s a laptop or pen and paper.

Please register in advance by emailing: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk. Let us know whether you would prefer cake or fruit for the writing break and, please let us know if you have any dietary requirements.

Hosts: Dr Tina Joshi (Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology) and Prof Roberta Mock (Professor of Performance Studies and Director of the Doctoral College)

Every Researcher Counts: equality and diversity in researcher careers

The Every Researcher Counts sessionsupports understanding of equality and diversity issues for researchers and for those who work with researchers in higher education institutions.

The aims of this session include:

• Enable the understanding of equality and diversity for researchers in the higher education sector and at the University of Plymouth
  
• Enable discussions about real life scenarios of equality and diversity issues which affect researchers
  
• Enable the understanding of equality and diversity in career development for researchers
  
• Enable the understanding of how equality and diversity can be practically incorporated in career development and everyday working lives for researchers
  

Facilitator: Sarah Kearns and Rachel Jagger-Thomas

Applicability: All postgraduate research students and research staff at any stage

Course dates and times: 

• 2019/20 dates to be announced
  

Bookings and enquiries: researchskills@plymouth.ac.uk

Online training through Lynda.com

University of Plymouth has arranged for all students and staff to have access to lynda.com (http://lynda.plymouth.ac.uk), a continually growing and evolving library of training videos and tutorials covering a wide range of software, technologies and business topics. Students and staff members can take advantage of free 24/7 access to the entire library of training; this includes:

• Over 2,800 courses and 110,000 tutorials with new releases every week.
  
• My Training - bookmark videos, chapters or courses for future reference, or stop and restart a course where you left off.
  
• Search for courses by subject, software, author or keyword.
  

What you can do:

• Manage information in your personal profile.
  
• Keep track of your course history and recent activity.
  
• Bookmark your favorite courses, tutorials, and specific points within movies.
  
• Earn certificates of course completion.
  
• Access from your own devices.
  
• Create a playlist.
  

Getting started

• Any University of Plymouth Student or Staff member can access the lynda.com online training materials.
  
• View a quick tour on Navigating the online training library.
  
• View the Frequently asked questions.
  

Learning

• Take tutorials to help with coursework.
  
• Learn techniques for your own projects.
  
• Build technical skills to enhance your CV.
  

Teaching

• Assign tutorials for project or course work.
  
• Incorporate lynda.com in your syllabi.
  
• Provide tutorials to supplement a course.

Professional development

• Take tutorials to boost your productivity.
  
• Explore new technologies on your own.
  
• Enhance your C.V. with lynda.com.